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On Sunday 15^th February I travelled from Lake Hawea to Wanaka, and straight through town to Glendu Bay where there is probably the largest holiday park in NZ. I spent the afternoon parked north of the campground —–

—– on the picnicking beach where visitors were —–

—– relaxing, swimming and boating.

Monday 16^th February was dull and overcast, but this did not deter the continuous stream of visitors walking the shoreline to —–

—– photograph the Wanaka Lake Tree where signs about keeping off it were in both English and Mandarin. Of course there were exceptions, such as for —–

—– this pied shag preening himself after fishing.

The foreshore walkway has a range of art works including this —-

–

—— bronze statue looking out over the lake and watching the hordes heading along the beach to the Lake Tree.

On the road to Cromwell from Wanaka I called in at the Marsden Resort which consists of a series of town houses cantilevered over the water of an artificial inlet to Lake Dunstan, and where you park your car in a garage at the front of the townhouse, —–

—– and moor your run-about under the verandah at the rear.

Just down-lake from Marsden Resort is —–

—– the 45^th parallel which I last passed just north of Oamaru on the east coast. Here at this location is the underwater village of Lowburn (plus its bridge across the Clutha), both submerged when Lake Dunstan filled behind the Clyde Dam. The new Lowburn is a subdivision on the hillside above the lake

From Lowburn I passed —–

—– through Cromwell on my way to an overnight freedom camp at —–

—– Jacksons Bay on Lake Dunstan between Cromwell and Clyde.

Tuesday 17^th February took me first thing beyond Alexandra to Mitchells’ Cottage on the way to Roxburgh. DoC states that —–

—–this is “an outstanding example of 19^th century stone masonry”. It was built by John and Andrew Mitchell who emigrated from the Shetland Isles and together constructed many such cottages in the Clutha Valley. This one was completed 1904 and was lived in by John and his wife Jessie who raised 10 children in the two bedroom cottage.

It sits on a natural rock slab foundation —–

—– high up on the valley side —–

—– above the Clutha River orchards, —–

—– with the dwelling interior lined with superbly crafted tongue-and-grove joinery.

Of course I had to stop and get a photo of Roxburgh Hydro with its 8 turbines.

Constructed during the 1950’s we visited it every year in February to check on progress when as a family we travelled up to the orchards in the Roxburgh/Etrick/Millers Flat valley to get boxes of various fruits that we then preserved in jars for use through the rest of the year on the farm at Howe in the Waikaka Valley.

Roxburgh itself got electricity in 1924 when enterprising locals championed use of water harnessed for early gold mining to —–

—– build its own power scheme, Central Otago’s first. Today it is still operating under Pioneer Energy ownership.

The power station is on the north bank of the Clutha with this classic steel arch bridge providing road access —–

—– into Roxburgh Township on the south side of the valley.

From Etrick, south of Roxburgh, I began travelling back roads I had never been on before, going up over the hills from the Clutha through ——

—– the Moa Flat farming area —–

—– with white woolly Southland sheep (a change from the brown scrawny Central Otago merinos) —–

—– to Tapanui where I freedom camped at Whiskey Gully (not far from Brandy Gully) at the foot of the Blue Mountains.

Wednesday 18^th February from Tapanui I zig-zagged backwards/forwards up/down across-country in Eastern Southland from Waipahi to Pukerau, then Kaiwera, Otaria, Nithdale and Diamond Peak, all places I lived in 85 plus years ago. All the original houses are gone, replaced by new dwellings (and new families). I entered Gore from the south-east via Ontario Street where my Gunn grandparents lived, their old house with the pit privy out the back long ago replaced by a commercial development – life moves on.

I check on 244 Main Street Gore, the last home I stayed in when visiting Gore in the 1960s. After it changed hands in the late 1980s the property had been let go by the owner up until 2024 when it was sold. New owners over the last 2 years have ——

—— restored the front garden, and —–

—– painted the house bringing the property back to life again.

From Gore I did another cross country trip starting from McNab at the beginning of the Waikaka Valley past the Ernie and Lila Herron farm “Rosedale” at Howe railway siding which we moved to in 1941, its original homestead —–

—– now fully modernised and refurbished as “Howe Park”.

The Waikaka river valley from McNab up country 25km to Waikaka Village was completely turned over by gold dredges —–

—– in the 1920s and ‘30s with huge gravel piles (coarse tailings) littering the river flats and which became overgrown with blackberry and gorse. We could not farm the flats in my days, but now modern farmers have leveled the tailings, covered them with topsoil and created productive sheep pastures.

I spotted one old dredge off the road on private land as I neared Waikaka —–

—— with its huge gravel (coarse tailings) conveyor reaching out high above the field.

After lunch at Waikaka Village I cut west through rich cropping areas with this —–

—— clover field awaiting harvest, and then turned north to —–

—— Waikaia with its famous bottle house at the Switzers Museum. Two years ago when I passed through here the bottle house was shrouded in plastic ——

—– and they are still working to trace persistent leaks, thus not allowing visitors to climb up inside.

From Waikaia to Piano Flat, the Doc Camping site I was heading to for the night, there were shorn lambs on the move, with —–

—— this mob stretching some 2km into the far distance to the tree on the horizon at the left of the roadway.

On the way out from Piano Flat Thursday 19^th February it was cattle that gained my attention ——

——- as I also gained their attention. Then further down the road I had to give way to a mob —–

—– of stud rams.

Driving out of the Waikaia River Valley into the widespread plains of the Mataura River valley there was a change from sheep to wheat ——

—-with harvesters catching up on crops drying out after recent rains.

South of Lumsden heading for Winton it was haymaking in progress ——

—— with plastic wrapped bales ——

—— dominating the landscape.

I headed to Winton to visit the Forest Hill and Tussock Creek Reserve south of the town, passing —–

—– the “Golden Terraces” alpaca farm on the way.

The Dereck Turnbull walking track is a 1 hour one-way walk from the Tussock Creek Reserve entrance to the Forest Hill entrance with a steep and sometimes muddy surface on the way. I walked the first 20 minutes in from Tussock Creek on the best part of the track with a steady climb through forest which included loads of ——

—– ribbon wood trees.

The Forest Hill track was used as a training ground by local man Dereck Turnbull who in 1977 at the age of 51 began entering international masters running events, competing in more than 50 marathons, and achieving 25 world age group records as well as 28 world gold masters medals, one of the most successful veteran runners in the world. He never had a training programme or a coach – just ran around Forest Hill on a daily run.

Friday 20^th February I left my Nightcaps freedom camping spot at 8am and travelled up to coal mining centre, Ohai. The township grew from 1917 when high quality coal was discovered in the area and expanded substantially from 1925 when railway access to the mine was completed. However, with the introduction of —–

—– mechanised underground mining machines —–

—– shown here, labour requirements reduced significantly leading to a drop in town population. Finally declining coal demand led to the mine closing in 2021.

From Ohai it was another cross-country drive south past a community hall ——

—— serving four local districts I had never heard of —–

—– to then turn east to Otautau where I passed a group of young cows huddling together for warmth during a freezing rain event.

In Otautau I stopped by the WW 1 memorial featuring two field guns in shelters, —–

—– one German, the other Turkish. “Worth a Detour” says no one knows who souvenired these and brought them back to NZ. During WW 2 the NZ Army borrowed both guns for use in artillery training, and subsequently returned them to Otautau.

From Otautua I drove north via Nightcaps to Mossburn then west to Te Anau which had the lowest morning temperature in the country Friday, and another very cold night on the way.

Saturday 21^st February it was up early to take the 7.30am excursion from Manapouri to Doubtful Sound. After check-in we queued on the boat-ramp for boarding —–

—– as a colourful sunrise greeted us in the east. Then it was onto —–

—– MV Titiroa with 146 other day trippers to head out across Lake Manapouri to West Arm to then travel by bus up over the Wilmot Pass to Doubtful Sound Harbour.

There is still snow —–

—– on the tops of the mountain range across the lake, even visible—–

—– up the lakeside valleys we cruised past.

The early morning low cloud persisted as we ——

—– disembarked at West Arm to board three large buses to head over the Pass, hence we had no chance of looking down into Doubtful Sound during the trip over.

Leaving Doubtful Sound Harbour there were other —–

—– excursion boats heading out, such as the Tutoko II above —

—

—– and the Fiordland Navigator returning from an overnight cruise.

We soon came across the effects that the last two days of rain had had on —–

—– the Sound’s tallest waterfall (actually it is really a cascade), here with only its top half visible above low cloud. However, the overcast and low cloud conditions —–

—– created an aura of mystery to the cruise, either looking ahead —–

—– or looking back.

When we reached the —–

—— rocky islets at the exit to the Tasman Sea our boat (the Titiroa) heaved up and down on the swell making it difficult to get photos, but I did get a long-distance shot of —–

—– these “rabbits ears” (as Captain Cook called them) before we —–

—– left them behind as we headed back down the sound.

I got the bottom half of —–

—– the cascade on the return, then joined the queue of travellers getting their picture —–

—– with the NZ maritime flag on the back of the Titiroa. We had a following wind on the voyage back, hence the flag stayed totally limp.

By the time our 3 hour cruise ended at midday, and we headed by bus past —–

—–the Helena Falls (here discharging into the tailrace flows from the power station turbines), up to Wilmot Pass, the cloud had lifted and ——

——- we all hopped out to check the view. My best photo —–

—— shows the Sound stretching well out toward the horizon with the Helena Falls visible as the white stripe to the left of the right-hand tree top.

So, back to Manapouri Harbour 2.20pm after a cracker day out to conclude an adventurous week.

Sunday morning 8^th February was spent on route planning for the next couple of weeks based on “Worth a Detour” information. After lunch I took off for Naseby to visit the curling rink —–

—– with its year round operation. It was the first such international facility in Australasia when it opened in 2005 as Australian curling activities in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane use indoor ice-hockey rinks where the ice is nowhere near as good as that in a purpose-built facility.

The curling rink, based at the Maniototo Adventure Park, is open daily —–

—– to visitors who can book online for a 1½ hour session. Players are provided with rubber over-shoes before venturing onto the playing ice.

From the upstairs viewing gallery —–

—– I was able to follow —–

—– a family of four enjoy a game, watched over by a staff member. Scoring is the same as for lawn bowling.

Later I explored the Naseby Museum —–

—— housed in this old shop and across the road from —–

—– the historic 1863 Royal Hotel, one of the oldest original pubs in NZ.

Monday 9^th February saw me heading west from Ranfurly to spend another day on the Otago Rail Trail, this time at the Poolburn viaduct and the two nearby tunnels. I passed —–

—– the Wedderburn station with its restored goods shed and then stopped off to —–

—— view the early morning reflections at Idaburn Dam near Aturehua which is used for —–

—– outdoor curling during winter [stock photo above.]. The Dam has been hosting an annual Bonspiel (curling tournament) since 1932, but of course only when winter ice conditions are suitable.

I based myself at Thurlow Road on the Rail Trail for an 8 km return walk before lunch, being passed ——

—– by many cyclists, some of whom stopped for a chat. I met two Australian and one Canadian group who were doing either the 4 or 5 day tour of the 152km trail and who wanted to know why I was walking and not cycling.

There were great views across the Idaburn Valley as I headed for —–

—– the Poolburn Viaduct which during the peak of construction in 1902 employed 300 workers.

This image of a goods train crossing the viaduct —–

—– was taken on 6 April 1963. The line closed in 1990 with the Rail Trail opening in 2000.

300m on from the viaduct is —–

—– Poolburn Tunnel No.12 with —–

—– its brick lined entrance.

Although the entrances of each tunnel are bricked No.13 tunnel internally has a mix of ——

—– brick lined sections and natural rock due to the brittle nature of the schist through which the tunnel was driven. This means some places need to be secured with brick. [The tunnels are numbered from Dunedin with tunnels 11, 12 and 13 on the Rail Trail and tunnels 1 to 10 from Wingatui up through the Taieri Gorge.]

While preparing a late lunch at 2pm I heard a rustling sound around the van and ——

—- was able to snap a mob of sheep passing by as they crossed the trail from a side road. During lunch and for the remainder of the afternoon I had a restful time watching —–

—–the Super Bowl game in the US. This NFL (National Football League) annual final was instituted in 1967 with this year’s event being between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks.

On Tuesday 10^th, after camping overnight at Aupiro Station on the Rail Trail, I had a morning walk on the trail and then headed down Aupiro Road to the main Idaburn Valley highway where I stopped to —–

—– photo the 3 mailboxes near the road junction so I could compare them with —–

—– Grahame Sydney’s “Auripo Road” mailboxes painted in 1979 [print available from his website]. Today’s mail boxes have been relocated some 20m back along Aupiro Road away from the junction, presumably for traffic safety reasons.

St Bathans was my next visit, parking across from the —–

—– historic hotel before taking a one hour walk —–

—– on the Blue Lake Loop Track.

The track passes around —–

—– and through the strange landscape created during the gold sluicing days of the past.

Heading for Alexandra I stopped off at Omakau to lunch at —–

—– the Muddy Creek café (the “Mu” of Muddy was also missing last year when I came through) where two drivers from a hay baling contract team were also lunching.

My final stop for the day was at the —–

—– Chatto Creek Tavern —–

—— with its quirky garden bar ——

—– and the smallest functioning post office in NZ. Opened in 1892 it closed officially in 1975 but with local support was reopened in 2004, with the post-box cleared Monday to Saturday at 10.30am and letters postmarked “Chatto Creek”.

Wednesday 11^th was a quiet housekeeping day in Alexandra, but I took a look at its graceful steel girder bridge ——

—– which replaced the old 1882 suspension bridge in 1958 while leaving the —–

—– original cable piers intact.

Thursday 12^th February I had booked for a Clyde Dam tour at 4pm, so I visited the Butchers Dam and Flat Top Hill Reserve in the morning.

Butchers Dam holds back an irrigation water lake, —–

—– although not totally successfully as a leaking joint halfway down the dam face is feeding slime growth on the structure.

There was a one hour loop walk up Flat Top Hill from the lake —–

—— with expansive views back across the countryside. Information boards referred to the host of wildfowl inhabiting the lake ——

—— but I only saw a lonely Canadian goose quietly resting —–

—– one-leggedly on a rock off the foreshore.

I lunched at Burton Creek Reserve on the shore of Lake Dunstan above the Clyde Dam —-

—- where a transfer service for cyclists was operating to take riders up the lake to Cromwell.

At 4pm I reported to the —–

—– office for the Dam Tour and joined 5 other travellers and tour host Kim Johnstone who has been operating these tours for 4 years after protracted negotiations with Contact Energy who owns and operates the facility.

We started at the top of the dam structure ——

—–to look down on the four steel inlet penstocks before ——

—– moving downstairs to look back up at the spillway gates.

In between the penstocks and the spillway channels ——

—– there is a seam (covered by the grey plate up the face of the dam) where the two halves of the dam meet.

Yes, there are two separate dam structures butted together with a slip-joint sealed with a special plug held in place by the water pressure behind the dam. When construction of the dam foundations commenced back in 1977 geologists found an old faultline right across the valley where the centreline of the dam was to be sited. That resulted in some serious “head scratching”. The solution was to build two concrete dam units so that if an earthquake occurred, instead of a single monolithic dam fracturing and Lake Dunstan spilling through and down the valley, the two halves would move apart or sideways and the plug at the slip-joint would adjust itself under the water pressure to keep the gap water tight. Since the dam and powerhouse were completed in 1989 there have been no earthquakes.

Kim showed us a cross-section of the dam structure —–

—– and indicated the central inspection corridor carrying drainage seepage that we were about to enter (red circled corridor above).

Four drainage corridors run the full width of the dam, with a break around the slip-joint in the centre.

So, next stop was—–

—–the powerhouse —–

—— where a working model of the generation system was shown to us. The red arrow shows the walkway location we were to descend to between the turbine and the generator coils. Water enters on the left from a penstock and circles around and down through the turbine blades spinning the shaft attached to the generator coil system.

We then proceeded from —–

——- the main floor of the powerhouse ——

—- down one floor to the head of the No. 4 generator ——

—– then three further floors down to the space between the turbine under our feet and the generator coils above our head, with the vertical shaft between the two spinning at 125rpm in front of us (too noisy to talk down here).

So, out from the powerhouse —–

—– past the transformer units feeding electricity to the lines above them —–

—— for a tour group photo where behind us on the left is the pylon with lines conveying power north to the Cook Strait cable for the North Island, and on the right the pylon lines feeding the South Island power grid.

After freedom camping at Champagne Gully on the lake shore between Clyde and Cromwell, Friday 13^th February saw me enter the Highlands Motor Sport facility at Cromwell —–

—– passing this VW Beetle on the way to the carpark.

The main museum floor was crowded with—–

—– high powered racing sedans and dragsters —-

—– plus this racing truck.

On display was the —–

—– Rolls Royce Ghost owned and driven by Tony Quinn, the developer of the Highlands facility.

It was raining steadily during my visit, —–

—– but I braved the rain to get outside and downstairs to —–

—– this feature addition to the Highlands experience —–

—— where six rooms with one-way glass enabled users to watch the racing while sitting on the toilet.

You can see the pedestal on the right —–

—– with a direct view outside —–

—— and the washbasin on the left.

The most glamourous unit was —–

—– this delux toilet —–

—– with its cultural inclusions and black toilet and washbasin units —–

—–adding to its grandeur.

[There is a dedicated male toilet with a Donald Trump theme that is too gross to include here – some US reader may report me to the authorities which could result in my being banned from visiting that country.]

This aerial shot [web-site sourced] of Highlands shows—–

—– the six one-way windows of the “Loo with a View” reflecting the grass lawn in front of the facility.

The way the system works is illustrated by the entrance door where —–

—– it presents as a mirror from the outside ——

—– while inside you can see out through the one-way glass to the approach steps.

Leaving Cromwell for the north I stopped off at the Wooing Tree —–

—– located in a subdivision park across the road from the —–

—– main town centre.

Originally this old pine was one of several trees in the open fields adjacent to town, and from around the 1920s gained a reputation as a place enjoyed by courting couples. When the land was purchased for a vineyard and the buyers started to clear the pine trees scattered across the site a protest movement convinced the new owners —–

—– to protect the pine [vineyard website photo].

Eventually the Wooing Tree vineyard was sold to land developers who retained the pine in their Wooing Tree subdivision.

Saturday 14^th February I awoke at the Luggate freedom camping site near the Red Bridge with some —–

—– 50 plus other overnighters ready to start their day.

The road to Lake Hawea passed through the Hawea Flats where centre pivot irrigators —–

—– were in full operational mode, —-

—– and where necessary crossing fences and roadways with special deflectors lowering fence wiring to allow wheels to pass over as needed.

My destination was the Lake Hawea Esplanade walkway, a 1½ hour return walk —–

—– above the lake foreshore.

I walked back along the main street passing many new houses and street-side gardens ——

—– where I was treated to this view of busy bumble-bees feeding on a sunflower.

My final visit for the day was to the Southern Crested Grebe nesting boxes —–

—– in an arm of the lake at the Hawea Dam. There was one bird in each of the three floating boxes, with this one —–

—– coyly showing herself in the left-hand box of this group.

Overnight Saturday I stayed at the Hawea Holiday Park, now renamed as “The Camp”, before heading for Wanaka on Sunday.

I left Omarama 8.30 am Sunday 1^st February with concern re an unusual on-and-off rattling sound from the right front of the engine which had become noticeable as I travelled up to Mt Cook last week. I therefore decided that after my intended visits Sunday and Monday to Waimate I should get the van checked out by the Ford Dealer in Oamaru.

First stop on the journey east was to the Benmore Hydroelectric Power Station with its earth dam holding back the largest man-made lake in NZ. In 1958 I worked for the Ministry of Works and Development (MWD) in the Dunedin Regional Office, and my first job was to design the water reticulation and sewerage layout for the new Otematata Township that was to provide several hundred homes and dozens of single men’s cabins, all for staff involved in the dam construction.

My varsity boarding house and engineering school friend Doug Inch in 1959 joined the MWD staff at Benmore as a senior technical engineer in the soils testing laboratory monitoring daily the compaction of the earthen (gravel and rock) materials being placed and in particular the clay wall core of the dam which is the main component holding back water from seeping through the earth fill. When Lake Benmore was filling the weight of water accumulating in the valley above the dam caused several minor earthquakes as the pressure on the earth’s surface increased.

So I have a vested interest in Otematata and the dam, the project being completed and commissioned in 1965.

The penstocks carrying water from the lake to the power station (cross-section in above photo) were the first-time use of prestressed concrete, replacing the steel pipe penstocks normally used in previous schemes.

The penstocks on the left above are indeed —–

—– quite massive, with the earth dam leading across the valley to —–

—– the spillway which is used when high upstream river flows exceed the needs of the power generation system.

Currently the spillway was not in action, but in full flow —–

—– the energy dissipater at the entrance to the Waitaki River provides quite a spectacular show [above picture sourced from stock photo].

Further down the Waitaki River from Benmore is a second but smaller dam at Aviemore, completed in 1968. This dam is —–

—– half earth and half concrete. Do you see the two thin trees in the field to the left of the top of the powerhouse? Well, two groups of —–

—– merino sheep are there, competing for shade on this very hot day.

Down river from Aviemore is a third dam at the Waitaki Power Station. Waitaki was the first scheme on the river and completed in 1934 with additional generators added in 1949 and 1954.

The dam itself is concrete —–

—– with the top of the dam acting as an overflow weir during high river flows.

I then headed through Kurow south to Duntroon where —–

—– after lunch at the Flying Pig drove some 10 km west to the Elephant Rocks geological wonder—-

—— that I had visited on previous South Island trips.

However this time I walked down and around the massive limestone outcrops —–

—– instead of just photographing them from the main ridge as I had done on past occasions.

The rock formations here were used as backdrops in the first “Chronicles of Narnia” movie 2005.

To get to Waimate and a freedom camping spot I had picked out as a base from which to visit the town Monday morning 2^nd February I had to travel back to Kurow, cross the beautifully clear blue waters of the Waitaki River and head east then north to my overnight stay at the Black Hole on the Waihao River Reserve. The idea was to cross off my Waimate visits Monday morning and then travel down to SH1 and through to the Ford garage in Oamaru.

Black Hole was down a limestone valley —–

—– into a very quiet spot overnight. Black Hole referred to a deep swimming pool by that rock to the front of the van.

However, starting up the van Monday morning changed my mind – could I trust the engine to last out until the afternoon? So at 7.30 I cut across backcountry roads to head for SH1 and into Oamaru Ford arriving 8.30 to ask if they could check out the unusual noise and advise if I had a real problem or not. Initially they thought it may be an issue with the timing belt that also drove the alternator and the air-conditioning system but when they turned the air-conditioning on there was an almighty “BANG-clatter-clatter-clatter” and they said it is the drive system for that unit that has failed (and lucky that I happened to be in their workshop yard when it happed instead of way out in the middle-of-nowhere).

The process of repairs involved getting parts (if available) couriered in from Dunedin or Christchurch then fitting them, a two or more day program. So, they lent me a courtesy car into which I packed clothes and the contents of the fridge, and I left them to it while I took off to find accommodation for 3 nights. Three motels I tried could not take me but I ended up with Monday night in the Brydone Hotel and Tuesday/Wednesday in the Brydone’s sister accommodation, the North Star Motel. I needed room and fridge access Monday morning and Brydone was able to put me in a room at 10.30am (allowing me to load my fridge items promptly).

The Brydone was built in Oamaru stone in 1881 —–

—— and became world famous when Mark Twain stayed there in 1895. A feature of the building is the —–

—– ceiling height on the ground floor. It is 17ft (5.1m) as can be seen in this view of the dining room.

The afternoon gave me opportunity to do the last 2 weeks laundry (which I brought with me from the van) at —–

—– the Thames Street Liquid Laundromat (computer controlled – no coins any more as you pay by phone) on the main thoroughfare in Oamaru. An eventful day.

The next day, Tuesday 3^rd February, I got a call 11am from the Ford garage to say they had got parts in from Dunedin first thing that morning and had completed repairs to the air-conditioning drive system and the van was ready to go. So I cancelled the 2 nights of North Star motel accommodation, collected the van and headed up north —–

—– to Waimate.

There were several places to visit based on the “Worth a Detour” book including —–

—– the Silo Art on the wheat storage silos at the old flourmill site, and the Waimate White Horse (the white spot on the horizon to the right of the silos above). To get up to the White Horse, —-

—– here seen in this telephoto view from the silos, involved a 10km drive over a very narrow gravel back road up a valley behind the above hills.

The view from the top over the Waimate farmland was great, in spite of the cloudy day.

The horse feature was actually quite small (just 18m high), and was built by retired farmers Norman and Betty Hayman in 1968 as a monument recognizing the contribution of the many thousands of Clydesdale and Shire horses to the district’s farming economy.

Back down in town I called at St Augustine’s Anglican Church, —-

—– an 1872 Gothic Revival building now on the Historic Places Register.

It was then time to head for an overnight freedom camping spot off the road back to Oamaru at the outlet of the Waihao River (recall my Black Hole stay Sunday night). The location is known as “The Box” from a hardwood structure tunnelled though the huge gravel bank between the foreshore and the lagoon into which the Waihao discharges. It was constructed in 1910 to provide a permanent outlet for the river due to the fact that the gravel bank pushed up by the tidal flows raised the river level and flooded local farmland.

On the way down the narrow sealed road through farmland to The Box reserve —–

—– I came across another ruined settler cottage in a harvested field.

Wednesday 4^th February I took an early morning stroll to ——

—— take a look at The Box (here seen on the right edge of the lagoon as taken from the rear of the van) —–

—– which on the inlet end is a perching place for shags, and —-

—– on the seaward outlet side takes a pounding from the waves.

Back in Oamaru mid-morning I checked at the Visitor Centre regarding the limestone quarry tours and the evening viewing of the little blue penguins (now just referred to as the Oamaru Penguins), subsequently booking the quarry tour for Thursday and the penguin viewing for the that evening.

At 2pm I called for a visit at —–

—– Janet Frame’s childhood home where her older brother Geordie was fortunate to have a bedroom to himself while Janet and her three sisters shared a large —–

—- double bed.

Janet, whose portrait is featured —–

—– in the sitting room, is one of NZ’s most famous authors with her many works being internationally acclaimed.

So, at 8pm I presented myself at the penguin viewing area on the foreshore under the cliffs that housed the nesting holes that the birds come home to at dusk after all day from 4am fishing way out at sea, —–

—— and joined a full house crowd of whom 90% seemed to be Chinese families. The blue seating area across from the general viewing bench seating area where I sat was for premium ticket holders who were closest to the area where the incoming penguins dashed off the foreshore area through the fence openings into the grass area leading to nests at the base of the cliff.

We were allowed to photograph —–

—– the seals frolicking in front of us but from 8.45pm cameras and phones had to be put away (no photographing of the returning penguins allowed). Two staff then provided a commentary on the life of the blue penguins, the first team member speaking in English, then the second team member repeating the commentary in Mandarin.

By 9.15 three penguins appeared (they were late this evening) and around 9.45 they were coming through in groups of 5, then of 10. Around 15 came through about 10.20 when a lot of people had left. I took off then, snatching a shot of —–

—– the moon lifting itself out of the water on the horizon.

Thursday 5^th February was the busiest day of visits to date. I passed this sign —–

—— on my way to Parkside Quarries at 9.0am to tour the limestone workings.

Part owner and operator, Judy, took a stonemason from Bath in the UK and me around the whole complex, including the floor of the current working quarry where Judy was —–

—– working this circular-saw cutting machine yesterday when I phoned for a tour appointment. You can see the depth to which limestone layers have been cut from 1906 when quarrying commenced here.

Once the longitudinal cuts are finished, cross-cuts and a special lifting tool cracks open the base at depth to create 20 tonne blocks that —–

—– go to the processing area (office on left, workshops and processing on right).

You can see 20 tonne blocks forming the wall of this shed where an order for thin limestone slabs is being prepared to architectural requirements.

In recent times the quarry installed a CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) machine that can cut and shape stone into a multitude of forms. There are only two of these machines in the Southern Hemisphere, the other being in Sydney. Here the operator is carving —–

—– a dark rock in the same way dentists use a CEREC machine to carve and shape computer designed crowns for a tooth implant. The operator can move the cutting tool backwards/forwards, up/down, sideways left or right, and then start the programme to allow the machine to run on its own while he goes off and does other work. No more hammer and chisel carving. It is so sensitive that —–

—– it produced this bust of Gollum from Lord of the Rings, as well as the limestone ball alongside. This stand —–

—– of finished limestone items awaiting collection from clients shows the versatility of this ZEDA 1600 machine.

I next drove south of Oamaru to Clarks Mill and Totara Estate. With the local farming area highly suited to grain cropping as well as sheep farming Totara Estate constructed in 1866 its own flour and oatmeal Mill —–

—— using Oamaru stone. Subsequently the Estate concentrated on sheep production and sold the mill to the Clark brothers who installed modern grinding equipment in 1893. After closing in 1976 the building and equipment deteriorated until taken over by Heritage NZ and restored to working order over several years by a team of volunteers.

The “modern” grinding machines feed grain —–

—– to a range of screens and sieves to produce —–

—– both white flour and bran (used in animal feed).

The entrance to Totara Estate —–

—– is most noticeable as you travel from Oamaru to Moheno on SH1 —-

—– with a tree lined drive leading to the Estate complex.

I spent over an hour exploring the buildings and grounds starting with —–

—– the men’s quarters including —–

—— the combined dining/living area —–

—– and kitchen. There were 20 men employed from the 1800s as shepherds, crop farming labourers and butchers with another 20 seasonal workers for shearing and harvesting.

Outdoors I visited —–

—– the stables and several other buildings including —–

—– the butchery and meat storage area where in November 1882 linen wrapped sheep carcasses were loaded at the rate of 240 per day from this red door to horse drawn drays for railway transport to Port Chalmers via ice chilled wagons for then loading into the refrigeration chambers on the sailing ship Dunedin. It took a month of this daily work to load 5,000 carcasses for the 3 month sailing to Britain where the whole cargo sold out via Smithfield markets in London at double the price involved in producing and transporting the mutton. It was huge success, giving birth to the modern meat industry today. Prior to 1882 sheep were only farmed for wool, older animals then dying off. Now the NZ economy flourished on both sheep meat and wool.

I completed my Totara Estate visit with 1.30pm lunchtime refreshments —–

—– comprising South Island cheese rolls plus carrot cake and cream and with a huge pot of tea supplanted by a further large pot of hot water. This was a real treat.

My final visit for the day was to Bushy Beach to view the location where the —–

—– Yellow-eyed penguin (hoiho) live and nest [stock photo above].

The “hide” on the cliffs above the beach —–

—– provides a good view if you have binoculars (recommended by “Worth a Detour”), but only a handful of birds returning to their nests late afternoon have been reported in recent weeks, so I did not expect to see any at 2.30pm.

I did however spot a couple of seals —–

—– mid-beach, lazily sunning themselves on the golden sand.

Waitangi Day had me on the road again, heading south to Matanaka near Waikouati. First stop on the way was to check out the Moeraki Boulders which in 2024 were almost submerged in sand. There was a big crowd on the beach, —–

—– mainly Asian tourists, but I was able to get a photo of ——

—– the group of boulders I photo’d in 2024 to compare with the —–

—– 2024 picture shown here. Fortunately the sand is now eroded and the beach lowered by wave action to better expose the boulders (as seen in today’s photo).

Further south high on farmland above coastal cliffs at Waikouati is a group of farm buildings thought to be the oldest in NZ, —–

—– surviving from the 1840s. Why my interest? Well, check out this relationship —–

—– between my “hidden places” guide book and the view beyond the cover.

Unfortunately it was a ——

—— cloudy overcast day this Friday so my photo of the buildings could not reproduce the —–

—– sunny outlook of the picture on the book cover. The small building between the schoolroom on the right and the granary on the left is a three-seater “dunny” (chummy times going to the loo in the 1840s).

My final journey for the day had me back-tracking from Waikouati to Palmerston where I turned west to climb in drizzly wet up to Macraes Flat (Oceana Gold country) and then down into the Middlemarch to Hyde Rail Trail valley, passing on the way —–

—the “Fence of Death”. This was described by “Worth a Detour” as the place where some 20 years ago local pig hunters started hanging pig skins to brag about their hunting skills. The latest pig skin and head 500m along the fence is too gruesome to show, —–

—– so here is a recent deer skin.

Saturday 7^th February I spent on the Otago Rail Trail which is now very popular with bicycle tourists taking the 4 to 5 day ride from Clyde (near Alexandra) to Middlemarch (north of Dunedin). I met my first group —–

—–at 8.30am as I left —–

—– my freedom camping overnight spot to walk ——

—– over the nearby Capburn Viaduct —–

—– on my way —–

—– to Prices Viaduct where —–

—– this group of cattle took an interest in what I was up to.

After my 1¼ hour 4km return walk to Prices Viaduct I needed refreshment at —–

—– the café at the Hyde Hotel. The café re-opened in October last year after being closed over the last 7 years. A flat white and a cheese roll went down well before I took off to —-

—– Hyde Railway Station to do a 45 minute return walk south to —–

—– North Scrub Creek Bridge where just ahead of me a local farmer —–

—- was moving sheep from one side of the rail trail —–

—– to the other.

After lunch at Hyde Station carpark it was time to head to Ranfurly. I stopped on the way to look across the Taieri Valley down to —–

—– Prices Viaduct (middle foreground) and Prices Tunnel (the tiny hole in the hill way in the distance centre right, which I did not reach this morning) for which I provide close-ups below; —–

—– first the viaduct and —–

—– second, the tunnel entrance.

So another cracker of a week on the road, with thanks to “Worth a Detour” guiding my travels.

On Sunday 25^th January I took off 8:10 am for the Kakahu Bush Walk, Historic Lime Kiln and the Escarpment some 30km west of Geraldine. The walking track at 8km return ——

—— was really too far, so I checked out the nearby 500m Escarpment track which the DoC website said was closed because of tree-fall. Sure enough a tree had —–

—– damaged the footbridge providing access to the walking track, and as the ford was too deep to cross on foot due to the high level of the rain filled stream, ——

—— I took off down the access road where I could get views across the valley.

This limestone cliff curves outwards creating an overhang. Limestone is still quarried to make lime fertiliser today, and in the 19^th century local kilns produced burnt lime for a range of uses.

This 1876 pot-style kiln is the last survivor of this local industry. It is double walled with air inlets supporting the burning of coal mixed in layers with lime rock within the inner chamber so that the burnt lime falls to the base and is removed via the arch opening shown here.

I then took off via a zig-zag cross-country drive to Raincliff Historic Reserve on a rural road heading for Fairlie. Just before the Reserve I came across ——

—– St David’s Anglican Church, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. The stone wall was erected by volunteers from the parish to commemorate the church’s 100^th anniversary in 2007.

The church grounds are exceptionally well kept as is the church building and the cemetery alongside it.

The sign for the Historic Reserve gave no indication that it was the site of the Maori Rock Art shown by a star on my map, so I set off expectantly ——

—– up the stairway through the rocks —–

—– to the first rock art overhang, ——

——- then the second.

I had to use the flash on the camera to get good —–

—– images of the five items of red artwork in the first location —–

—– with a close-up view of the two centre ones here.

I zig-zagged some more to cross the Opihi River at Hanging Rock Bridge where —–

—– an impressive rock formation is jutting out over the river on the left of the far bank —–

—– which I then got to view close-up by walking back onto the bridge.

Hanging Rock refers to an escarpment which is famous —–

—– as a rock climbing area (photo above from Google Streetview), and is reached by walking some 700m across Goulds farm located about 300m down the road from the Hanging Rock Bridge. However, the climbnz (NZ Alpine Club) website advises that Hanging Rock crag has been closed for rock climbing since 2018 due to dangerous rock fall conditions.

I then took a very narrow and winding back country gravel road to cross the hills around Hanging Rock and return to the Waitohi Plains to get a sealed road past the Richard Pearse memorial.

This replica is erected at the location where he crash-landed in a hedge on 31 March 1902.

The “Worth a Detour” book says there is a replica of his plane in the Timaru Museum, and I also saw one without an engine in the Ashburton Aviation Museum.

The final visit for the day was to a small transport museum outside Geraldine called —–

—– the Route 79 Museum (above photo from Museum website).

There was a mix of military vehicles ——-

—– including this restored Bren Gun Carrier (a vehicle my father drove during the North Egyptian campaign in WW2).

Of the motor vehicles ——

—– there was a mix of old and new, but this  ——-

—– 1906 Darracq was the oldest in the displays, and had a 2021 registration sticker. The museum owner told me it belongs to his 96 year old father who hasn’t driven it for a while as he could not get his driver licence renewed.

Monday 26^th January I visited the fourth of the transport museums located in and around Geraldine, this one located on the Main Street.

The Museum is operated by the Geraldine Vintage Car & Machinery Club, with displays housed in 4 large buildings plus many outdoor exhibits of farm machinery and construction equipment. I spent 1½ hours there, starting with vintage cars of which the star item is —-

—– this 1928 Chevrolet. It is registered through to December 2026 and is in perfect running order.

There were two tractor buildings, this one ——

—– housing wheeled units including a —–

—– David Brown, our first tractor on the farm at Howe in the Waikaka Valley near Gore, purchased to replace the Clydesdale horses we used up until the late 1940’s.

The second tractor building housed —–

—– crawler tractors which we also used on the farm. Uncle Ernie would work with stock all day and after an early tea would head out on the crawler working under headlights in the night-time cool up until 11pm, ploughing and discing for a new crop to be spring planted.

The other motor vehicle building included —–

—– only two trucks, but —–

—– 10 police motorcycles.

Time for lunch took me to Barker’s —–

—– where a large selection of ——

—– condiments were available for sampling and helping yourself to accompany your meal.

After lunch I stocked up on some specialty cheeses before heading south through Timaru to freedom camp on the foreshore at Pareroa ready for a Maori rock art explore up side valleys off the Pareroa River road next day.

Tuesday 27^th January was overcast and drizzling as I headed west to find Craigmore Hill Road, a dirt road climbing up through Elworthy Station (also known as Holme Station) to a farmland plateau from which access via a four-wheel drive track led to a rock art site. I thought maybe I could get close enough to walk the four-wheel drive track, but this was not to be – mud and drizzle had me turn the van around at the hilltop stock yards. However, I discovered two items of interest right there at the top of the hill in the middle of “nowhere”.

First was —–

—– a NZ National Trust site with a gravel track through a cabbage tree grove ——

—– important in Maori cultural history.

The second was, behind the cabbage tree grove, a memorial to 1864 pioneer farmers Edward and Sarah Maria Elworthy who by 1872 were running 46,000 sheep here on 82,000 acres, one of the largest sheep runs in the country.

This large standing stone was erected on behalf of their descendants in March 2009 during a gathering at Holme Station to celebrate Edward and Sarah’s achievements, ——

—– and looks out over their original farmland in the Craigmore Valley.

I had more luck with the Te Manunui Rock Art site up Frenchman’s Gully, a narrow gravel road off the Craigmore Valley Road. This location ——

—– was a typical limestone rock overhang, fenced off to protect the art works.

There was only black drawing works ——

—– at this location ——

—— but some of the clearest figures ——

—— I have seen so far from the sites I have visited (this one showing a Moa).

Back-tracking down Pareora River Road to the coast I spent the rest of the morning on a 45 minute return walk to Tuhawaiki (Jacks) Point Lighthouse.

This lighthouse was originally erected in 1886 on Somes Island in Wellington Harbour, but was relocated here ——

—– in 1903. A single keeper resided here until 1930 when the light was fully automated.

After lunch at the foreshore track parking area I did a Google search on the phone to find a Timaru car wash that I could use to get the mud spattered van clean again. It really is quite satisfying ——

—– to operate the multi-stage pre-rinse, soap blast, —–

—- foam brush and final rinse to come out —–

—– gleaming again. Then it was off to check-in at the Top 10 Holiday Park for the night.

Wednesday 28^th January involved three cultural visits in Timaru. First was at —–

—– the Te Ana Maori Rock Art Centre located within the Information and Visitor Centre. This historic building was constructed by —–

—— Captain Henry Cain who provided the first ship landing service for Timaru when the harbour was at this location. He subsequently became a successful businessman and prominent public figure serving as Mayor 1870 to 1873.

I had opportunity to talk with Helen, the Manager at Te Ana, about the extent of rock art sites around the South Island based on a map I had seen Tuesday at Te Manunui showing sites from Kaikoura through Canterbury, Otago and even Fiordland. She said there are 761 sites throughout the South Island, 412 in South Canterbury and 286 in Otago. The Fiordland site is the first to include —–

—– a sailing ship.

The most famous rock art drawing is that of —–

—–the Taniwha from the Opihi cave complex. The Opihi River Valley contains 18 rock art sites which are under controlled access on private land. The Centre takes tours (in good weather) to the location which is quite close to the Raincliff site I visited on Sunday. The Taniwha image above has inspired artwork —–

—– such as this painting and —–

—– this 1960 stamp put out by NZ Post.

Before lunch —–

—– I popped in to the South Canterbury Museum to see their replica of the Richard Pearse plane with which he achieved the first powered take-off in the British Empire 31 March 1902 (the landing was a crash into a farm hedge). Pearse was a self-taught engineer and inventor and had worked on a design for a vertical take-off and landing plane for which he developed Patent drawings.

After lunch I spent the afternoon at the Aigantighe Art Gallery, with three current exhibitions to visit. The gallery is based in the historic house built in 1908 as a retirement residence by Alexander and Helen Grant who farmed the Grays Hill sheep station in the Mackenzie Country.

Alexander died in 1921 but Helen lived to the age of 101 and gifted the house to be used as an art gallery following her death in 1955. The building —–

—– is in magnificent condition, and is sited in extensive grounds which contain —–

—– a sculpture garden with limestone art works (seen beyond these gardeners at their 3pm “smoko”), and ——

—– these “rusted steel” sentinels on the patio outside the modern extension to the gallery.

The major current exhibition is Blackened Tapa work by a Tongan artist Stone Maka from Christchurch. His work is displayed on several large —–

—— tapa cloths with the designs including a range of coloured circles.

While I explored the other exhibitions from the modern extension through the refurbished homestead I found equally interesting the artwork —–

—— incorporated within the original stained glass windows —–

—— and their excellent detail.

Thursday 29^th January was a travel day Timaru to Lake Pukaki on the way to Aoraki Mt Cook. The approach into Fairlie was through —–

—– the Peace Avenue with its 500 oak trees planted from 1918 to commemorate the end of WWl.

This statue of James Mackenzie and his dog recognises him being the first white man to enter the tussock covered high country north of Fairlie now known as the Mackenzie Basin. As I headed for Burkes Pass, gateway to the Mackenzie country, I was taken by —–

—– the ruin of this settler cottage standing in the middle of a harvested hayfield.

Burkes Pass settlement was a quirky place ——

—— sprinkled with old machinery and slab timber outdoor furniture ——

—– with several “trading post” shops, this one —–

—– crowded with motoring memorabilia.

Anyway, I took time out for ——

—– a real fruit blueberry ice-cream.

The first scenic lookout in the Mackenzie country included this —

—— very tall mahi toi (artwork). Its design represents mihimihi (a welcome) to Kā Tiritiri o te Moana (the Southern Alps), Aoraki (Mt Cook), and Te Manahuna (Mackenzie Country). It is one of several collaborations between Waka Katohi (NZ Transport Agency) and Maori runanga (tribal councils) in the area.

This location is known as Dog Kennel Corner and part of the artwork references rock art representations of a dog.

Thursday night I freedom camped at Lake Wardell (actually a tree-lined pond) near Lake Pukaki ready to head up to Aoraki Mt Cook Friday morning.

Tasman Glacier was my Friday 30^th January morning objective, so I was away at 10 to 7 up SH80 toward Aoraki Mt Cook 50km to the north. Looking east across Lake Pukaki ——

—– I could see the Old Man Range on the horizon beyond the low cloud —–

—– that was obscuring Aoraki to the north.

However, I was soon coming out from under the cloud to glimpse the mountain ranges ahead of me —–

—– with Aoraki shining magnificently in the early morning sun.

My objective was the Tasman Glacier up a sealed road ——

—— over the Hooker River bridge to a parking lot below the ancient terminal moraine —–

—– to the right of this shelter. The 20 minute walk to the Glacier Lookout was stated to be “easy”, but with 337 steps (yes, I counted them on the way down) to climb up to the top of the moraine ——

—– it took much longer for me, with frequent rest stops to look back down the track and —–

—— a pause to catch this friendly Silvereye.

With Aoraki behind me, the upper glacier a white speck below the distant mountain centre right, and the whitish face of the calving glacier on the right at the head of the glacier lake, it was stunning place to be. There were no “icebergs” down the lower end of the lake; they —-

—– were all clustered on the left of the upper bay below the rock debris covered glacier ice.

So, at 9.30am I began my descent carefully down ——

—— the steps to then head for the DoC Visitor Centre at the Hermitage —–

—- which was sited to obtain a great view of Aoraki. I soaked up loads of excellent information and displays about the National Park, its wildlife and history, as well as climbing achievements from the first ascent Christmas Day 1894 to the present.

The summit is approached from the lower peak via a very narrow ridge, —–

—– a route not for the fainthearted (above photo from TV documentary at the Visitor Centre).

So, at the end of a most informative day it was away to Omarama to book in for a couple of nights at the Top 10 Holiday Park.

After mist cleared around 10am on Saturday 31^st January I headed 5km north of Omarama to the Clay Cliffs turnoff which after 5km on a good road turned west on a bone-shaking —–

—– corrugated and dusty gravel road 10km into the Cliffs carpark.

The cliffs are composed of weak sedimentary layers of white and grey sandstone and mudstone —–

—– which have been eroded into classic ‘badlands’ terrain —–

—– of canyons, towers and pinnacles.

Close-up you can readily see the —–

—— sedimentary nature of the pillars.

At the end of the walkway the track led through a —–

—– narrow defile into —–

—– an open amphitheater with some central pillars surrounded by plant growth.

Returning to the carpark at around 12 noon the view was across the —–

—– Ahuriri River Valley to Omarama.

Thus ended a week of considerable travel variety with next week heading for Waimate and Oamaru.

On Saturday 17^th January I travelled north to Waipara and Freedom Camped overnight at the Glenmark Reserve on Church Road. Next morning I drove down Church Road to near the junction with SH1, and visited the historic —–

—– St Paul’s Anglican Church, built in 1906.

This outstanding brick building is visible from SH 1 —–

—– sitting on a knoll above the road when heading south toward Waipara (above photo from Heritage NZ website), and I have always been curious as to its stately presence so far out in the countryside.

It was built and paid for by Annie Quayle Townend in memory of her father, Glenmark farmer George Henry Moore (1812 -1905). In addition she had a 12 room vicarage —–

—– provided on the property with foot access to the church some 200m away via —–

—– a bush walk and creeper covered archway through to a lychgate at the edge of the church grounds.

The first Canterbury earthquake in September 2010 caused considerable but repairable damage to the building, After years of restoration work and spending some $2.5m the Friends of Glenmark Church were able to open the church for worship mid-2023 while continuing internal refurbishment. This culminated in the shifting of the wooden pews back into the church (no more deck chairs) in November last year. The Vicarage —–

—– now has a life of its own.

For Sunday 18^th January I had booked for a repeat trip on the Weka Pass Railway, leaving from —–

—– Glenmark Station. The Weka Pass Railway originally operated with a classic —–

—– steam engine (photo from a display in the station), but unfortunately it’s boiler failed inspection last year and restoration will take considerable funds and several years of work. So we had to settle for diesel powered locomotives, two being involved ——

—– in today’s excursion.

After we got underway —–

—– I turned to look back on the train’s rear ——

—– and saw we were being followed by a Suzuki SUV which turned out to be the fire truck. The train now has to be followed by fire control as a precaution in case an engine spark starts a rail side grass fire. The SUV carries two crew, a large water tank, a pump and long hoses. This year’s rain frequency has kept the grass green and fire risk is thus resultantly low.

Weka Pass provides loads of examples of road and rail-side —–

—– limestone formations with —–

—– Frog Rock being the most photographed as we headed toward —–

—– the cutting behind the rock.

I was well wrapped up with extra jerseys and a wind-jacket —–

—– for the trip via the open-air wagon – here I am waiting for the engines at the Waikari terminus ——

—— to change to the front of the train for the return journey.

After the rail trip I headed for Hanmer Springs for another Freedom Camping night so as to position myself for a Hanmer Forest Walk Monday morning. That turned out to be a major disappointment. Remember this photo from 20^th March 2025 ——

—– with the dog on a pedestal at the entrance to the wooden sculpture trail? Well, —–

—– here is the view Monday 19^th January 2026. A huge wind storm swept through the area in October last year snapping the tops of trees off so they are dangling dangerously over the track – access will take months to restore.

So I took a forest walk back across the road, and soon came to —–

—– some of the tree damage there. Because there were plenty of alternative tracks, access had not been closed off —–

—– and I was able to see some of the damage the winds had wrecked in this other part of the forest.

I took off back out of Hanmer, across the —–

—– 1887 Waiau Ferry bridge to take SH 7 up to Lewis Pass.

The entrance via SH 7 to the 67km 4 to 6 day tramp on St James Walkway is accessed from a carpark just before the Pass. I stopped there to —–

—– view The Tarn, a tiny lake which can freeze up with 6 inches (150mm) of ice during the winter. There was also a 30-minute alpine walk near The Tarn which —–

—– was well worth a visit with several information boards and many plant species with name posts. On the hillside across the valley ——

—— a small stream was cascading down the steep slope.

The carpark at the St James entrance was also designated as a Freedom Campsite, but being full of cars as well as water filled potholes I gave it a miss and went 5 minutes back down the road to the DoC Deer Valley —–

—– campsite.

Monday night was cold (5 degrees C) but Tuesday 20^th January I was up and away 7am and pleased I had not attempted to stay at the carpark up the road as it was full of —–

—– two helicopters, a concrete truck and a host of construction workers and vehicles about to begin construction of a new cell tower on a nearby high spot.

At 8:45 I arrived in Reefton where I visited the new water powered electricity station on the site of the old 1888 generator which was the first to provide power for community street lighting in the Southern Hemisphere. The wooden flume ——

—– is now delivering water to the new generator building ——

—– alongside which is a replica of the original 1888 generator.

The new generator, I was told by a local resident, generates enough power to supply half the current street lighting system in Reefton. The replica unit is yet to be commissioned.

Before moving on from Reefton I stopped off for morning coffee at ——

—– the historic bakery on the main street —–

—— which I found was “worth a detour” ——

—– on the recommendation of the “hidden places” travel book given to me for Christmas by Calum and Ali. Author Peter Janssen said their traditional Scottish shortbread was “near the top”, so I took the book in with me to show the staff who were thrilled to read the book’s entry on the cafe. I purchased a pack of shortbread to enjoy with my flat white.

From Reefton I travelled through the Buller Gorge to divert south near Westport to Charleston and visit —–

—– Mitchell’s Gully Goldmine with its walkway —–

—– along the old ore carrying railway passing through ——

—– a series of tunnels. The water powered stamper battery —–

—– was not operating at the time.

In the limestone valley behind Charleston is the Nile River Rainforest Train which carries Cave Rafting adventurers and sightseers up the valley. I had missed the last train for the day so drove into —–

—– the rail terminus ——

—– to take the rail-side walking track beside the river. There were great views of —–

—– limestone cliffs across the river. I also encountered —–

—– a feral goat nannie and ——

—— her two kids on my trek.

Returning from my 1 hour walk up the valley trail I was about to drive out when —–

—– the afternoon train arrived back with a full load of passengers.

From Charleston I headed south along the coast —–

—– with its many rocky headlands ——

—– to spend the night at the Fox River Freedom Camping spot, enduring thousands of sand-flies during an evening walk.

Punakaiki was my destination Wednesday morning, not to see the blowholes, but to visit the Paparoa National Park exhibit —–

—– at the DoC information and Visitor Centre. I had missed out on this experience during my 2025 visit.

The highly professional exhibition covered cultural, geological and natural features of the Paparoa National Park with an ever-changing video wall entrance ——

—— leading to four rooms ——

—— covering cultural history, ——

—– wildlife, —–

—— forest growth and —–

—– geology (with an active replica of a blowhole).

With a rainy weather forecast for the next few days for both Westland and Canterbury I set off for Christchurch via Greymouth, heavy rain setting in as I climbed up the Otira Gorge in first gear —-

—– behind a huge transport truck.

The next day, Thursday 22^nd January, was a total washout with steady and at times heavy rain all day. Confined to the motorhome in the Tasman Holiday Park in Papanui gave me an opportunity to plan my route ahead and highlight the best of the “worth a detour” visits on the way.

The weather forecast for Friday indicated thunderstorms from late afternoon, so I took advantage of the dry but overcast morning to bus into the city and get an All Day Tram Pass —–

—– allowing me to hop-on/hop-off throughout the day on the 50-minute circuit.

First hop-off was to view the new covered 30,000 seat venue, —-

—— the One New Zealand Stadium (Te Kaha), here shown from the One NZ website. All I could see at street level ——

—– was this view looking east down Cashel Street. It will be completed for opening this coming ANZAC Weekend for a 3-day Super Rugby Tournament involving 10 teams from NZ, Australia, Fiji and the Pacific.

I also noticed new murals on buildings that had been added since last year’s visit, the most notable being —–

—– this very tall girl.

The sun came out as I travelled another few tram stops to the Pop-Up Museum where an —–

—— International photographic exhibition was on. The Museum is undergoing a 5 year total reconstruction on its original site, hence the temporary Pop-Up location in a commercial building nearby.

I actually found the photos from the local Christchurch competition more interesting than the overseas ones. The following two bird pictures were especially good, —–

—– a spoonbill at sunset and —–

—– a kea coming in for a landing.

So following lunch at the Thirsty Peacock restaurant in the Art Gallery and some more hop-on/hop-off tram riding I caught the No.1 bus back to Papanui and put my feet up for the rest of the day as rain clouds threatened on the horizon.

Saturday 24^th January started overcast with rain forecast again for mid-afternoon. Fortunately my first visit was in the morning at Trott’s Garden in Ashburton where it stayed dry. My next visit was after lunch to the Ashburton Aviation Museum, housed under cover in three huge hangers. The rain started at 2.30 as I left the museum and headed off for Geraldine.

Trott’s Garden is 4.5 hectare property —–

—– with an extensive garden planted by Catherine and Alan Trott beginning in 1978. It is now recognised as —–

—– a garden of international significance, and incorporates —–

—– a wedding chapel —–

—– and a British style Pub, the Brantwood Arms.

Particular features of the extensive gardens and woodland include —–

—– this dovecote and pond, ——

—– the Red Garden —–

—– with its Adam and Eve at the tree (yes, that’s an apple in Eve’s right hand), —–

—– plus stands of trees —–

—– including those around the pond, —–

—– and the ornamental Knot Garden with its four plots (two of which are shown here).

The Aviation Museum occupied two hangers with a third new larger hanger being fitted out to take other aircraft waiting to be displayed. I must say I was impressed, having visited several such aviation heritage centres in NZ and Australia.

Hanger One had a viewing platform —–

—– from which I could get a good overview of the exhibits such as this DC 3 civilian plane and the Vampire jet fighter above, ——

—— and the Skyhawk and Harvard in the centre of this group.

Overall it was a great exhibition of flight with small and large planes plus gliders, microlights and helicopters.

So I have ended my Saturday travels at Geraldine Top 10 Holiday Park where I will be based through to Monday morning.

I spent Sunday 11^th January at Sumner Beach where strong winds were whipping up a sandstorm on the foreshore Esplanade as I passed the iconic Cave Rock at the entrance to the village. So I drove down to Scarborough Park —–

—– at the sheltered end of the beach —–

—– which was packed with families ——-

—– enjoying the surf —–

—– and the water playground.

On Monday 12^th I revisited and walked the trail around the —–

—– Otukaikino Wetland near Kaiapoi, designated as a Living Memorial.

The Department of Conservation together with funeral directors Lamb and Hayward are restoring the wetland by planting trees to commemorate the loss of loved ones. Annually a memorial service is held at the wetland to honour the memory of those who have passed during the year

Although rare birds such as the spotless crake and the Australian Bittern have been seen at the wetland, the only birds I saw were —–

—– the NZ Scaup, or diving duck.

Late afternoon I drove out to ——-

—— Hororata, the base for —–

—— my Tuesday early morning adventure. Hororata is a one hour drive southwest from Christchurch into the Canterbury Plains.

Ballooning Canterbury has a NZMCA (NZ Motor Caravan Association) POP (Park Over Property) site in a field next to their HQ, so I settled in with the motorhome for an early night having to rise in time for a 5am check-in on Tuesday 13^th. With pilot Nick (who first flew balloon solo at age 12), ground crew member Dean, and 5 other expectant ballooners we headed off in the dark to the Glentunnel Domain towing the balloon package and the basket on a trailer behind the van.

Launching the balloon was a fascinating exercise, involving assistance from members of our party ——

—— who in the dawn light held the open end of the balloon while a blower forced cold air in to inflate it. The basket at this stage is lying on its side.

At the top end of the balloon Dean invited me to take a photo down through the inside —–

—– toward the opening through which air was being forced.

Once the inflation size had reached an appropriate level ——

—— the basket was stood on its base, passengers scrambled aboard, the —–

—– gas burners were activated,—–

—– and I waited expectantly for ——

—— liftoff as ground crew member, Dean, put the mooring ropes and blower away and got ready to follow our voyage from the road.

Afloat at 6am we were ready at 6.08 to view ——

—– the sunrise from 2,500 feet —–

—– when Nick, our pilot, —–

—–took time out to take a photo of each of us on our own camera.

The view to the southwest took in the cold air fog —–

—– nestling in a valley ——-

—— while directly west we looked back onto the foothills leading to the Southern Alps.

Heading slowly eastwards —–

—– the open country gradually morphed into —–

—– flat plains with —–

——- views of Coalgate farm-lets and their ——

—–animals, the cows looking up at us, but the sheep unconcerned.

As we passed over Coalgate Village we were able to see our shadow following us —–

—– over the sale yards.

Nick then increased our elevation with ——

—— short bursts from one of the burners ——

—– so we could look back on Coalgate.

On the south side of Coalgate we could see across the plains fields dotted with —– 

—– centre-pivot water irrigation systems which were in —–

—– full operation everywhere we looked.

We also passed over a barley crop ——

—– where Nick took us down low to skim along just above fence level —–

—— where we got a good view of an irrigator watering the pasture next to the grain crop.

After an hour afloat it was time to look for a landing place. Now we were in dairy farm country —–

—– with the cows looking inquisitively up at us.

As we climbed to look ahead for a cow-free paddock, I watched our shadow —–

—– “herding” this mob of cows.

Spotting a potential landing spot we dropped lower again and swept over the grass a metre or so above the ground. Nick had to take evasive action —–

—– to lift us over an oncoming irrigator ——

—— which I was able to look back on as we passed over.

Dean (in the van with trailer top right of this photo below) radioed Nick to confirm that the paddock behind —–

—– the stock yards on this farm was a good landing spot, ——-

—— so he carefully touched the ground with the basket gripping and sliding over the grass until we came to an upright stop – brilliant flying.

With the basket then set on its side —–

—– gradually the balloon began to deflate.

It was then all hands to work —–

—— letting the hot air out of the top of the balloon, —–

—– wrapping it up, —–

—– and packing it into its cover.

We then gathered around the hospitality table (bubbly, fruit juice, muffins and fruit) —–  

—– and with pilot Nick (on the right) celebrated a successful conclusion to this really great adventure.

So at 8.30 I was on my way back to Christchurch to spend some of the day sorting the 175 photos I took during this flight.

Wednesday 14^th January it rained all morning, so I stayed in camp for the day, taking some walking exercise around the Holiday Park when the rain cleared mid-afternoon. Thursday was wet all day with steady rain starting 7.00am – a day in-house working on route planning for the weeks ahead. Friday, with some drizzle in the morning and cloudy and cool the rest of the day, I spent on housework and laundry before heading to nearby Northlands Mall for lunch and shopping for supplies. With Wednesday to Friday being a “washout” I maybe will come back to Christchurch at some stage later in this trip.

Saturday 17^th was more rain as I headed north to Waipara to take the Weka Pass Railway trip on the Sunday morning.

The 2-foot gauge Blenheim Riverside Railway runs over 5km through riverside parkland into the centre of town. So Sunday 4^th January I arrived early at Brayshaw Historic Park to watch the train arrive for its two afternoon return trips for the day, the first to Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre, and the second to the town centre terminus.

On the platform at the back of the above photo is a white haired tall guy in a peaked cap (one on the left) talking to a railway staff member, and when I walked down to near the ticket office entry door the staff guy said to the tall guy, “here comes your brother”. The railway guy insisted on taking a photo of us —–

—– following which I found out my “brother” is a fit 90 year old, name John, is from England, and is visiting his daughter who lives locally. He is in the middle of a very long waiting list for a parent’s residential visa to enable him to permanently stay in NZ. Meanwhile he makes annual trips here on a visitor’s visa.

My rides for the day included both the trip to Omaka and the riverside trip into the town centre —–

—– where after reaching the turn-around at the town basin terminus (main trunk railway in the foreground), we headed back along —–

—– the riverside boardwalk —–

—— and into the parks area.

The train was well patronised for the trip as we headed back from town ——

—–to the station at Brayshaw Park.

For Sunday night it was my 8^th night “freedom” camping, this one at Marfells Beach campsite (the fourth DoC camp in the 8 nights).

The camp sites are on the bank well above the high tide level which comes right up to the timber debris on the beach.

The beach is very shallow, and extends east to the headland in the distance, leading to Cape Campbell (with its lighthouse) which is the third most easterly point in the South Island.

Not only is ——

—— there loads of seabirds on the beach, —–

—– I was also welcomed by this neighbourly male pheasant when I set up camp.

Sunrise and high tide at Marfells Beach on Monday 5^th January provided —–

—– a warm glow over my campsite with a view —–

—– across Cook Strait to the Wellington heads on the right.

I took a quick trip to Lake Grassmere Saltworks —–

—— before heading to Ward Beach on the east coast south of Cape Campbell.

A camping couple who were there overnight told me that the crayfishing crews woke them at 5am as they started up their bulldozers to launch boats for a day out checking and resetting their crayfish pots

I headed along the beach in the direction of Cape Campbell to get an early morning view ——

—– of the Ward Beach Boulders, similar to but much smaller than the Moeraki Boulders south of Oamaru.

These 7 boulders are well above high tide line on a gravel beach, thus are not as vulnerable to tidal action as the Moeraki Boulders which are on a sandy beach and subject to tidal inundation.

After lunch at The Store, Kekerengu,——

—– which provides a huge outdoor dining area, I headed for the Top 10 Holiday Park in Kaikoura for a four-night stay.

Tuesday 6^th January was a housekeeping day catching up on 2 weeks of laundry, but I managed a walk into town late afternoon to view the Coastal Pacific —–

—– leaving for Christchurch at 4.30 and —–

—– then see a couple of fully loaded Whale Watch buses heading for South Harbour for the late afternoon/early evening cruise out to the Kaikoura Canyon.

My Whale Watch adventure on Wednesday 7^th involved —–

—– this helicopter operated by Kaikoura Helicopters out of a foreshore landing pad location just over the hedge and across the railway from my campsite at the Top 10 Holiday Park

The machine takes 6 passengers, two seated in the front to the right of the pilot, and four across the back. Wide windows provide good views front and side. There were five on my trip with me being located directly behind the pilot by the left window. With headphones on to enable everyone to listen to the pilot’s commentary it was surprisingly quiet with no sound of engine noise. Pilot Aaron told us he was taking us 8km straight out to where he had seen a sperm whale feeding and diving during the 9am flight, and sure enough —–

—– he was right on target, with the whale having surfaced to breathe after a 45 minute feeding dive.

Aaron circled low, first right, then left, so everyone had a chance for a good view. However, getting good focus shots from the moving helicopter was tricky —–

—– and in addition there was a fair amount of side splash around the whale, although —–

—– I did get him spouting —–

—– before he slowly submerged instead of a full tail-up dive.

Low sea cloud was creeping in under us as we headed back with ——

—— our shadow surrounded by a circular “rainbow” known as a “Glory”.

We did spot a group of dolphins —–

—– which I was able to get on camera, but the Hectors dolphins close inshore we passed too quickly to photograph.

We had a good view of the Top 10 camp spanning the full width of this photo.

Once we landed I had to walk back into town, pass under the railway bridge then walk back to camp, a 20-minute trek. The motorhome is in the back corner of the Top 10 just to the left of the glasses of this front seat passenger, while the railway is between his chin and the microphone from his headset.

Thursday (8^th January) at 7.30am I parked at —–

—the end of the Kaikoura Peninsula to take the clifftop track.

I walked to the base of the hilltop to the left of the tree on the horizon, looking down on bird nesting areas, and —–

—– the seal colony. The seals used to base themselves at the carpark area but following the Kaikoura earthquake in 2016, which raised the foreshore and changed rock and pool configurations substantially, they relocated south to a new bay.

Friday 9^th January was a travel day Kaikoura to Christchurch with three diversions on the way. First was to Conway Flat and Claverley at the coastal outlet of the Conway River. This is where the main trunk railway meets the foreshore before heading to Kaikoura through a host of tunnels.

On my left was the gravel beach along the Conway flats, and to my right was —–

—– the main trunk line with the Coastal Pacific thundering through heading north. The luxury coach with full dining facilities ——

—–was well patronised, while the observation car behind the regular carriage —–

—– had many travelers enjoying the closeness to the foreshore.

My second diversion was along a gravel road off SH1 south of Cheviot to —–

—– a location shown as “Nonoti” on the road map. The name came from a local politician in the late 1800s who was invited to name the locality, but in response declined by saying “no, not I”. The entrance here is into a large farming complex, and that is all there is of “Nonoti”.

The third diversion at lunchtime was to a coastal area near Greta Valley where I saw a large fishing boat ——

—– returning from a trip, and —–

—— taken up to a depot for refuelling, then returning and being re-launched half-an-hour later.

Meanwhile a nearby cormorant (pied shag) was resting following its own fishing venture.

Saturday 10^th January was the Clan Gunn Society of NZ Annual General Meeting in Christchurch. Normally we would hold the AGM in November but issues arose over a venue for which we needed internet access to Microsoft Teams so those around the table in Christchurch could see and talk to members who had logged in online. I attended in person this year with four locals plus 3 members online. The small attendance at the meeting reflects declining interest in Clan activities, and winding up the Clan at the end of 2026 was the major topic of discussion.

This coming week my agenda is further exploration of Christchurch attractions, repeating some areas and activities I visited during 2024 and 2025. The 32 degree heat today along with high humidity is rather uncomfortable.

Following Christmas 2025 with Calum and Ali in Petone I had several days before my Cook Strait ferry crossing on my way to 3 months travelling in the South Island, so headed to the Wairarapa to do some exploring.

Sunday 28^th December became fine and sunny as I left the Hutt Valley and headed up over the Remutaka Hill, stopping to view —-

—– the Wellington water storage lakes, and then ——

—– the summit view back down the road toward Wellington.

I explored Martinborough at 10am and found people were still —-

—– breakfasting outdoors at the Hotel.

After lunch at Lake Ferry I set up camp ——

—– at the DoC Putangirua Pinnacles camping area on the south coast and relaxed under the awning with a book for the rest of the day.

On Monday morning (December 29^th) the sun on the —–

—– eroded hillside across the river from my campsite showed promise of the pinnacles to come.

I thus headed out at 7.30 for the Pinnacles Ridgeway Track. The entrance information board said it was a moderate walk of 45 minutes one-way to the viewing point 1.5km away – that seemed quite a long time to walk that distance, and I soon found out why.

The first 300m was along a —–

—– rough boulder/stone riverbed with 2 stream crossings before entering ——

—– a steep climbing track though the bush with dozens of sets of steps, some —–

—— with handrails.

Nearing the track summit I could look back down —–

—– on the eroded hillside across from my campsite (see earlier picture above) and appreciate how high I had climbed.

So, the last few steps of my 1hr 20min trek ——-

—– was up to the viewing platform where the next person to arrive offered—–

—– to take my photo.

The pinnacles were some distance away (the track down in the valley to view them up close having been closed for safety reasons) with my view straight into the early morning sun ——

——- being a little glary compared to the DoC photo ——

—— on the display board at the campsite sign-in station (which shows an afternoon sun view).

So, the walk back down took 1hr and 5 min as I had to take the steep downhill trek slowly and carefully – labelling it as a 45 minute walk each way was pretty optimistic in my view.

Rain set in overnight so my Tuesday 30^th December drive out to Cape Palliser lighthouse via —–

—— the Ngawi bulldozer boat launching area on the foreshore was into rain and buffeting wind.

The lighthouse climb up those steps —–

—— was not a good idea in the wet, so I headed back to Ngawi via a —–

—— roadside view of some of the seal colony.

I stayed at Ngawi foreshore in the freedom camping area until 4pm, but the rain and buffeting wind was quite unpleasant, so I booked into the Pinnacles campground again, and found a really sheltered spot for the night.

Wednesday 31^st December was my visit to Pukaha Wildlife Sanctuary at Mount Bruce. In 1958 local farmer and amateur ornithologist Elwyn Welch secretly raised 4 takahe chicks at his farm, beginning the process of restoring the population of this bird after their discovery in Fiordland in 1948.

Today there are some 8 aviaries housing a range of native birds ——

—– including the Kaka (bush parrot). They can only be viewed through fine mesh netting, so photography is pretty limited. On the other hand a good view of tuna eels —-

—– was available at feeding time.

New Year’s eve was spent at Mangatainoka ——-

——- where just a few freedom campers were overnighting in the riverside reserve across the highway from the historic brewery building.

On New Year’s Day I explored the new Manawatu-Tararua Highway from Woodville to Ashurst, driving over to visit the scenic overlook going west, then returning back eastward to two scenic overlooks before back to the Ashurst side again.

Going west the overlook provided a view —–

—– of a small portion of the extensive windfarm area.

Going back east to view the valley beyond Woodville ——

—– enabled me to visit to this memorial sculpture to three extinct birds, —–

—– the Haast Eagle, —–

—–the Moa and the Huia.

The huge parking reserve —–

—– at the Ashurst end of the new highway is the base for cycling and walking trails along the highway, as well up the old Manawatu Gorge route and neighbouring localities.

I walked over the two bridges at the beginning of the highway, —-

—– first the concrete one over the Manawatu River, and —–

—— second, the steel eco-bridge over the wetland valley below the windfarm ridges. A good one hour plus walk with steps and well maintained tracks.

After freedom camping Thursday night at Foxton the Cook Strait crossing on Friday 2^nd January was the smoothest ever on the Blue Bridge’s Livia. We passed —–

—– the Livia’s sister-ship Connemara near our entry to Tory Channel. Arriving late afternoon in Picton I headed for central Blenheim where overnight freedom camping is permitted in one of the main carparks in town.

Saturday 4^th January I collected travel leaflets from the Blenheim Information Centre, and checked out the historic precinct at Brayshaw Historic Museum Park.

There are some well-presented displays at Brayshaw (such as this traction engine) but out in the back storage area there were hundreds of rusting farm implements which no one is likely to ever restore.

Brayshaw Park is also the base for the Blenheim Riverside Railway, which operates on the first and third Sundays monthly during summer, so this would be my destination for the next day.

Introduction to the Bridge to Nowhere

The remote Mangapurua Valley south of Taumarunui was originally accessed via a gravel road which looped north then west from Raetihi to serve some 35 to 40 farms developed from 1917 as a soldiers’ settlement and provide farmland for returned WWI servicemen. In 1919 river access was provided from the south via a track to a wooden swing bridge across Mangapurua River with a landing on the Whanganui River enabling river boats to provide farm supplies to the valley. The expectation was that a permanent road bridge would replace the swing bridge and the road through the valley would continue south into Taranaki.

DoC (the Department of Conservation) explains on its website that with the condition of the timber bridge deteriorating by the early 1930s a new concrete arch bridge was commissioned, finally opening in 1936 to span across the steep ravine walls 40 metres above the Mangapurua River. Unfortunately extremely difficult farming and economic conditions had resulted in many families abandoning their properties by the end of the 1930’s with only a handful of farm families remaining by 1942. The Government decided to cease road maintenance down to the bridge that year and by 1944 the last families left, virtually penniless. The area become known as “the valley of abandoned dreams” and the concrete arch bridge named the “Bridge to Nowhere” with its only access being from the Mangapurua Landing on the Whanganui River.

Today the bridge is a major visitor attraction within the Whanganui National Park being on the route of the “Whanganui Journey” one of New Zealand’s Great Walks. It is maintained by DoC which carried out major repair work to both the top and underside of the bridge making it one of the best preserved ferro-concrete style bridges of the 1930-1940s in the country.

Visiting the Bridge to Nowhere with Whanganui River Adventures

Following my Forgotten World rail cart trip on Thursday 30 October I relocated to Pipiriki on the Whanganui River on Friday 31 October, travelling west from Taumarunui to turn south to Raetihi just before Ohakune and drive 26km west to reach Pipiriki for my Saturday trip with Whanganui River Adventures (WRA).

WRA is owned and operated by ——-

—— Ken and Josephine Haworth who grew up in the Pipiriki area on properties owned by their families back over several generations. Josephine’s family have been involved in jet boating on the Whanganui River over 3 generations and Ken’s family since the 1970s. Together involved in the jet boating business over many years they established Whanganui River Adventures in 2003 with the WRA headquarters in the old Pipiriki Primary School. The restored school building —–

—– is the tour base, shop and camping reception, with the old sports field —–

—– providing a large area for cabins, motorhomes, caravans and tenting. WRA is the only local Maori owned commercial jet boat tour company based in Pipiriki.

Saturday 1 November became a brilliant sunny day after early morning river mist dispersed. After checking in at ——

—– the office at 9.30 our tour group kitted up —–

—— with life jackets and took a short mini-van ride down to the river terrace —-

—– where the parking area is some 15m above river level. During the June 2015 Whanganui River flooding following a months’ worth of rain falling in 24 hours, river level reach the bottom of the parking sign (to the right of the van).

The steep concrete paved boat launch ramp took us down to —–

—– the jet boat landing area ——-

—– where following boarding ——

—– Ken gave us a safety briefing ——

—– before heading away up river on our 32km, 55 minute trip to Mangapurua Landing and the start of the Bridge to Nowhere walk.

Just upstream from our starting point was a Maori eel trap, ——

—– still operational.

Steep papa banks lined the river as we —–

—– headed upstream to the main gorge where —–

—– near vertical walls enclosed the steadily flowing river.

Ken’s childhood home was on a farm halfway up to our destination ——

—– where on the bank of the river down from the farmhouse and just visible as a brown dot on the ridge leading up from the riverside rock fall left-of-centre lower picture ——

—– the current owners were grazing a very good-looking cattle-beast.

Along the way we stopped at several locations where Ken provided commentary on river features and local history. He pointed out that when Maori canoed north up the river in several places they used prepared holes in the riverbank to —–

—– insert the bottom of long poles to push their way up against the current.

At Mangapurua Landing we disembarked —–

—– for our 40 plus minute walk to the Bridge to Nowhere, a return bush trek of 6km.

River boats dropped cargo here for horses to be loaded with packs of supplies to be carried over the early road into the farms in the Mangapurua valley.

We followed the old road along the hillside —–

—– high above the river ——

—– and into the Mangapurua valley in which the 1936 bridge was built to improve access for the original farmer settlers as well as the WWI returned servicemen farmers and their families.

At the location of the last farmhouse left in the valley Ken gave us a background talk on the difficulties the early farmers faced in clearing bush and raising animals on the steep country subject to flooding and slips during wet winters. The board on Ken’s right ——

—– displayed the names of the last four farming families to leave the area in the late 1930s.

The last section of the old road had recently been damaged —–

—– but a narrow track allowed us to find the “Bridge to Nowhere” a short distance —–

—–further on just behind me.

The 1936 concrete bridge replaced the original narrow suspension bridge.

We spent an hour at the bridge having lunch, followed by a talk from Ken on the history of the area. He explained that the hillsides on the other side of the bridge here was grass farmland in the 1930s, now reverted to second growth bush.

While lunching a chaffinch landed on a tree branch near me —–

—– and with a sideways look —–

—– jumped onto the bridge handrail and showed he was clearly interested in my sandwich.

I hunted around for the best spot —–

—– to take a selfie as the overlook track that allowed visitors to climb up above the bridge for photos had recently been ruined in an earth-slide.

It was then back to the landing to rejoin our jet-boat for the trip home.

The landing area had filled up with several canoe travelers ——

—– some of whom we then passed on the journey south. The blue drums in the canoes are watertight containers for keeping backpacks and camping supplies dry if some misfortune resulted in a canoe overturning.

It was a high-speed dash (50kph) downriver through several areas of rapids which felt like a severely pot-holed road surface as we passed through them.

Where we encountered canoers downstream on our return trip, we carefully slowed right down to minimise our wake as we passed them. They, for their part, —–

—– would turn to face the wave from our wake head-on so as not to be rolled over sideways.

So, back to disembark at Pipiriki Landing to —–

——climb the boat ramp back to our short ride to WRA base and the campground.

Another great day out, this time up the Whanganui River, and returning better informed re the history and location of the Bridge to Nowhere.

Introduction to the Forgotten World

State Highway 43 between Stratford in Taranaki north to Taumarunui passes through a range of landscapes over its 148km length. Leaving Stratford it traverses pastoral and agricultural land to then enter rugged grazing and forestry country including climbs over three saddles (Strathmore, Whangamōmona and Tahora) before passing along the deep Tangarakau Gorge 15 km from Taumarunui. Until February 2025 12 km of the Gorge section had a gravel surface, being the last unsealed portion of the State Highway network up to that time. Although its new surface is of the highest quality the road is still very narrow with many “give way” sections on the downhill slopes heading north. Originally a limited travel route with unsealed sections it was considered as being remote and “forgotten”, hence developing the name “Forgotten World Highway”.

Stratford and Taumarunui are also connected by rail with the line joining the main trunk railway at Okahukura 12km west of Taumarunui. This railway was constructed over the period 1901 to 1932 to link Auckland with New Plymouth. Passenger services continued up until 1983, with the freight service ceasing in 2009 when following a serious derailment the line was mothballed. Subsequently in 2012 the adventure tourism company Forgotten World Adventures obtained a 30 year lease to operate self-drive rail carts (modified petrol driven golf carts) over the full length of line between Okahukura and Stratford. The main travel package comprises full-day trips Okahukura to Whangamōmona (Republic 1 trip) two to three days per week with Whangamōmona to Okahukura (Republic 2 trip) on the other two to three days. All travel commences from Taumarunui with bus return from Whangamōmona to Taumarunui in the late afternoon for Republic 1, and bus travel from Taumarunui to Whangamōmona early morning for Republic 2. Forgotten World Adventures also operates occasional two-day special excursions. One comprises the full 140km rail trip Taumarunui to Stratford with an overnight stop in Whangamōmona. Another comprises rail cart to Whangamōmona with overnight stop, then next day helicopter transfer to Pipiriki on the Whanganui River travelling via jet boat 110km up river back to Taumarunui with a 6km return bush walk to the Bridge to Nowhere on the way.

The village of Whangamōmona (population around 160) 61km north of Stratford has designated itself a “Republic” following a 1989 confrontation when the redrawing of regional council boundaries placed the area within the Manawatu-Whanganui Region whereas the locals wanted to retain their association with the Taranaki Region. The NZ Pocket Guide outlines the story of the Republic of Whangamōmona and its declaration of independence and election of a President (1 November 1989). Since 1989 there have been two local residents elected President as well as two animals (a goat and a poodle) and a turtle. The current President is Vikki Pratt, elected in 2015. Although reportedly being elected against her wishes she was picked for President by her “fellow countrymen and women”. Republic Day is now celebrated every second January with a host of rural activities and competitions (such as sheep street racing, gumboot throwing, possum skinning) attracting visitors from all over New Zealand.

The Forgotten World Road Trip

I originally booked the Republic 1 rail cart trip with Forgotten World Adventures (FWA) for Friday 17 October. However on Tuesday that week a huge storm swept across northern Taranaki and the King Country causing extensive flooding and slips and closing both SH43 (the Forgotten World Highway Stratford to Taumarunui) and SH4 between Te Kuiti and Taumarunui. On Thursday 16, as I was driving from Turangi to Taumarunui, FWA phoned me to advise that the Friday’s trip was cancelled (as they could not bus participants back from Whangamōmona at the end of the day) and would I be OK with a shortened version trip 40km toward Whangamōmona with lunch at Tokirima before returning by rail cart back to Okahukura.

On reaching the FWA office in Taumarunui at 11.30am they explained that they were checking the rail line that morning to confirm it was OK for the next day and would let me know if there was any change in plan. At 12.30 I was called to advise the line was blocked with a slip that would take several days to clear, and I would thus need to rebook.

Hence the only photos I could get of my FWA experience so far were the following two.

First, their logo on the back of one of their buses, and second —–

—– one of their rail carts on a stand outside the main office.

I decided to take off for a week in Whanganui and on Monday 20 October managed to get the next available booking with FWA this being for Republic 2, Whangamōmona to Taumarunui on Thursday 30 October. Hence following the stay in Whanganui I needed to travel up the Forgotten World Highway from Stratford (located on SH 3 between Whanganui and New Plymouth) through Whangamōmona to reach Taumarunui by Wednesday 29 October.

So on Monday 27 October, following a night at the Stratford Holiday Park, I began my trip up the Forgotten World Highway toward Whangamōmona, first stop to visit ——-

—– the Douglas brickworks, a Category 1 Historic Place. These brickworks operated over 60 years from 1920 with 20 staff producing bricks and field drainage tiles using locally sourced blue papa clay. It is one of the very few remaining brickworks in the country, and the only one in Taranaki.

The rural area surrounding the village of Douglas ——-

—— consists of lush dairy pastures.

After Douglas I travelled over the Strathmore Saddle into what was considered the “Back Country” where dairying gives way to sheep and beef cattle farming on steep land.

At Strathmore village I took a side trip to visit——

—– the Makahu Tunnel some 3.6km up the Kiral Saddle Road.

The tunnel, built 1907, provides access to farmland, the Te Wera Forest, and the “Bridge to Somewhere”**. In 1998 the floor of the tunnel was lowered 1.4m to enable three-deck sheep trucks to pass through.

[**The “Bridge to Somewhere” label on the nearby active road bridge serving local farmland was a tongue-in-cheek response to the “Bridge to Nowhere” on the Whanganui River. There is also a “Bridge to Somewhere Else” in the region.]

Rain set in as I travelled over the Whangamōmona Saddle to reach the village ——

—– and take the back-street behind the hotel to ——-

—– the really quirky Whangamōmona campground

That night a huge storm passed through the area surrounding Whangamōmona with thunder and lightning waking me at midnight and strong winds bringing down trees across SH43 to the north. NZTA issued a road closure advisory for SH43 north of Whangamōmona but given that I still had 2 days to reach Taumarunui I presumed the road would be cleared in time.

However, as there was partial blue sky at 9am Tuesday I decided to travel north and chance getting through, or if necessary just wait out any obstruction until it was cleared. There were trees across the road in three places along the “closed road” area shown on the NZTA website, but someone had been through the road early and chain-sawed a gap in each obstruction wide enough to let me through.

I did not strike any traffic until —–

—– the Moki Tunnel when the first of several maintenance contracting trucks from Taumarunui came by. The second to last truck stopped to say it would be good for me to go once the last vehicle (a transporter carrying a digger) —–

—– passed me.

The 180m long Moki Tunnel was constructed in 1936 and ——-

—– in 1985 the floor was lowered to allow three-deck sheep trucks to pass through. It has had a locally bestowed nickname for many years.

After the tunnel I had intended to divert some 15km west up Mangapapa Road to visit the Damper Falls, but the rain was so heavy it was likely I would get really soaked on the 1 hour return walk to the falls. So I continued north through the Tangarakau Gorge in the pouring rain that had set in for the rest of the day, following the road alongside the railway tracks through to Ohura.

I did visit the Damper Falls on a dry day, Wednesday 6 November, when I cut across country from Mount Messenger on SH 4 (New Plymouth to Te Kuiti) to drive up to the Mount Damper plateau then continue east after my walk into the Falls down Mangapapa Road to join the Forgotten World Highway through the Tangarakau Gorge to Taumarunui.

The Damper Falls were discovered in 1909 by an early settler farmer whose pig hunting dog was killed while holding onto a wild boar when the two of them fell into the stream leading over the 74m high falls.

The 30 minute walk to the two viewing platforms was first across farm land then into forest.

The full height of the falls is fairly impressive ——

—— with this photo showing how far the top viewing platform is away from ——-

—– the plunge pool at the foot of the falls.

Forgotten World Adventures (FWA) —–

—— had one rail cart group out on the line on Tuesday (two of about 10 carts shown here) ——

—– but with rain and hail persisting throughout the day travelers were having to shelter behind plastic screens as they journeyed.

I freedom camped Tuesday night at Ohura township (population 90) which was totally derelict, the only active building on the main street being the Cosmopolitan Club. I was told when we passed through on Thursday in our rail cart convoy that with no shop or fuel station the only thing you could purchase in Ohura was a beer at the Club.

From Ohura on Wednesday I followed the railway through to the FWA depot at Okahukura on SH4 some 10km north of Taumarunui, getting shots from the road ——

—– of a tunnel entrance and —–

—– a rail bridge over a river in flood.

The railway junction with the main trunk line was originally connected at Okahukura via a ——-

—— combined road-rail bridge on a side road over the Ongarue River. This river had flooded up to road level the past week with flood water across SH 4 closing that highway for several days from 17 October. As can be seen here the river had dropped considerably by 29 October.

The Forgotten World Rail Trip

I camped overnight before the 30 October Whangamōmona to Taumarunui rail cart trip with Forgotten World Adventures (FWA) at ——-

—— the Cosmopolitan Club in Taumarunui who offer overnight parking to NZMCA (NZ Motor Caravan Association) members for $5. The carpark is right next door to the FWA Office and workshop so I was bright and early for the 7am check-in on the Thursday.

This drone picture-wall shot at reception indicated what we hoped would be good conditions for the day’s 82km trip, including crossing 90 bridges and passing through 21 tunnels.

I joined 10 other trippers for the day to head away via mini-bus at 7.40 south on SH43 to Whangamōmona, passing the maintenance crews on the way at places where fallen trees were still being removed from the roadside.

Arriving at 9.00 we were given a safety briefing by Jade, —–

—– tour leader for the day. I was assigned, as a solo rider, to go with tour guide Maddie in the rear rail cart.

After settling everyone into their carts and explaining operational features ——-

—– Jade then led the convoy away at 50m to 100m spacing between carts —–

—– with 18 year old Maddie (short for Madeline) and me bringing up the rear. Maddie lived on a farm outside Taumarunui and was an accomplished horse-woman as well as an experienced pig and deer hunter.

On Tuesday I got a photo from the road over the Tahora Saddle —

—

—– looking down on the short section of line between the first two tunnels we went through after leaving Whangamōmona.

This shot shows the cart in front of us exiting the first tunnel and —–

—– this one shows the just visible red tail light of that cart inside the second tunnel as we are about to enter. You can see branches on the right and rocks on the left, a common indication of the after-effects of recent storm damage along the whole of the line.

At morning tea time Jade gave us the history of the Tangarakau coal mining community while Maddie organized hot drinks and home baking.

We were warned before we left Whangamōmona that there were no flush toilets at stops on the way, and long drops would be the order of the day.

Wandering stock on the line included sheep and lambs —–

—– and this baby wild goat sprinting after its mum who had disappeared into the bush on the left.

Maddie proved her worth before lunch when ——

—– the rail cart in front of us broke down in a tunnel due to a fuel line blockage. She strapped the cart to the front of ours and we pushed it out of the tunnel and down the line to —-

—– the Tokirima lunch stop where the fuel line blockage was cleared.

The ploughman’s lunch involved us making our own sandwiches followed by cakes, drinks and fruit. At the rear (top left of this photo) of the lunch area you can see ——

—— the FWA souvenir shop with its huge range of items.

During lunch a half-day tour group arrived by bus —–

—– to have their lunch at separate tables from us —–

—- while their rail carts, which had been towed down from Taumarunui, ——

—– were turned around and readied for them to get away before us.

Then it was off again (this time me in the front cart with Jade) through Ohura —–

—– and on to Matiere for afternoon tea before the final leg into the longest tunnel (1.5km) —–

—– where under the rail cart lights Jade gave us information on tunnel construction.

While in the tunnel I chatted to ——

—– these two young ladies, one from Greenland, the other from Denmark. The Danish traveler was half way through several months walking the 3,000km Te Araroa Trail so was enjoying a break from the walk to tour with her Greenland friend who had flown out to join her on a several week trip around NZ. They laughed “no way” when I raised the topic of Trump wanting to purchase Greenland.

So, an excellent day out with a great group of people and hosted by two knowledgeable guides. I was lucky to have travelled with both Maddie then Jade as I got loads of information from our continuous chatting while we travelled. In addition, as a passenger, I was free to take photos as I wanted (safety rules mean cart drivers cannot use cameras).

This thus brings to a conclusion my fascinating experiences in travelling both the road and rail journeys within the Forgotten World.