On the Forgotten World Highway – reluctantly…

This morning, we found out on Google Maps that we can’t use the planned route to Auckland via State Highway 3 because this road has been closed for repair work starting today for a few days.

Great, yesterday the road was clear, today it isn’t… The route excluding the highway is quite a bit longer. To avoid going too far out of our way, the only option left is to take the Forgotten World Highway. Initially, we didn’t want to take this highway because it isn’t fully paved, it winds along mountains and valleys with partially single-lane roads, and there’s even about a 12-kilometer stretch designated as unpaved, thus making it a time-consuming detour.

Alternatively, there’s another route, but that takes over eight hours to get to Auckland.

The journey via the Forgotten World Highway is said to take six hours… Okay, then we’ll just do it. It can’t be that bad...

The drive is actually going well, although slowly, as you can only drive at a low speed. But it takes you through some truly stunning landscapes. Gentle hills in lush green and wild, overgrown mountain slopes.

There are also curiosities: There is a sort of “citizen of the Reich” by the roadside of the Forgotten World Highway. They declared the “Republic of Whangamomona” in Whangamomona in 1989 and consider themselves independent. They have celebrated their Independence Day every January in odd-numbered years for years now. The next celebration will be on January 18, 2025. They even elect a president. The venue for the celebrations is the Whangamomona Hotel at the corner of the road. Here, one drinks their beer or something else and can actually buy a T-shirt with the name of the “Independent Republic” and the hotel on it.

The few houses in the village are beautifully restored, and there’s even a post office, where supposedly the Czech embassy is also located. I wonder if that’s true???

But we also pass through “villages – rather three-house hamlets”, where no one has lived for years… all abandoned; in some cases, people haven’t just left their houses, but have also left their cars just standing there... And if someone is seen in a village, one wonders how and especially HOW they live here? No shops (the ones that used to be there have been abandoned for years)… We see an older man in a wheelchair rolling down the street. How does he get to the doctor, the pharmacy, etc.? Unimaginable for us to live here. Although one could buy many properties or even fields and meadows here… who would want that?

Anyway, we won’t resolve this today or here.

After a short drive, we reach the single-lane Moki Tunnel, which is also called Hobbit Hole. The tunnel is only 180 m long, but you have to rely on the consideration of oncoming traffic… We safely make it through in the slipstream of a large pickup… ;-)

After about 7 hours in total, we finally reach Auckland. Quite a ride… We are glad that we are flying to Christchurch tomorrow instead of today. Originally, Thorsten had planned to depart this afternoon. Thank goodness he built in some buffer time. We wouldn’t have made a flight today. What do you do without internet and constant checking of the routes you want to take?

For us, the road was blocked overnight...