Monday - The Forgotten World Railway

Today we were up early for our trip on the Forgotten World railway, an 83 km trip on converted golf carts along an old stretch of rail track going through 20 tunnels. We had to be at the depot/motel in the centre of Taumarunui by 7.30 am ready for safety briefing and the shuttle to Okahukura, the start of our journey.

The railway was originally built for the transport of coal from small mines along the way, and was started in the 1900s. The last passenger train ran in 1983, and the last freight train in 2010. After two years negotiating a 30 year lease the Forgotten World trips started in 2012.

Our guide was Terry, who was born locally into a farming family, along with 4 brothers and 4 sisters. His mother was Maori and his father was Welsh but he was brought up to only speak English and had spent the last 24 years living and working in Australia before retiring back to his home town after his parents died. He and his brothers had inherited the family farm, but decided to sell it, only retaining 300 acres! He was full of local stories, historical information and anecdotes about all the families living along the route of the railway.

Not only did we go through 20 tunnels, we also crossed 83 bridges, most with no sides at all. It was interesting that no children were allowed on the railway, nor any alcoholic drinks, or the operators would lose their license. We also had to have our seat belts done up whenever we were moving.

It was quite common to see wild life on the tracks where it had escaped over the surrounding fences, and it was quite common for the animals to run between the golf carts. Controlling the cart was easy; two pedals, one labelled Go and the other Stop, were the only controls available and the cart was governed to run at a maximum speed of 22 km per hour.

We had grabbed the last cart of the group and frequently were so far behind we could have been the only people on the track. This sheep decided to run along the rails in front of us for quite a way, despite all our attempts to get her off to one side. We latter heard that Maree, a guide on a later trip, had finally caught her and dumped her back over the fence.

Our longest tunnel was 1.5 km, the shortest 57m. At one point Terry stopped us all in the middle of a long tunnel and got us all to switch off the lights so we could imagine what it was like when they were building the railway using picks and shovels.

We crossed through miles of grass covered hills, populated by sheep and cattle and the occasional house. One of the largest farms was 17,000 acres and run by a single family. Often girls are employed as stock hands as they manage the animals so well and show up on time on Monday morning.

Lunch was provided at a lean-to shelter, three tables with all the ingredients for self assembly sandwiches, plus a selection of hot and cold drinks, fruit and cakes. We also got tea or coffee and biscuits along the way.

 The trip finished at Whangamomona, now a small town with a pub and a few houses.  The government decided to move it from one administration area to another some years ago, and the locals objected and decided to declare themselves a republic.  They celebrate every two years with a big party and offer to stamp your passport in the local office, aka the pub.  We all got a free drink on the house before boarding a shuttle bus for the 1 1/2 hour journey back to the start.  This went along the Forgotten Highway, so called originally because any problems on the road were always the last ones to be fixed by the authorities, as though they had been forgotten.

A great trip and, interestingly, one popular with kiwis rather than tourists.

It was a long day and we decided to pick up a take away pizza in town.  Obviously the area has also forgotten (or never knew) how to make a good pizza, but we survived and ate them while watching the Australian Grand Prix highlights via Mick's computer.