Driving Creek Railway and Potteries

Right at the top of our “must see” list during our short stay in Coromandel was a visit to Driving Creek Railway.  Two reasons for this – one was to catch up with our friend Frederick who is now working there, and secondly, to have another ride on the famous little train.  Last time we were here, about 25 years ago we reckon, the train tracks only went part way up the hill, and now go to the top.  It was great to meet up again with Frederick, after all, it’s been quite some time, and catch up with his news.  He is a potter himself, and gave us a quick guided tour of the pottery and kilns. 

Frederick at DCR

If we had stopped to think what the name “Driving Creek” actually meant, I’m sure we wouldn’t have worked it out.  It refers to the early days of kauri logging, much prized by the British Navy as masts and spars.  The loggers built dams across the creeks which slowly filled up, and the felled logs were placed in the dams or in the dry creek bed below.  When the dam was full, a rope was pulled, releasing a large wooden gate, and the water drove the logs down to the harbour.  So ingenious, but this practice also carried much silt and debris down too, causing them to start to silt up.

Potter Barry Brickell purchased 24 hectares of hilly scrub covered land in the 1970s, which just happened to have plenty of clay needed for his pottery.  The idea of the railway came about to transport the clay down the hill, plus pine to fuel the kilns, but has come into it’s own as a tourist attraction.  The narrow gauge railway winds up through the hills, with steep grades, curves, tunnels and viaducts.  As New Zealand’s only narrow gauge railway the track also has zig-zag sections for gaining altitude within a limited space.  All the trains have been purpose built in the workshop to Barry’s designs.

The following morning it was “all aboard” and off we went on our adventure.  The scrub covered hills have been replanted over the years with native trees, tree ferns, kauri, totara and rimu much in evidence.  The story goes that Barry swapped large quantities of  his famous home brew for thousands of young trees, with are thriving on the hills.

All aboard

The famous “bottle banks” made from wine and beer bottles held up the dirt walls, but were so hard to get a good photo as we chugged past.  But take our word for it, there were thousands and thousands of empty bottles used in this project.  Quirky pieces of pottery were placed beside the track, some small, and some quite large.

We chugged over the viaducts, through several tunnels, reversed into the switchbacks, stopped while the driver jumped down to change the points, and climbed ever higher.  One last tunnel, and what a beauty it was.

The final tunnel

Our destination, Eyeful Tower perched on top of the hill.

The view from the top was amazing.  The bush clad hills were covered in flowering manuka, ferns and native trees, hard to imagine this was once scrubby farmland, with the coastline in the distance..

 

View from the top

This wonderful area is protected in perpetuity by a QE11 Trust Covenant.  Barry Brickell died in 2016 at age 80, and is buried on his property.  He truly was a man of vision, combining his love of art, conservation and engineering.