Every walk teaches you something. This one taught me that gold miners were tougher than any of us, that a broken gas bottle is character building, and that sometimes the best thing you can do after six hours in the bush is lower yourself into a hot pool and stay there.

The June Reset and Recharge Walk took us into the Waiorongomai Valley near Te Aroha, a place most people have driven past without ever stopping.

What they don't know is what the valley reveals only to those who walk into it — gold mine tunnels, hidden waterfalls, a swingbridge into the dark, and history scattered through the bush like it was left there yesterday.

This is the story of that day.