Bloody hell that is some bush! It took us about 4 hours to get from New Plymouth to Tauramanui. Over breakfast (best hash browns in the world bar none at McFarlanes in Inglewood) Science Guy played down the drive; the Forgotten Highway is mostly very windy roads, probably get carsick, lose national radio early, have to talk to each other, bound to be an argument, sigh. But it was BRILLIANT! It was lush, so green. And there is a ‘hobbit hole’ in the middle (turning your car lights off in the tunnel: recommended). We stopped at the Whangamomona Hotel for a coffee. The pub doubles as a passport office (the village declared itself a Republic in 1988 after local councils divided up the town) and did not seem to have been touched by feminism at all.
Science Guy had booked us into Solscape as a little pre-Christmas surprise. We are staying in a little engine caboose in this gorgeous eco-retreat overlooking Raglan.
This is such a beautiful country.
Comments
You actually STOPPED in Whangamomona? Blimey, you guys are brave! I remember driving H & I through that area a few years back, and must have been going through a smaller town just after Whanga, and there was someone sitting out on the pavement in a rocking chair. Oh, how I wished they’d have been chewing on corn and whittling some wood! They waved. We smiled uncomfortably and hoped that the car didn’t have any complications ;)
I was <>born<> in Whangamomona. My uncles and cousins and even my dad appear in many of the rugby team photos on the walls of the pub (if the photos are still there – they were when I was last there about four years ago).It’s a marvellous drive from New Plymouth through to Tauramanui. I recommend it, if you have plenty of time.
hi sas,that is a great photo. and yes, new zealand is such a beautiful country.mary
Deborah – those photos are STILL there! And yes it is a fabulous drive.