A rail journey like no other through NZ’s stunning ‘Forgotten World’

The presidential timeline of the Whangamomona Republic reads like a Jeffrey Archer novel: “Billy Lee the Goat died in office, Tai the Poodle barely survived an assassination attempt and Jack Spearow was accused of stealing ballot papers. More recently, Vice President Miss Jones the Mannequin has barricaded herself in the local phone booth.”

Although entertaining, Whangamomona’s republic status is no laughing matter; rather, it’s a sign of the steely determination of the people in the Forgotten World of New Zealand’s North Island.

“The troubles began in 1989 when the local government wanted to make Whangamomona part of the Manawatu-Whanganui Regional Council rather than Taranaki,” says Richard Pratt, owner of the Whangamomona Hotel, one of the most remote country hotels in New Zealand. “The locals were outraged. They called a meeting, elected a president and declared themselves independent from the rest of the country.”

Stunning North Island scenery on the rail-cart journey.

I’ve joined Richard in the passport office, which is conveniently tucked inside a corner of the hotel’s front bar, to receive my stamp and await news of the latest scandal: the current president, John Herlihy, is missing in action.

While visitors play pool and tuck into lamb shanks and mash, locals huddle in anxious groups. Built in 1912, the Whangamomona Hotel is the nerve centre of this micronation. It was here on Republic Day 2019 that John Herlihy fought for the lead over Eunice the Sheep, who had disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Locals will neither confirm nor deny if shanks were on the menu that night.

“There’s always a bit of shenanigans,” continues Pratt. “Unfortunately, most of our presidents die in office.”

Whangamomona Hotel, the nerve centre of the republic.

I’ve settled in with a cold beer when the message comes through, “The president is fine, he’s just been held up dagging [sheep].” While this news receives a standing ovation, I applaud the whole quirky region, where mischief – and, occasionally, goats – rule and non-conformity is celebrated.

The Forgotten World is an apt title for the rugged terrain surrounding the 142-kilometre Stratford-Okahukura train line, long abandoned and now marked by back-country ghost towns and enough curiosities to keep a visitor thrilled for days.

My journey began two days earlier when I departed Auckland Station at 7.55am aboard the Northern Explorer train. From there, it’s a 648-kilometre, 11-hour trip to Wellington, passing through some of New Zealand’s most stunning scenery. I plan to hop off halfway at the small town of Taumarunui in the heart of the Ruapehu region to spend a few days exploring the volcanic landscape by train, foot and rail cart. I could have driven, but where’s the fun in that?

I’m met on the platform by Scott Riches-McPherson, owner of Omaka Lodge, a boutique bed and breakfast seven kilometres out of town along the Forgotten World Highway. “We were drawn to the area’s sense of community and generosity,” says Riches-McPherson, who runs the rural lodge with his husband Christopher Riches. “The gardens have been tended and loved for more than 40 years by the previous owners. It would be a shame not to share them with others.”

Omaka Lodge is set in the heart of the Forgotten World.

And share them he does, leading me on a ramble through the garden’s many “rooms”, from the Champagne Lawn to the Woodland Garden to The Dell. We stop often, to admire sculptures by New Zealand artists, to inhale the heady perfume of spring blossoms, to gaze across the distant, mist-shrouded peaks of Herlihy Bluff and Mount Hikurangi.

After a home-cooked dinner and night in the lodge’s elegant Ruapehu Suite, it’s time to burrow deeper into this mysterious landscape. In keeping with my car-free ethos, I shun the Forgotten World Highway (officially, State Highway 43) in favour of a golf buggy. Not any golf buggy mind, but one that has been converted to run on the historic Stratford-Okahukura train line. While the line runs all the way to Stratford, I’ll be driving my rail cart along the 82-kilometre section to the Republic of Whangamomona, with an overnight stay at the iconic hotel.

“Keep at least 100 metres from the cart in front,” says adventure guide Lincoln Mail during our briefing at Okahukura. “And don’t worry about the steering wheel, it doesn’t work.”

Since I had assumed a rail cart was something like a pump-action handcar favoured by the likes of Wile E. Coyote, I’m just happy to see an ignition switch.

The accelerator (marked Go) is responsive, clocking a top speed of 22 km/h, and the brake (marked Stop) brings me to a smooth halt on demand. A faded sticker, warning that the windshield does not provide protection from golf balls, hints at the buggy’s former glory on the Augusta National Golf Course in the US.

“Due to lack of demand, the passenger service ceased in 1983 and freight trains stopped running in 2009,” Mail says. “For the next three years, the tracks lay abandoned, until Forgotten World Adventures came up with the pioneering idea of using modified golf buggies as a tourism experience.”

Today, the Taumarunui company has around 40 rail carts in operation and offers six different guided experiences, from half days to four days with helicopter or jet boat add-ons. Our overnight excursion will trace the pioneering history of the line with its 24 hand-cut tunnels, 91 bridges and a string of towns now long-forgotten by the outside world.

I keep my windscreen down, charging head-first into the native bushland, which often arcs above our heads like a giant surf wave. There’s a waterfall to our left and surely that’s a hobbit house over there. Sometimes we stop to look at fossils embedded in mudstone walls or to touch trees upholstered in green velvet. At other times, we plunge underground, a wormhole to another era when gangs of men worked in filthy conditions to cut these tunnels by hand. Peering through the gloom, I can almost hear echoes of their voices and the sounds of pickaxes striking stone.

Through an old railway tunnel in a converted golf buggy with Forgotten World Adventures.

“Construction on the railway began in 1901, but the terrain was so harsh it took two years to lay the first 10 kilometres,” says Mail, when we stop for a trackside morning tea at the former timber town of Matiere. “Hit by World War I, the Great Depression and the Spanish Flu, it took a further 30 years to complete the whole 142 kilometres.”

Emerging from a long tunnel, sunshine is replaced by fog, the gleam of twin tracks our only waypoint on this magic carpet ride through cotton-wool clouds. After a picnic lunch at Tokirima and a whistle-stop at Tangarakau (population 14), the landscape changes again, its plump edges now chiselled into crinkle-cut peaks.

We stop to take in the views of Mount Ruapehu, its snow-capped shoulders looking like whipped frosting against the green fields. To the Maori, this active volcano and the neighbouring cones of Mount Tongariro and Mount Ngauruhoe hold deep spiritual significance; to film director Peter Jackson, they provided the ideal backdrop for many scenes in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

After crossing the border into the Whangamomona Republic, I set off on foot for the short walk to the hotel. I pass the tight-lipped Miss Jones, still holed up inside the red phone booth, and a smattering of stores, their shopfronts hung with posters drawn by school children advertising “possum skinning, eel counting and gut-busting” at the next Republic Day.

“It’s held in January of every odd year,” says Richard Pratt, stamping my new passport and welcoming me to the republic. At $NZ5 ($4.50), it’s money well spent; not only do proceeds go towards community events, but it gives me voting rights in the next election.

The inside back cover reads, “Holders of a Republic of Whangamomona Passport are required to smile a lot and be friendly and courteous at all times.”

A Forgotten World? There’s no way I’ll forget this band of joyful outlaws anytime soon.

The details

Fly

Air New Zealand operates daily flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Auckland. See airnewzealand.com.au

Stay

Omaka Lodge has boutique bed and breakfast accommodation as well as campervan sites. Swim, play croquet or enjoy the mature gardens. See omakalodge.nz

Tour

Forgotten World Adventures offers a two-day rail cart adventure from Taumarunui to Stratford including a night at the Whangamomona Hotel starting from $NZ1045 a person ($965). See forgottenworldadventures.co.nz

More

visitruapehu.com

The writer was a guest of Visit Ruapehu

Five other things to do in the Forgotten World

Drive the 155-kilometre Forgotten World Highway from Taumarunui to Stratford. Allow three hours or three days. See visitruapehu.co

Visit the Forgotten World Gardens, a collection of four country gardens: Laura’s Lavender Farm, Omaka Lodge, Bradley’s Garden and To Whenau. See forgottenworldgardens.co.nz

Stay off-grid in glamping huts beside the Whanganui River at Posh Pioneers. See www.poshpioneers.co.nz

Ride the 185-kilometre Taumaruni to New Plymouth Cycleway, best enjoyed across three days. See nzcycletrail.co

Jet boat and hike to the Bridge to Nowhere, a concrete road bridge with no road access. See forgottenworldadventures.co.nz