Driving Creek

Experiences for Everyone

Discover a variety of Coromandel activities at Driving Creek, a top North Island attraction. We offer three unforgettable experiences in Coromandel, New Zealand:

  • Mountain Railway Tour - Explore New Zealand’s only mountain railway, featuring bridges, tunnels, and spectacular ocean views, making it one of the top attractions and things to do in The Coromandel.
  • Zipline Canopy Tour - Experience the thrill of our eight-zipline canopy tour, gliding above the treetops through native forest—a must-do Coromandel activity.
  • Pottery Classes and Workshops - Join our creative wheel-throwing pottery classes and workshops. Whether you're a beginner or looking to fine-tune your skills, our pottery courses cover it all.

Visit our handcrafted pottery store and explore our unique wheel-thrown pottery. Each piece reflects the rich artistic heritage of Driving Creek, spanning over 50 years.

Pottery Workshops

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Artists in residence

Driving Creek holds true to Barry Brickell’s vision of being a place thriving with inspiration, innovation and rampant creativity. We share this with our community by offering free artist residencies.

The Residency Programme is a unique opportunity for artists to escape and explore through artistic freedom, collaboration and shared learning.

By cultivating connections and bringing artists together to work alongside each other, challenging people to grow within their own craft and as individuals, we encourage and celebrate active contribution from those within our community.

Driving Creek Shop

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Our Purpose

Nestled in the heart of The Coromandel, Driving Creek is more than just a tourism operation. It’s a testament to the late Barry Brickell's pioneering spirit and unwavering dedication to art and conservation. Barry paved the way by creating a unique artisan pottery and planting over 27,000 native trees, transforming the land into a lush native forest.

Following Barry’s wishes after his passing in 2016, Driving Creek is now a not-for-profit organisation that delivers on his vision to protect and enhance the environment through pest animal and weed control, and enrich the artistic community with our unique artist residency.
Join us in exploring New Zealand's natural qualities while supporting our conservation and pottery efforts.

Conservation

We continue Barry’s conservation legacy of protecting and enhancing our native biodiversity by operating intensive pest animal and plant control programmes, performing environmental research, running free conservation events, and connecting people with New Zealand’s natural qualities through enriching, educative and unique experiences. 

“To inspire others to heal and respect the land by showing what is being done and why. Appropriate utilisation rather than exploitation is demonstrated. Showing and telling is aimed at making the viewer and listener think and hopefully act.”- Barry Brickell

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