Forgotten Highway

Just south of Waitamo the number 3 coastal highway is the primary route down into New Plymouth and Mount Taranaki. Since its development the previous road that snaked inland down to New Plymouth has all but been forgotten about.

All except that is for the local farmers in the area, the freight trains that still use the railway line and tourist groups like ourselves that wish to explore the old tunnels, windy roads and overgrown tracks.

From up high the landscape stretched for miles and miles of pure green rolling hillsides but then just a few hundred meters back down in the valleys the jungles reclaimed the land to resemble a backdrop like something from Jurassic Park.

The road is 140km’s long with no petrol available on route, and passes directly through New Zealand's only republic, the town of Whangamomona (population circa 130) which split from the central government of New Zealand in 1989. When entering and leaving there are official signs stating “you are now leaving/entering New Zealand”.

Along the way some of the highlights included the second highest waterfall in the North Island at 85 meters.

The burial site of the pioneering surveyor who died of illness building the original road, and a massive friendly roadside bull.

Also old tunnel 180 meters long that had to be lowered in recent years to accommodate triple stacked livestock vehicles.

Stopping all the time to get out and explore meant the drive took well over 6 hours to complete, but it really felt like you were reliving the days of early settlers to NZ and traveling right on of the footsteps of history. We were experiencing the country as it once was, a natural stunner without all the offices, traffic lights, power lines and hundreds of McDonalds restaurants around every corner beaming their golden arched hunger beacons on the horizon…