"Don't Look Down. Or Up. Or Forward..."

A very strange town, a very sketchy road, a very shy volcano, and Nikki gets beaned by a duck...

August 12th - August 14th

TARANAKI AND THE FORGOTTEN WORLD HIGHWAY



Mount Taranaki

 Last weekend, as I mentioned in the last post, we thought we had taken on one of the longest drives we would encounter on the North Island. Well, last weekend will be the farthest distance we'll go, but this weekend definitely topped it in the category of longest drive.

We headed for the Taranaki District, which from Hamilton could be only 240km and take about 3 hours, if you took the main highway. But, instead, we opted to take the more adventurous, and as you probably already guessed, long way on The Forgotten World Highway. This made it 350km and.... lots of time.

The Forgotten World Highway:

This is one of New Zealand's most secluded roads, which follows ancient Maori trade routes and pioneering farm tracks, through ambitious historic settlements, untamed native bush and stunning natural scenery.

For 150km, it winds over four mountain saddles, which allow for amazing views in all directions.

It weaves through the spectacular Tangarakau Gorge for 12 km on 'unsealed' (dirt) road, hugging the rugged contours of the land.

And passes through the 180m single lane Moki Tunnel, which was built in the 1930's, known as the Hobbit's Hole.

Luckily, the ever-changing scenery made it well worth the drive, because the conditions of the road are not all that attractive. It is one of the narrowest, windiest, and worst kept roads we’ve travelled.  

This is supposed to be TWO lanes?!








As we rounded most corners, Nikki mumbled nervously 'please no cars, no cars, no cars.' Luckily, we only passed 2 cars the whole trip, and they happened to be at the most opportune times where the road was a little wider.

                  Don't look forward...


There were signs for falling rocks everywhere. No kidding.

And falling mud... No big deal.

Oh, and don't forget the falling trees!

Don't look Up....

Often, the road hugged the ridge alongside a steep cliff...with no guardrails of course.

Don't look down!

There were signs warning of cows on the road.  Check.

But what they don't tell you is that you also have to watch out for wild goats...

Look at him prance!

I think it is an understatement to say that this highway is a natural roller coaster experience. This was an AMAZING experience and we would definitely recommend this drive to anyone coming to New Zealand, unless you are prone to car-sickness. We had a few waves of it ourselves.

All this lead us to the tiny hamlet of Whangamomona (population: 30).

It is the only settlement left along the highway. We had to stop here for two reasons. One, we read that you can get your passport stamped here and we were very curious as to the reason why. And also, we heard there was an annual pig hunt happening here and well, no further explanation is needed here.

We stopped at the local hotel where the owner, Geoff told the basic story as to how this area became an independent state. In 1989, after some disputes over provincial boundaries, they declared independence, and became known as the Republic of Whangamomona. They even have presidential elections, but obviously don't take it too serious because at one point, Billy the goat was in power, followed by Tia the Poodle. Hmmm.... But, now when you pass through here, you can stop here and get your passport stamped.

After listening to this thrilling story, we got to the real reason we stopped here. The Pig Hunt. To Scott's disappointment, this is how that conversation went...

               Scott: I hear there is a pig hunt. Anything going on with that?

               Geoff: (Eyes up Scott wearily) Not for you there ain't

               Scott: Not even a pig roast? (Daydreaming of roasted pig)

               Geoff: NO.

               Scott: (Dreams shattered)

We then learned that they don't actually eat the pigs they hunt. The reason they hunt them at this time of year is because wild pigs are considered pests because they often kill the lambs. So instead of roasting up the pigs, they have a big feast and roast up some lamb to celebrate the pig hunt. Hmmmm...

Despite the non-fulfillment of Scott's pig craving, the sun was setting and in realizing that in two hours, we had only gone 87 of the 150km. (Do the math... that means we averaged around 45km/hr), we decided to spend the night in Whangamomona.

We stayed in the local campground, 400m down the road in the deepest part of the hamlet. It was actually a really nice place to camp. It has a nice little kitchen, which allowed us to cook and eat dinner out of the rain. After dinner we walked back up to the hotel, where we hung out with some locals and shot some pool.

The next morning we woke up to the sounds of wild chickens and turkeys in the hills, had some breakfast, and were on our way to finish the last 63km of this highway. It involved much the same in terms of road conditions and scenery. More climbing mountains and weaving through forests. More 45km/hr.  

We anticipated being able to see Mount Taranaki as we made our way into the town of Stratford, but with it being covered in clouds, it was as if it was not even there. We stopped at the i-site to check on the weather and trail conditions before heading off on a hike, with the hopes that the volcano looming in the clouds will make an appearance. 

We hiked through the beautiful rainforest of lower Mt Taranaki from the East Egmont side, to Dawson Falls, up to the Wilkies Pools, along the Stratford Plateau, and back down the Enchanted Track. Mt Taranaki is a 2518m high dormant volcano. The top half of the mountain is blanketed with snow and is highly inaccessible during the winter months.

                    Scott lurking in the lush rainforest

This is our view of what is supposed to be Mt. Taranaki. We still haven't even had a glimpse of the thing yet.

After about an hour, we came to a bridge crossing. Not just an ordinary bridge crossing. A scary swing bridge made out of chain link fence and a few cables crossing a canyon. If this thing didn't hold, it'd be at least a 100 foot drop.  

             Scott had to go first of course.                           SKETCHY!

 Nikki screaming her way across.

      Legs are shaking just a tad after that one.

After more hiking through rainforest, we made it to Dawson Falls.

The volcanic rock formations in this waterfall are amazing. I don't think the pictures do it justice.

Then we stopped for some lunch, and look what decided to make a partial appearance.

All we got to see were the lower slopes, and only minutes later was completely covered in cloud again. So off we went up to Wilkies Pools.

While we were crossing a stream, we finally got sight of the peak...just barely. If you click on the picture for the big version and look real close in the clouds and you can see it. Or you can look at the very first picture on this post and imagine that that is what we would have seen on a clear day.

We waiting here a minute thinking it might clear up a bit. But no... just disappeared again. So we continued on until we made it to Wilkies Pools.

This is a natural waterslide into one of the pools. If it weren't dead in the middle of winter and freezing cold, we totally would have done it.

Look! It's Mount Taranaki.

Next we walked along the Stratford Plateau, which is where it transitions from rainforest to subalpine terrain. This is where we gained most of the elevation, finding ourselves at 1172m, with a few snow sightings along the way.

Since we went up all that way, we had to come down somehow. The way down is through what they call the Enchanted Track. But don't be fooled. There is nothing enchanted about it.

It was a gruesome climb down stair after endless stair, and not your regular stairs, these ones were often about as high as Nikki's mid-thigh to hip (so for most regular people... waist high!) It was more jumping down stair after stair.

And along with that, it must have rained a whole bunch recently, which creates beautiful waterfalls everywhere, including on the hiking trail, which made the stairs super slippery. Nikki started singing TLC's song Waterfalls during this portion of the hike.

The rain also made it a touch muddy at times. And I think Nikki was distracted by her singing...

I'm glad I had my gators on or my whole shoe would be full of mud.

Not long after stepping down to her ankles in mud (twice with the same foot), Nikki was hiking along behind Scott. Scott spooked a bird in a tree near him and it decided that the best escape route was plowing into Nikki's shoulder. Hahaha, she screamed like you wouldn't believe.

And after five very eventful hours of hiking, we were back at the car. Awesome hike despite not having the spectacular views you would have on a clear day.

New Plymouth

We drove from Stratford to New Plymouth, a bigger city right on the coast. We were able to park Bertie in a parking lot just off the beach for the night. So we got him settled and went walking to check out the ocean and beach.

Then we decided to walk into the city center to find a place for dinner. Only a few blocks from where we parked we turned onto a street that was filled with people. Hundreds of people lined the street for several blocks, as if there were a parade or something. But for as far down the street as we could see, there was nothing.

We asked a lady standing near by, and she informed us that it was the Lantern Festival Parade and in a few minutes, there would be hundreds of lanterns parading down the street.

There was even a sponge bob square pants lantern. But the picture didn't turn out... sorry.

This was part of the Taranaki International Arts Festival that was taking place this month. This also meant that there were a few different performances or shows going on that night. So we went to the ticket booth and got tickets to the only show that night that wasn't sold out.

So, not really knowing what we were in for, off we went to the show....

It was called Random Acts of God and Other Stories.

It was written up as an exciting and eclectic mix of musicians and dancers.

More accurately, we would describe it as a bad audition of So You Think You Can Dance and American Idol.

But... I guess it's 'art', right?

The best part of the show was the cake. Mmmmm

The next morning we woke up with the hopes to get some surfing in. We drove down to Fitzroy Beach to check it out. It was a beautiful black sandy beach.

But, the wind was howling away and the two guys that were out there surfing already didn't last very long, and didn't recommend it. Slightly disappointed, we decided it wouldn't be worth renting and getting all geared up.

Instead, we decided it would be a good idea to climb up something called Paritutu Rock, which is basically remnants from an old volcano right in the middle of the city. Luckily the hike up was sheltered from the wind, but where we parked poor Bertie was not. When we opened the door, the wind nearly blew the door off it's hinge. Now the door is jammed shut and we just climb in the passenger side door until we can fix it.

 

The hike started with about 200 stairs to climb. Then it turned into a steep rock climbing scramble with a chain to pull yourself up with.

It was a short and steep hike, but had a great view of the city, beaches, and the Sugar Loaf Islands.

Sugar Loaf Islands

In hearing that a massive snow storm was expected to hit this region of New Zealand later that night, we thought it would be best to beat the storm, and head back home while it was safe.

We stopped at a place called Three Sisters Beach on the way home. It was a nice little inlet off the ocean that was nicely protected from the wind.

If it is low tide, you can walk all the way along this rockband where you can see the Three Sisters rock formations. When we were there, tide was going out, so we could walk about half way there. But not quite all the way. But the soft black sand and cold water felt nice on our feet after a weekend of hiking.

 

This is what we would have seen if the tide was low. Thanks google for completing our experience with Mt Taranaki and now this too.

After having some lunch here, we made our way home. This time we took the short cut and it only took us about 3 hours instead of the 5 hours it took on the way there.

We are sad to announce that this coming weekend, we are not able to go on another Kiwi adventure. I know most of you probably forgot that the 'real' reason we are here is for Scott to go to school. He has an exam and a couple papers due early next week. But, after those are polished off, he has two weeks off school so there will be more adventuring to be done then.