The Forgotten World Highway

January 27, 2014

There are four major volcanoes on the North Island and as I said in my last post, there are legends to tell.  The one we just visited – Mt Taranaki, was said to have originally stood together with the other three; Ruapehu, Tongariro and Ngauruhoe in the middle of the island.  Maori legend tells the tale of a love affair between Taranaki, the youngest of the four volcanoes and Pihanga, a beautiful mountain on Lake Taupo.  But Pihanga was Tongariro’s lover and after losing a fiery battle, Taranaki fled in shame scraping out a valley in his wake and leaving a river of tears now known as the Whanganui. 

Having seen Mt Taranaki, we decided to visit his cousins a little further North.  We prefer to take routes a little off the beaten track and the lure of “The Forgotten World Highway” was irresistible so we fueled up and set off to see the sites.  Well, we now know why it was forgotten.  It leads through an area of rugged land passing through the Tangarakau Gorge and over four natural saddles.  So rugged and isolated in fact, that many farmers gave up their attempts to build a homestead years ago.  The slopes are steep and the amount of straight roadway is incredibly scarce. 

Passing through a tunnel that was dug out by hand.  It collapsed at one point and is now reinforced with concrete walls.

As we twisted and turned on the 155-kilometer highway, we decided to make our trip a little more challenging and took a side trip to the “Bridge to Somewhere”.  With a name like that, you just have to go and see what it’s all about.  After driving an hour and a half on a windy dirt road, we came upon the bridge.  It lived up to it’s name and was most certainly a bridge to somewhere – but nowhere we could go as the road just beyond the bridge carried warnings of near certain death from falling rocks, steep ravines, and washed out roads and advised not be undertaken unless you were traveling in a 4x4 or possibly a tank.  We didn’t think Lucky was up to it, so we turned back and rejoined the Forgotten World Highway. 

The Bridge to Somewhere

We soon reached another unusual place – the town of Whangamomona.  What’s unusual about this place is that they decided to declare themselves an independent republic in 1988. You can buy a passport from the local hotel or the border crossing, if you can find it.  We arrived at the same time as a bike rally and had to share the town with about 140 motorcycle enthusiasts.  The republic of Whangamomona is said to have a grand total of 30 residents.  With all the visitors that day, we outnumbered them 5 to 1 and could probably have overtaken the country, so to speak.  The town itself looked a little “forgotten”, well in keeping with the highway that runs through it.  To be totally fair with the residents of Whangamomona, they have been active in protecting their community and posted a highway sign advising us to “keep our eyes open while driving”.  Very good and sound advice indeed.  Makes you wonder why no other community has thought to post such a sign.

A little further along the highway we spotted a deer following behind a horse on the side of the road. The deer almost looked like an albino he was so pale; but so beautiful.  This was the third strange sight we had seen that day, the first being a goat head on the side of the road, and the second a cow that looked like it had been slaughtered, also on the side of the road.  Rather gruesome I must say. 

 

Strange sight of the day ... a beautiful deer following a horse.

We arrived in Taumarunui in time to set up camp for the night and just ahead of a rainstorm.  We cooked a little dinner and snuggled in for movie night.  Thanks to Fredrik for the fine selection of entertainment we have available and thanks to the guys at the Apple store for fixing my computer so we can finally watch them.