Day 11 whirlwind
through Thames
Today is different and not sunny at all, but overcast and
coldish. I wore my jumper for most of the day while I am outside as I was
nearly going to leave without it and my wet gear too thinking nope I wont need
it. Then I looked outside and reconsidered my thought. I knew what would happen
if I didn’t take my stuff with me and that might mean I get wet and caught in
the open. Something I don’t want to happen.
I still didn’t know exactly how far the hostel was from the
information centre and thought I better get out there and find out. I had
breakfast on my way and realised the information centre was further than I
thought it was. It has to be at least a kilometre from where I am at Sunkist
hostel. Not the ideal of walks and that could be similar to what can happen to
myself in Tauranga. Lets hope it is not like that and I can survive. I did take some more wanders down that side
of town including finding a monument to the miners that was erected during the
1960s. After visiting the information centre and avoiding several bookstores on
the way towards the museum of local history I passed several older churches and
the Thames library that had free wifi, also the library had a nice stained
glass window I found interesting. I seen the museum of technology in the
distance and it is an old pumphouse, so that changed my direction of travel
though its only behind the local museum. I stopped when I seen it was only open
on the weekend. I walked to the museum only to find that opened at 1pm and it
was before 10am. The school of mines museum opened at 11am. I decided to stop
where I was and read a book to fill in time.
The Thames School of mines was open by the time I rocked up
at the door. I was able to get a tour through the old buildings that were part
of the school. What was amazing was that the buildings once the school had been
closed no one vandalised or even broke into them while they were abandoned. The
council never thought to clear the land either, which is pretty good for an old
town. People could go to school 6 days a week including night school. They did
get certificates so the students could go and work in various positions within
the mines.The classrooms actually had gas lighting that were no longer hooked
up and also a lab that had all the items still in the room from the people who
left. There was even an Assay house where the minerals from the various mines
were sorted out to see what amount could be gotten out of them. I was shown a map of where all the tunnels
and their names were located. Some had interesting names and you could tell
there were some in one area that were from Scotland like Duke of Edinburgh or
Highland Chief. There were other inventive names and boring ones too like
Number 1. Half the tunnels ran and crisscrossed under a few of the streets in
Thames. I would love to have a map of these mines compared to the street level.
The lady who took me on the tour couldn’t take me into the room where the
battery was as its unsafe and I was actually the only one getting the tour. The
lady did have information on her to help her remember as she had only done the
tour around 7 times and she also didn’t have another volunteer with her to keep
the main building open, so she had to lock it up. The lady was really helpful
with advice for other museums too and I was giving her advice about several
museums too. The tour also meant I could get a discount when I visit the
historical museum.
I had time to visit the Historical museum though I did need
some lunch and I did stop off at the hostel to download my photos and a quick
rest. I was then off to the Thames Historical museum, where I found the
discount was $4 when the full adult price was $5, but I was a little unsure if
I should get the discount. I did donate several dollars to the museum as I
thought it was the right thing to do. There were several different rooms named
after the mines in the local area. These were Kuranui, Moanatataiari, Albernia
and Caledonia. They all showed different parts of Thames from the mining and
milling to streetscapes including an iron lung. I did find the hostel I am
staying in is actually an old hotel that was called Wharf hotel and then Lady
Bowen, which would explain the front door and did close in the 1950s. Someone
had made wooden sculptures of the buildings in town and explained a little
about the facades in the main street.
I was wondering if the mining experience was actually open
as I had spoken to two museum people who were convincing that since it was holidays
it should be open. So I decided to walk and upon inspection nope it was closed
for maintenance. I decided to then walk to the town of Tararu as there was a
cemetery nearby. I walked as far as I could go into the town as there was no
footpaths and I wasn’t walking on the side of roads that are windey in case a
car decides I am target practise. I couldn’t go any further so I plonked my bum
and rested with my book again. On my way back I stopped for ice cream and I was
getting worried about the weather as I walked back to town. It was starting to
spit while I was walking, but never went any further. I did see other
mineshafts behind peoples homes though I think they were covered in so no one
could go wandering. When I got into my room and sat out on the balcony the sun
decided to come out and blind me so like a vampire I had to escape back inside.
Tomorrow I am off to my next place and that is Tauranga. I
hope my trip will be an uneventful one to another historic town though it looks
like a city. I will suffer a long walk to town to catch a bus, but I don’t think
it will be that bad.
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