Jurassic Highway

A bright, warm and sunny start to the day. Barbara enjoying the sunshine while brushing her hair:

A metre or so from the back of the motorhome, a blackbird was also enjoying the campsite:

In due course we set off for our next destination and stopped in Inglewood for stamps and found this nice water feature commemorating the Polish settlers' contribution to the development of the district:

It was an interesting place generally:

And provided us with tantalising glimpses of the snow covered slopes of Mt. Tanaka (aka Mt. Egmont) but still not the whole thing:

Then we turned onto the:

What a wonderful road! Not for anyone in a hurry, it winds through steep valleys, some forested, others left as pasture for sheep to gently graze.

And for much of the way, the route is followed by a railway which, if it were used by passenger trains, could be another of the great rail journeys of New Zealand. Sadly, it has not been used by passenger trains since 1983, though the track is in good condition and can be seen below us here where it goes into a tunnel under us:

It reappears on the other side of Pohokura Saddle:

Spectacular though the views are, the huge areas of pasture and woodland were once rain forest like this at Whangamomona Saddle:

but much of it was cleared by slash & burn (as they're doing in South America currently) about 100 years ago.

Apart from the odd sheep farm, there was little habitation until we got to the Republic of Whangamomona with an interesting hotel that we couldn't pass up as a coffee stop:

It was filled with interesting old photos:

And the internal décor was as nice as the outside:

With a warm fire to encourage visitors to stay a little longer:

But the road beckoned, so on we went, Barbara now driving. The road changed to unmetalled, but still basically good, though we did notice and comment on the unusual preponderence of potholes. Had it been in England, we would have expected much worse, but in New Zealand, this was quite unusual, even in such a remote and little used road as this:

And then rounding the next corner, what should we find:

A team repairing all the potholes, who helpfully moved the truck out of the way so that we didn't even have to stop. With a friendly wave to them, we continued on our way down a much improved surface:

Another stop was at a parking place in a fairly remote bit of rain forest, where there was the sad tale of the surveyor Joshua Morgan, who died here of peritonitis in 1893 aged 35, before help could be brought to him. The spot is beside a fast running stream with little waterfalls:

Pressing on, we hadn't seen any signs warning us of rockfalls, but it was obvious that they were a possibility as Barbara was having to pick her way around numerous obstacles:

In places, the road was still passable:

And in others, long sections were one-way only:

Fortunately, we didn't meet any of the heavier traffic in such sections:

Quite how these drivers coped with the seriously narrow bits, hairpin bends and steep slopes, we don't know, but there were more of these heavy vehicles than motorhomes/campers as we found on most other routes.

In due course we got to our destination for the day and checked in at one of the nicest campsites we've yet been to:

After supper we spent a very pleasurable half-hour sipping wine in the open-air hot tub, admiring the Southern Cross above us (picture witheld for reasons of modesty!).

written by  Saros on May 19, 2009 from Waitomo Caves, New Zealand
from the travel blog: The Hairy Animal 2009 World Road Trip
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