OceanaGold | Waihi North Project | Recreation and tourism assessment 25 The key findings included: The Wharekirauponga to Golden Cross Track is reasonably well-formed but not maintained, with the occasional large tree-fall and one major slip or wash-out, but passage is otherwise acceptable (apart from the slip) and takes five to six hours from Golden Cross to Parakiwai Quarry Road. The Waihi Tramping Club generally stages annual trips on the route, while the Katikati Club might visit every five years (and is planning a trip in early 2021) and the Whangamata Tramping Club ‘every few years’. Others describe the route as a ‘oncer’ – one visit is enough. It would be rare to encounter other users – mostly hunters. Due to the slip, the Thames Information Centre does not recommend it as a tramping option. The DOC Kauaeranga Visitor Centre had no information on the track but stated that if it did not appear on the online DOC GIS topomap as a track then it would be shut due to kauri die-back.12 Local knowledge is required to access and to actually know about the Wharekirauponga to Golden Cross Track and it is more suited to experienced trampers. The Corbett Road Track is not often used for tramping, and clubs rarely access it. Local hunters are the main users. Gold mining is integral to the Waihi visitor experience, and it underpins the destination theme of the township. Maintaining the visibility of the mine and associated heritage features is important. With eventual mine closure, these stories will still be able to be told effectively. Working with the mine in the future remains important. Waihi has a rich mining history. There is the need to keep attractions in place for domestic visitors which make up 87% of visitors to Waihi. Day visitors from Papakura and Auckland for shopping and local visitor experiences are very important. OGNZL is widely considered to be a very good local community player, with excellent communications and contributions to community well-being, and to the operations of local tourism operators. There is the potential to develop more day-walks in the Waihi area, and the concept needs more consideration. Better promotion of all the short and longer walks already existing in the Waihi area is also required to better develop the walking market. 3.4 Effects of the Wharekirauponga Underground Mine and mitigation The end-tunnel raise area (with four ventilation raises, one of which will operate as an egress raise) is located within an area defined by DOC as recreation ‘remote’ zones. These areas are typically characterised by limited infrastructure and basic facilities that support recreation – such as “basic low-use tracks, marked routes and huts”.13 Within these areas, low levels of recreational use are expected, as are encounter rates with other people. In a recreational context, the potential adverse effects of the project include members of the public encountering the raises during tramping or hunting activities and hearing the noise of the vents operating. Given the location of the raises in a recreation remote zone, any effects would accrue to a low number of recreational users, but they would not be expecting to encounter industrial noises in such a setting. The Marshall Day Acoustics Assessment of Noise Effects (2021) for the proposal indicates that that noise levels from the vents will generally be only above ambient noise levels (around 40 – 45 dB) in very close proximity to one ventilation raise on the Wharekirauponga Track, and would be barely audible at the other raises, and likely only if receivers are at the raise site itself. These noise levels 12 At November 2020 the DOC online GIS showed the Wharekirauponga Track but not the crossing from Wharekirauponga to Golden Cross: https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/coromandel/places/coromandel-forestpark/things-to-do/wharekirauponga-track/ 13 See Appendix 1
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