Taking the long road: NZ's Forgotten World Highway and the Tongariro Crossing

The Emerald Lakes viewed on the Tongariro Crossing

You are a traveller. You grip white-knuckled to the sides of your seat as the Nissan Caravan swings heavily around tight corners on the Forgotten World Highway in New Zealand. Keane’s groundbreaking album Hopes and Fears is playing on the radio.

The bearded one is in the driver’s seat, he's monologuing about Donald Trump or something like that. He's not paying attention to the road or any of the recommended speed signs. The curly haired one, to your left, is agreeing with him politely, but you know that she is in her own world, thinking about food.

"So I'm thinking we should have the curry tonight," she interjects.

"Yeah, that sounds good." Says the bearded one, but you know he isn't listening, and that this will have consequences later.

From the Forgotten World Highway

The Forgotten World Highway is 148km of slow road that curves around farmland and nature reserves. It's the slowest route between Stratford and Taumarunui, but the bearded one read about it in National Geographic Traveller once and now he's desperate to see the town of Whangamomona.

In 1989, Whangamomona protested against the redrawing of state lines by declaring itself a republic. The town still celebrates Republic Day on 1st November every year. They elect an honorary president and welcome tourists from all over New Zealand to join in the festivities. Visitors flock to this isolated town in the middle of an old disused highway, paying NZ$3 for a passport. Another thing to note is that the ‘wh’ in New Zealand place-names is pronounced ‘f’, so Whangapamona is not ‘wang’ but ‘fang’.

The hotel at Whangamomona is a short walk from your campsite, so you head out. They have glasses hanging behind the bar with livestock tags on the handles. These are used to send messages to the locals. If you can't get in touch with a resident, just visit the pub and ask to leave a message in their 'handle'. They can pick it up the next time they visit.

Whangamomona Hotel

The next day you drive 12km of unsealed road through Tangarakau Gorge to get back to the highway. The car rattles nervously through Moki Tunnel (which looks as if it has been dug by hand) and as you reach the other side you feel like you've time-travelled back to the age of dinosaurs. The curly haired one hums the Jurassic Park theme in the passenger seat.

On the Forgotten World Highway

When you arrive at the campsite  near the Tongariro crossing, the owner turns up with a small puppy in the back of her truck. It's adorable.

Campsite near the Tongariro Crossing

In the morning your alarm clock rings at 4.30am. Today you will be walking the Tongariro Crossing. This is a 6-8 hour walk through the Tongariro volcanic complex which takes you past a the mountain used as Mt Doom in Lord of the Rings, up something called the Red Crater, past emerald coloured lakes and down a scree slope that has you crawling on your back like a spider.

Mt. Ngauruhoe / Mt. Doom

Mt. Tongariro erupted in 2012 and the area is still active. As you walk, you notice steam spiralling from the mountainside in the distance. It's smells like egg, but kind of delicious, like it has been layered on a warm slice of toast and zealously sprinkled with salt and pepper. You learn that this is the release of volcanic pressure. When the pressure gets high enough, it can break rock and jettison projectiles. You walk past the area where a small hut was once decimated by a projectile flung from a few kilometres away.

Fissure viewed from the Red Crater

The walk climbs steeply to its peak at Red Crater (1886m). From here you view a gigantic fissure in the mountainside where pressure erupted and split the rock. Then, on the other side, you see emerald lakes tinged blue by the minerals resting at the bottom of large pools of water. At this height, the lakes sit above the clouds in the distance. They look as if they are swinging impossibly on invisible strings strung to the blue sky above.

The Emerald Lakes

It's a thrilling landscape filled with danger, beauty and, on this day, heat. Your companions stop often to eat snacks. During the course of the day they eat a large vat of oats, two bananas, three pepper and hummus sandwiches, three oat bars, a tub of honey roasted nuts and a couscous and tomato salad mix.

After the walk, they eat two ice-creams. For dinner, they have two veggie hot dogs each, with onion toppings, and a tin of spaghetti on the side. For pudding they eat a can of peaches. Bellies full, limbs numb and eyes heavy, you go to sleep at 8.30pm with the light still fading outside.