The Mad Cow of Whangamomona!
We’ve tried and failed to visit the Taranaki area on the west coast of the North Island earlier, and it’s a part of the country that neither Helen nor I have visited before. It’s also pretty much the last part of New Zealand to visit on this year-long trip. After three weeks of Covid lockdown, we were keen to get back on the road and exploring again.
We’ve been pleased to see that Kiwis have been taking the new Covid restrictions seriously – scanning QR codes for possible future contact tracing, and the new mandatory mask wearing requirement. In contrast to when we arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand a year ago, and NZ was the exception to the global rule able to allow its citizens free movement in a COVID free NZ, this time around it felt like the rest of the world had freedom that we had lost.
I’ve wanted to travel the remote stretch of road known as The Forgotten World Highway for ages! It’s only 150 kilometres long and the tourist brochure recommend allowing “at least a whole day” for the trip. But true to our experience tripping around, there are plenty of side trips like waterfalls, a kiwi sanctuary, forgotten bridges, and even a self-declared Republic! There was no way to do all this in one day – it ended up taking us three and would have been longer had it not persistently rained for most of it!
The Forgotten World Highway does feel remote. It is also pretty winding and travels over a number of scenic passes, so best enjoyed slowly. I was a bit disappointed to hear that they will start to tar-seal the remaining unsealed twelve or so kilometres later this year. There was something appealing about a road that still seems a bit rough and ready and far from civilisation. Another highlight of the road are three historical tunnels – each only wide enough for one vehicle and with little headroom, felt like a snug fit for Cyril.
Near the Forgotten World Highway is an abandoned road bridge with a fascinating story. Farms in the area were awarded to returned servicemen from The Great War, with the first taking up holdings in 1917. The pioneer settlers got the land at favourable prices and government loan rates – a kind of “thank you” for fighting for King and Country. But part of the deal was that they had to tame the land – clearing the bush and creating grassy farmland out of the ash.
Due to the remoteness and ruggedness of the landscape, tenuous road connections were put though – including the aforementioned hand-dug tunnels – but the bridge itself wasn’t completed until 1936. By this time, most of the settlers had abandoned their remote holdings penniless, leading the government to stop maintaining a now useless road. Subsequently the road returned to bush and the bridge stands isolated from civilisation, thick regenerated native bush at each end. This area developed the nickname “valley of abandoned dreams” at that time, and the bridge “the Bridge to Nowhere”.
As you’d expect, the bridge is remote – requiring a two-day hike or jet boat tour to reach it. Not being within our timeframe or budget, we decided instead to visit its less famous brother – the Bridge to Somewhere. This is the same design – drawn from the Ministry of Works standard bridge designs – you see this type of “one lane bridge” all over the country – but it’s a bit comical seeing a substantial reinforced-concrete bridge so far from ‘civilisation’. By the way, the “Somewhere” bridge was named more recently, tongue in cheek, by the farmers who made farming in this less remote area work.
The Bridge to Nowhere
(Image credit google)
The Bridge to Somewhere
Pivotal to the history of the Nowhere and Somewhere bridges is the extent of land clearing that took place, as the European settlers attempted to make land useable for agricultural purposes. I wrote a whole paragraph explaining the extent of the clearing of native forest in Aotearoa New Zealand’s recent history, but then found this graphic online which explains it better than I can.
Once Aotearoa became the colony of New Zealand, from about 1840 onwards the settlers really went to work “improving” the land by clearing remaining bush for farming. The preferred clearing method was burning. This destruction was so enthusiastic, that a protection zone was established at a six-mile radius around Mount Taranaki – the effect of which is quite sad, and also comical when viewed from space.
Image Credit Google Earth
The driving force for the aggressive land clearance was to establish New Zealand’s agriculture industry. It was successful from a trading perspective resulting in some significant achievements. For example, in 1882 the first shipment of frozen sheep meat was sent to London – this event that would make sheep valuable beyond just their wool, and cement NZ as “the larder of Britain”. But it came a huge environmental cost.
I remember my shock when I found out that agriculture (raising animals for meat, wool and milk) accounts for around 18% of the world’s GHG (Green House Gas) emissions, and absolutely blown away to find out that in “clean green NZ” agriculture make up a stunning 48% of our GHG emissions! What’s worse is that agriculture doesn’t just produce CO2, but methane (mainly from animal burps but also farts) and nitrous oxide (mainly from animal wee), which are 30 and 300(!) times more destructive than what is normally thought of as the main greenhouse gas, CO2. The Bridge to Somewhere did lead to something and not all of it was good.
When I was a kid, “Farmers are the backbone of the economy” was a well-worn mantra used by both government and farmers to justify various policies and practices. In fact, farmers were so vital to our small economy, that until the mid-eighties, they enjoyed heavy government subsidies, such that the preferred farmers’ car was the BMW 7 series sedan! It baffles me that within my adult life, improved environmental awareness has transformed the former heroes of the economy into our greatest environmental threat.
With so much of New Zealand devoted to agriculture, it is not unusual to get up close to farms and their livestock. But one of our encounters during our Taranaki road trip was, sadly, a disturbing one. Driving back on one remote stretch of gravel road we approached three cows who, on hearing us approach, had started to move away. This is not uncommon and not normally an issue as cows normally move quite quietly to one side to allow you to pass. That much was true for two of them, but the third’s neck was bent over at an awkward angle, his front left leg straight and outstretched, and capable only of hobbling backwards. It appeared to be having some sort of a fit and was struggling hard to breathe. I stopped Cyril, and despite Helen’s out-loud chanting “Don’t go backwards, don’t don’t don’t, Mr Cow!” The cow kind of stumbled backwards, dragging what looked like his crippled front leg, and fell backwards over the bank. The bank itself was steep, but thick bush held the cow a few meters over the edge, on its side with legs in the air. I’ve since queried a couple of friends who have more cow-knowledge than me and I think it had sustained some sort of nerve damage, perhaps a pinched nerve. We were both in shock about what we had just seen and unsure what to do, but agreed to mark the site and drive a couple of kilometres to the nearest farm. As luck would have it, the cows belonged to that farmer, who, despite being “a bit of a character”, proceeded back up the road with a gun in hand to address the problem. I like to think that he helped the stricken cow up the bank and massaged him back to health, but I suspect that Helen’s prediction of a “big beef BBQ this weekend” was probably more accurate.
One well-publicised destination along the Forgotten World Highway is the self-declared “republic” of Whangamoana. There’s a little bit of crazy and a little bit of marketing genius behind its creation. We stopped off at the pub which also serves as the centre of the republic and offers the opportunity to get a Republic of Whangamoana stamp in your passport. Since the republic was formed, they have been annual elections for the Republic President. Mostly notable locals wanting to give things back to the community, but the position has also been held by Billy the Kid (the first goat elected to office) and then Tai the Poodle (yes, a dog). Sadly, Billy the Kid died after just 18 months in office and the position is currently held by a fully-fledged human. After weeks of lockdown takeaway deprivation, we were really hoping for a bowl of hot chips in the republic, only to discover that lack of tourists meant the kitchen was still closed!
As we popped out the end of the Forgotten World Highway, we began to explore what South Taranaki had to offer. We haven’t had the best weather, with showers and drizzle for at least part of most days. We spent a couple of nights camped in the Mount Taranaki national park. We weren’t super high, and Mount Taranaki itself is only 2,500m, but because Taranaki kind of juts out into the Tasman Sea the weather is very changeable, depending on the wind direction. After checking the forecast, we ended up squeezing three short hikes that we’d normally spread over two or three days into just one. The first hike was hours of up, then down steps – a bit of a shock after a fairly inactive lockdown. In the afternoon, Helen opted out of another walk while I braved another two short tramps including one that involved a looooong section of ramp. The ramp, allowing quite an impressive wheelchair access, was worse on the calf muscles than the steps! It took our muscles quite a few days to un-tighten themselves.
While this blog caused me to reflect on the effects of industrialised agriculture in New Zealand, it just so happens that Aotearoa New Zealand’s gas fields are in Taranaki, although I didn’t realise just how substantial they are. It turns out that they produce enough oil and gas to cover 50% and 100% respectively of our needs, although apparently, it makes more financial sense to export all our crude oil and import oil products from various markets. We’re used to quirks such as these, living on a little island with a small population at the end of the world. On our way out of New Plymouth, we visited the Methanal production facility visitor centre. Methanol is touted as a clean-burning, biodegradable fuel. While this can be the case, we did feel we had been somewhat green-washed as the Methanol produced in Taranaki is made, in part, from natural gas and emissions are created when it is produced and shipped. Methanex, the company, are a major employer in the region though. I wish I could tell you more about their environmental practices but sadly their website has a “page could not be found” error message when I clicked their responsible-care/environment section!
As a side note, I’m pleased that we’re leading the way environmentally, having banned further oil exploration since 2018. I’m optimistic that other countries will take note of these positive steps.
Expectation!
(Image credit Russell Street)
Reality!
There are many attractions in Taranaki, although I did notice that many of them are only “open on weekends” or “open in summer”. Or some, only “open on summer weekends”! Like the Forgotten World Highway, Taranaki itself feels a little off the beaten track. We continued our way back into “civilisation” around the coast route, through New Plymouth then back round to Taupo for another cat sit. It was a great trip to ease us back out of lockdown and see yet another part and side of this beautiful and varied country that we had not previously seen!
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