There’s a few things you could say about the Driving Creek Railway, like it’s the only narrow guage railway in New Zealand, or the owner is committed to being eco-friendly, but basically this is one man’s rather large train set. Started as a way to get clay down from the hill, the line meanders then reverses a few times up the steep hillside until it reaches the Eyefull Tower view point at 173 metres high. It was only reluctantly opened to the public about 10 years ago, well if you had such a big toy, would you share it?
We also stopped off to see some Kauri, New Zealands second tallest trees. Doesn’t sound impressive when it’s put like that, but they are the largest by volume, and that’s what really counts in my book. The relatively young 600 year old trees we saw were a mere 2 metres across, and given that they can live to 4000 years old, these monsters can get to some impressive sizes. What a shame someone thought it was a good idea to chop most of them down.