Forgotten World Tour

We're back from our little break away and what a fabulous time we had! We left for our trip on Thursday morning with our friends, via Taupo and Turangi. It was a beautiful day and Lake Taupo was absolutely glistening in the sunshine. Great views of the mountains as we travelled around the lake.

We arrived in Taumarunui about 3pm and checked into our motel for the night, then headed out for a stroll around the town and found the local RSA for a drink, before having a very tasty dinner at the Thai restaurant.

Up bright and early on Friday to meet up with our tour guides and other trip participants for a safety briefing and to get underway.

Then we were off!  

The golf carts travel at 22km max and there's no steering involved, just put your foot on the accelerator and away you go.

We went through lots of tunnels, even stopping in the middle of one in complete darkness to hear all about the construction of it. It was pretty freaky! We even spotted some glow worms.

Some facts about the rail line we were travelling on. 

Now closed, the little white building in this photo was one of New Zealand's smallest post offices.

We had various stops along the way for morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea, and also to learn more about the small places we were passing through. 

The spot where this photos was taken, was exactly 71 km from the start of the journey, with 71km to go, 71 km from Mt Ruapehu, the mountain you can see, and also 71 km to Mt Taranaki. We were also stopped on viaduct, not that you would know - it was fascinating to learn about the construction of these. 

Then it was onto Whangamomona, our stop for the night. Included also in our trip was accommodation and meals at the Whangamomona Hotel.

We had a lovely evening here, chatting to some of the others in our tour group and locals at the pub.

Up again early the next morning to meet once more with our tour guides. Sadly the rain had set in and it had turned quite cold but we were able to drop the plastic sides down on the cart to stop the rain coming it. After lunch it cleared but it was chilly, thank goodness we had lots of warm clothing on.

Just after 3pm we arrived at our destination, just out of Stratford, Taranaki.  Over 142kms later, 24 tunnels, lots of bridges, and lots of information and stories told to us by the guides about the original settlements along the way. We saw lots of farm animals and other wild life, rolling hills, farmland and native bush. An awesome experience that we'll never forget.  But the trip wasn't over, we then jumped on a bus and spent the next three hours on the windiest and twisty road I've ever been on, but very picturesque.  We arrived back to our starting point about 6pm Saturday night in Taumarunui. After quick showers it was time to find some dinner before having an early night as we were all exhausted.

Sunday we drove back to Hawkes Bay but took a different route through National Park, then Ashurst and then onto Woodville, where Glenn and I were able to check out a campervan we're interested in purchasing. Having sold our other one a few weeks ago, this one will be an upgrade to what we had. It's smaller but still roomy, and has a great set up for the kitchen and sleeping area. Glenn is going to pick it up this weekend, yay!  We'll be back out to the beaches before we know it.

If you'd like to check out more about our tour, and others on offer, their website is here.

See you soon