We had a really amazing time travelling the “Forgotten World Highway”. We followed its history, and found natural attractions, with two very informative brochures and had fun exploring the forests. It took us two days and 326 km to travel this 150 km stretch of road!
Together, Dave and I took over 2000 photos! I have put a decent number of them on my online photo album (sorry, no captions yet), but here are a few of the highlights from the end of our roadtrip....
4 January 2009 (Sunday)
Mount Taranaki/Egmont, almost visible at the beginning of the sunny day.
Makahu tunnel, the first of 2 on the road.
The Bridge to Somewhere. It has a sister bridge off in the mountains of Whanganui national park, it’s called the bridge to nowhere, but it’s a 2-3 day walk to get there; which we weren’t up to....
We took pictures of all the roadside signs on the highway (at least the signs we saw in time to stop for). This one is cool, because you can see the two of us standing in the reflection (obviously not planned or Dave wouldn’t be scratching his head ;-)....
From the Whangamomona saddle, we took a 3 hour track into the bush. There are lots of nature pictures on my album, but the ones I’ll share here is of a wicked weed I “discovered” when I tried to brush by some plants on the slippery downhill slope. Immediately my hand was on fire! I hadn’t even grabbed the plant in my hand, had barely wrapped my fingers around it, but my entire hand radiated heat. Almost immediately I had white welts all over my fingers where the thorns of this plant had contacted my skin. The thorns were everywhere too 
– in a long row down the center of the leaf, up the stalks, and on the edges of the leaf. We encountered several more batches of this gnarly plant. Though it sounds mean, I was quite glad when Dave brushed his arm against a bit of it. At least then I knew the fire I was feeling in my hand wasn’t just my own reaction. The heat did go down after a bit – I ran some water out of our bottles over it right away, to try to dilute whatever poison it had. I still don’t know what this plant is, but we felt its effects for days after wards. Even into the next day, my hand constantly tingled with the pins and needles feeling of having “been asleep”. Then, for a few days afterwards, my hand would just randomly get this tingling feeling, and then finally it was gone. Dave’s arm did the same thing, randomly seeming to tighten and itch. I really do need to ask DoC (Department of Conservation) about it!
Anyhow, despite the rough start to our walk (I landed flat on my chest tripping over a root – how embarrassing) we survived to reach the road again. We then had to walk back up to our car. Apparently road work had just been done on one corner, as we left footprints in the non-pressed asphalt!
We continued on our way and passed through Moki tunnel, locally known (and labelled) as the “Hobbit Hole”.We made camp in Moki forest, home to an exceptionally rare bird called the Kokako. I was really hoping to hear this blue wattled bird, either in the evening or the morning. But since there are only a few hundred in existence, I shouldn’t be too disappointed that I didn’t see or hear one.
5 January 2009 (Monday)
We started to morning off with a gravelly drive further up the forest road to come out at a farmer’s paddock. We scared up a few sheep before we got to the forested trail to Mount Damper falls.
We briefly stopped at “Nevin’s Lookout” to view the green, mountainous terrain. We took all our pictures before arriving at the top of the hilled paddock, fully intending to take some more pictures at the top. However, upon reaching the top of the short climb, we didn’t have much time to take any pictures, as we were too busy swatting away a cloud of insects. They were to large to be gnats, but too small to be flies. I put my hand out for one to land on me..... they were flying ants!!!! Ugh, we practically ran back down the hill and then took turns brushing the buggers off of each other. Me and ants!
Our next stop was Ohura Falls, located in Maraekowhai historic reserve (which itself is part of the Whanganui National Park). Getting to the falls was a bit of detour, but the short, shady walk and the wide, if not tall, falls was quite impressive.
Back up on the main road we pulled over for another short walk. Access to the Aukopae tunnel was through more grazing land – nice, open, humid grazing land – with just enough of a constant uphill slope in the sunshine to get a sweat going again. However, it was really bizarre to be walking on grass and then see some of the old asphalt that had been the original road untill1968. The tunnel 
was probably the least impressive of the 4 we’d seen on our trip; safety concerns had prompted the erection of fences on both ends so the view was less impressive (and less photogenic).
We took a slight detour into Whanganui National Park for a picnic and shady rest. We decided a nice stretch of the legs in the shade of the woods would be good. After 10 minutes we finally came to a sign telling us where we were going. We could head to lookout point in 45 minutes, or take a loop trail to the lookout in 90. We opted for the less time consuming option. Soon, we were going straight up hill and I was working up another sweat; not at all what I had in mind after just cooling down from the paddock walk. Imagine our disappointment when we reached our “lookout”. We were definitely on the top of some hill and there was a picnic table for us to sit at, but we still don’t know what we were supposed to be looking at. We were basically in the middle of the woods still – the same view we had we started! Lookouts to both of us generally mean that your looking out over something – not straight into more trees! We had a good laugh but didn’t take any photos from the top.
Back in the car and on the main road (which had turned into gravel section sometime earlier), we drove past Herlihy’s Bluff. The bluff is created from layers of sandstone and mudstone (papa) that used to reside on the bottom of the ocean floor. Stopping on the road is not permitted, as rock falls are more than common – as can be seen by this photo I took while Dave was driving.
The rest of our trip on the “Forgotten World Highway” was fairly uneventful. The gravel road turned back into asphalt and we arrived in Taumarunui safe and sound. We did a bit of shopping, refilled our water, and planned our next couple of days before heading out of town. We drove into Owhango to a road signs with a tent on it. We drove out of Owhango without seeing any camping areas! So, we went back into town and drove to the Tongariro conservation area. There was a large, green reserve (park) next to the Tongariro with a loop track running through it. While there was no sign that said camping, there was also no sign that said camping. Dave and I entertained ourselves in the reserve by chucking a rugby ball around (I found one there in the car park) while we waited until evening for setting our gear up. While we were killing time, a couple of cars pulled up. The two father and son teams got out and started setting up their camp – so at least we would have some company if we got hassled for our camping choice!6 January 2009 (Tuesday)
We left Owhango and headed to Turangi. Turangi would be the best spot for us to get information and weather forecasts for the Tongariro crossing – often said to be the best day walk in New Zealand. I had seen pictures of the crossing before I arrived in NZ, and it was definitely on my “to do” list. There are many places in this small, but beautiful, country that are well worth a look; and ever since I had learned of how little Dave has seen of his own country I’ve come up with few places I’d like to show him – however, if I was forced to choose just one I wanted him to see with me, it was the Tongariro crossing. So, we were both quite happy to find that the weather for the next day was forecast to be clear and dry.
We left Turangi and headed to National Park (a very, very small town that mostly consists of hostels, lodges, pubs, and snowboard rental – it’s a town that really only exists because of its location to the mountains and the adventures the mountains have to offer). The drive from Turangi was the same that Andy had driven on our way to snowboard Whakapapa. While I had known this the whole time (I did have the map), it wasn’t until we stopped at the same lookout that Andy and I had stopped at that I realized “Hey, I’ve been here before”. I took pictures from the lookout anyway!
It was pretty neat driving the same road 4 months later. The last time I had taken a picture of Mountains Ngauruhoe (LOTR’s “Mount Doom”), Tongariro, and Ruapehu, they had been covered in snow. Ruapehu still had a good bit of snow on it, but Ngauruhoe and Tongariro were clear. I snapped photos as Dave drove past, just as I had done 4 months earlier when Andy had driven me past. I must admit, I do prefer the image of a stark white, snow covered Ngauruhoe against the desert floor to this image.When we arrived in National Park we hit several different hostels to get the best room and transport rate. We finally settled on one and moved our gear in, took pictures of the mountains, and prepared for the next day’s walk.
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