Whanganui River road

28th May 2014 

Yesterday's 10.5 mile hike took it's toll on us as neither of us could get out of bed this morning! We had breakfast and set off for 10:00am with no real plan, just to head South and reach Wellington by the weekend. 

We didn't have a map book only a couple of guide books, so drove along the open highway and enjoyed the scenery.  I read about a short walk to Waitonga falls where there was good views of Mt Rahepu, so we made that our first stop.  It felt like Christmas walking to the falls, the air was cold, the snow crunched under our feet and icicles hung from falls.   

Mt Rahepu en route to Waitonga Falls 

We stopped for lunch in Ohakune (spicy carrot and coconut soup) then continued south and took the scenic drive on the Whanganui river road. 

The thick bush, lazy river and steep sided gorges would make it a perfect setting for a country and western music video and we even spotted some hunters on the side of the road who glared at us in our vehicle like we were aliens.  Equally we glared back thinking they must have just come in a time machine from the 1840's.   I don't think they get much traffic down this neck of the woods unless it's by boat or on horseback, we were driving alongside the longest navigable river in NZ after all.  

The sign warning us of "bends" for 64Km! was at least accurate, but a bit of a joke as it would be just as bad to turnround and retrace the previous 50km of winding twists and turns.  

Along this road there are no shops, no petrol stations, no cafes, nor really any people, 

Not to mention the rock face that the road is carved into just crumbles and lands in big piles which you just drive around.  NZ transit doesn't seem to be too eager to sweep the debris aside, as i imagine they are fighting a loosing battle, and I can imagine the nobody want to venture this far from the depot in any machinery, it would take a week.

Certainly picturesque - we considered stopping at a campsite if one prevailed - but It's like driving for 60 miles down Longsleddle, to find almost nothing and we could have just taken the highway  (marginally straighter roads) and been somewhere before dark.  Once we popped out the other end, we were glad that no campsites are to be found as it's like a time-travel trip back 150 years, cut off from civilisation but a bit weird. 

Looking back down the valley road

We arrived in the town of Whanganui shortly before dark and whilst we had no expectations of the town we were pleasantly surprised.  It's a nice town with Victorian buildings, pretty hanging baskets with a familiar feeling of home (Llandudno or Grange over sands) as we stocked up on groceries in Trafalgar Square and drove down Liverpool Street and Tregarth Road!

The following morning we took a walk at the Virginia Lake reserve, with lots of varied waterfowl then continued our journey south towards Wellington, aiming for Rimutaku Forest Park for some more wilderness adventures.