Explore The Coromandel, Bay of Plenty and the East Cape
The ingenious Driving Creek Railway is the country’s only narrow-gauge hill railway. It was built mostly by hand and is the brainchild of Barry Brickell, an eccentric local potter and rail enthusiast who wanted to access the clay-bearing hills.
The track is only 381mm wide and climbs 120m over a distance of about 3km, rewarding you with spectacular views, extraordinary feats of engineering and quirky design; at the end of the line panoramas extend from a specially constructed wooden lodge, the Eyefull Tower. The journey starts and ends at the workshops, where you can see various types of pottery: stoneware, bricks and earthenware items, and sculptures made from terracotta. There’s also a video about Brickell and a sculpture garden in a wildlife sanctuary designed to protect the local and visiting birdlife.
