Gum Diggers Park

Gumboots, Gumfields & the Gumdiggers

This is a genuine historic gumfield where every hole was dug by hand more than 100 years ago. The pits range from one to several meters deep. Digging here stopped about 70 years ago when supplies of kauri gum ran out. The site once formed part of the vast Aupouri Gumfields (known then as Kaikino Swamp), one of the last places in New Zealand where gum was still being dug into the 1950s.

Left untouched since the diggers left, the holes remain perfectly preserved — some even linked by tunnels. A 30-minute walking track leads through the gumfield and a recreated Gum diggers’ Village with a Gum Store. Information boards and displays of original tools and relics explain how the diggers worked. The path winds through regenerating manuka bush that has recovered after the land was once cleared by burning. Rope borders keep the track natural while protecting the site.

A short video and written information give deeper insight into gum digging and the ancient, buried forests. Currently about 2 hectares are open; another 3 will open later. The full property covers 26 hectares, most of it still covered in historic gum holes. Part of the entry fee helps maintain this protected area.

Tane Mahuta Just a two-minute walk off the Twin Coast Discovery Highway in Waipoua Forest stands Tane Mahuta, the largest living kauri tree. Around 1,200 years old, it has a girth of 14 meters, stands 51 meters tall, and contains about 245 cubic meters of timber — roughly 100 times that of an average plantation pine. Kauri can live 2,000 years or more (some estimates reach 4,000) and are second in size only to California’s giant sequoias.

Once widespread across northern New Zealand, kauri forests were cleared by Māori and European settlers for farmland and timber. The wood was highly prized for shipbuilding and house construction and exported to England and America. Today the remaining trees are fully protected in reserves. Buried ancient forests still exist under sand and peat; some wood has survived for tens of thousands of years.

Kauri Gum Kauri gum is the fossilized resin (sap) of the kauri tree. When the tree was injured it produced large amounts of sap that hardened into lumps. Colours range from clear to almost black, with occasional red