Our son thought Whangamomona would be just the perfect place to take us for my birthday! 

Where is that, you may ask?  

The town of Whangmomona is found along an old road now called `The Forgotten World Highway’, which winds through deep valleys within New Zealand’s north island, East of Taranaki Mount. Check where Wangamomona district is on the map below. 

First we were teased:

New Zealanders have great fun teasing newbies with Maori names of places. So we were asked to say `Whangamomona’… 

Well when we tried to pronounce it, our children keeled over with laughter! We were asked to repeat it all over again, I’m sure, so they could continue to chuckle at our efforts.  

He, he… You try. See if you can get it right first time! Go on… It takes some time getting used to, pronouncing their strange town names.  

Fantastic views & slips on hillsides:

On the first leg of the trip, the road to Whangamomona wounds along the ridge of a mountain. At one point we stopped to view the valleys on both sides of the ridge.  

The view was panoramic and splendorous. We just stood there for some time, just soaking it all in. Can you see the furry steps in on the hillside preventing the slide of slips (in the first collage, top photo)? 

And then we crossed the road and looked over the other valley with even more slips scaring the hillsides. See the first (double) collage above, where the bottom photo shows the slips. 

If you don’t know, the word SLIPS, refers to the sliding of loose fine soil. You see it mainly on the north island of New Zealand. On some very steep hills, the farmers have supported the hillsides with horizontal laying of sticks. In time grass grows over the sticks and the hillside then looks a little like soft-furry step-ledges. 

The valleys of the Forgotten World Highway:

The road we took is actually highway 43. It’s tarred and  a somewhat narrow  later on. Winding in and out of deep valleys, arrayed with trees and fir forests on both sides of the road. It gives you such a cosy feeling.  I just loved it. You could easy imagine Hansel and Gretel could have lived somewhere there.

The railroad & tourist trade:

At one point we came out a little higher up, into an open area, where you could see a small gauge railway line far below.  

There are so many tales about the Whangamomona valley and its town. I can’t remember them all, but I can tell you the place is a very fascinating place to go to. 

We were told that the railway line is no longer a main line, but is now used instead as a special little train that comes through at certain times; giving tourist a thrilling excursion feel of what it was like all those years ago when it was a busy thriving place. 

WE heard of how New Zealand take care of their past and rebuilt it so future generations and tourist can pleasure in it. Not only that they make it fun to see it and experience the forgotten past.  

By that, you can see New Zealanders love and cherish their country…

I realized then… 

The waste of our past in South Africa:

I wish our own country hadn’t destroyed the past.  Criminals have ravished our beautiful country and let it bare. 

Because it’s easier and quicker now to send farm produce to the market by motorized vehicles, the little side railway lines went rusty. Criminals weren’t slow to rip up the unused side railway lines and exchange them at nearby scrapyards for money!  

Can you imagine if the railways lines were still there? What we could do with them, considering what New Zealand has done with their forgotten railway lines! 

For example: Taking a side railroad train through the springbok flats of South Africa would be such fun for tourists. Tourist (even our own people) would be able to stop at each station and experience what people in that area wore, ate, etc so long ago.  

You could have a restaurants serving up typical boer (farmer) type food. In the museum section you could old farm implements, or see clothing and bonnets the men and women wore on their long trek from the Cape to the Transvaal. The old telegraph system, or see what the old trains looked like, all those years ago, etc. 

And each town along the way could display the type housing, mud streets and horse driven carts, wagons, etc? And what about the toys children had? Rag dolls, and some made with leather during the world wars. And the smooth well-made clay animals made by the black children, etc. I could gone on and on speaking of the things of the past, now lost forever. Shame, our country could have a much more prosperous trade! 

Postscript:

And it’s so sad that springboks don’t even roam the flats anymore! Even though our ruby team in South Africa has the springbok icon as their mascot! 

Next week’s blog: the continuation of this blogs day’s trip to Whangamomona. 

I’ll tell you what we saw in Whangamomona itself and the fascinating things we also saw and found in the surrounding areas.