Mike Yardley: Riding the rails through the Forgotten World

In all my travels, I’ve never encountered anything quite like it, particularly given its magnitude. Prising open the mighty King Country, Forgotten World Adventures (FWA) offers remarkable excursions, riding the rails of an abandoned railway line, stretching from the northern tip of the Ruapehu District to heartland Taranaki. It’s not only an enduring totem to our guts-and-glory pioneering heritage but a more modern-day manifestation of gritty Kiwi ingenuity – and repurposing!

Based in Taumarunui, FWA is an incredibly enterprising tourism venture boasting a compelling platter of soft adventure excursions, prising open the legends, heritage and unspoilt scenery of the hinterland. Forgotten World Adventures re-opened 142 kilometres of this decommissioned railway line in 2012, including 24 tunnels and 92 bridges – all built from hand. Founded by Ian Balme, this Waikato farmer dared to dream big, turning a mothballed rusting eyesore into a visionary business. For the past three years, FWA has been owned and operated by Grant Ross and Laura Wackett. They both have a fascinating backstory, principally in international television production, while Grant was also previously a professional rugby player in South Africa and France. 

Originally from Wellington, Grant is revelling in steering a homegrown enterprise, which was quite the baptism of fire given New Zealand was still wrestling with Covid when he purchased the business. He’s very hands-on and highly engaging with guests. It was fascinating to chat to him about the challenges and rewards of the job – like when a massive storm buried the tunnel entrances in a pile of mud! The prohibitive costs of constant track maintenance underpinned KiwiRail’s decision to pull the plug on the line’s operation in 2010.

Taking nearly 32 years to build, the Stratford – Okahukura Line (SOL) finally opened in 1932 and linked up with the main trunk line through Taumarunui to Auckland. Working gangs sawed and blasted their way through the bush-draped hinterland to lay the tracks of this steel artery. It cost 2.5 million pounds to build this line, equating to billions of dollars today – the most expensive rail line in our nation’s history. They even built massive timber-trestle viaducts across the likes of the Mangatatoko Ravine, now overgrown in bush, because it would have been too difficult to maintain such a sky-high bridge. The engineering prowess was extraordinary. The line had been commissioned to transport products from the emerging farming, coal and logging industries.  At its peak, there were 15 stations in operation on this line – now, concrete platforms serve as sobering memorial slabs to a bygone age.

.css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast
from News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
A'd be.

Speaker 3 (00:13):
Mike Yardley is our travel correspondent, killed Kilder Jack.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Now, it's a very big day March one. Do you
know why?

Speaker 3 (00:21):
Happy birthday?

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Mike. No, no, not that I know of. No, it's
a happy birthday day to the Bluff Oysters season.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Oh I should have that in my diary.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, okay, you ordering them up because the fishing boats
go out today. Fantastic's going to be a good season. Yep.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
Oh good, okay, well that's good to know.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Yeah, you've got to get in quick too, superb. I'm pleased.
I'm please you've alerted up well please, you've alerted me.
I'm not sure I'm pleased you've alerted the nation to that.
But hey, anyway, we're focusing on things slightly further north
this morning, the Forgotten World, which is of course the
King Country. And you've been riding the rails through the
Forgotten World. So how big is the route and what

(01:02):
are you actually riding on?

Speaker 2 (01:03):
It's a whopper, Jack. You're ripping through the King Country
for one hundred and forty two kilometers, so you're riding
on a decommissioned railway line stretching from the northern tip
of the rual Peirhur district to Heartland Tartanaki Stratford to Okohoka,
which is just out of Timidnui. But this is no
train trip. You are riding on souped up golf carts

(01:25):
from Arizona and you're in charge of the pedals. The
wheels are fastened to the tracks, which is nice to know.
So no steering required or WHOA then actually get some
getting used to the reflex is to put your hands
on the wheel. So I was a slow learner for
the first hour or two.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
I think it'll be the same actually, yeah, just kind
of reflexively reaching down and wanting to lean into turns. Yeah.
So how long has it been operating.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
About thirteen years now, so yeah. Kimi Rail closed the
line in twenty ten and a white kiddow farmer, Ian Bam.
He was the founder of Forgotten World Adventures. He turned
them off balled line into what has been a visionary business.
It's now owned by Grant Ross. He's had it for
the last three years. He's very hands on. He greeps

(02:13):
all the guests. He's off and out doing the excursions.
And he's got such a fascinating backstory because Grunt was
a professional rugby player in South Africa and France and
also worked in television productions overseas, so he's got lots
of yarns to share. Long lines. But the thing about
it check is the track maintenance, which was one of
the reasons Kiwi Rail called stumps back in twenty ten.

(02:34):
So Grant was showing me photos from a couple of
years ago where these massive mud slides in the king
Country buried the entrance to some of their tunnel, so
they literally had to just hand dig all of that
mud out off the line. Oh wow breaking Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:50):
Oh my gosh. Okay, yeah, that's a huge effort. So
do you have to ride the entire line or the
kind of options along the way.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yes, there are options that they do six different tours,
so whether you're after a half day excursion, full day
or multi day, there's something for you. I took the
full day excursion to fung A Mormona. But the thing
about the track Jack is that and there's so many
information panels along the line. It took over thirty years

(03:21):
to build this railway line, so It was originally developed
to help get timber coal farm produce out of that
hinterland onto the main trunk line at tomat and Nui
and then up to Auckland. But some of the engineering
and you can see vestiges of this along the way.

(03:41):
For example, they built these massive timber trestle viaducts right
across the ravines. The ravines were just like too high
to put a massive bridge across, so they built these
timber trustle viaducts which are now overgrown on Bosh. So
you can get off your cars along the line and

(04:02):
just stand on top of what beneath you a hew
timber trestle frames. So there's just some crazy stuff to do.
You want to if you want to do the entire
line to Stratford, that takes two days, but yeah, the
full day ride funger Mormona.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
Highly recommend it and what like talk us through a
bit more funger Mormona for people who haven't heard of it.
What draws people there The.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Pub basically the watering hole, and it's so legendary and
it showcases the area's history on its walls. The actual
little town of funger Mormona looks like a movie set
for a western, it's just crazy. But the full drama
related to Funger Mormonar ensued in the eighties when the

(04:48):
town truist strop when the local government boundary changes decided
to put Funger Mormona in Manatu as opposed to Tartanaki,
and the locals whore in having that, so they declared
themselves the Republic, and every January they still celebrate the
Republic Day and elected PRIs incidents. You can even get
your passport stamped at the pub counter.

Speaker 3 (05:09):
There are there lots of When you're on the rails themselves,
there are lots of tunnels and bridges and that kind
of stuff.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Ah, so many jack, Yeah, And I mean the scenery,
the wraparound scenery is deliriously good. But yes, ninety bridges,
twenty four tunnels on the full ride. Most of those
are actually on the full day from tamar Nui to
Funger Mormona. The highlight though, are those brick lined tunnels,

(05:39):
and they were laid by hand. So the longest tunnel
on the line, the Okoholka Tunnel, is fifteen hundred meters long.
It's one of New Zealand's longest tunnels. It's got three
and a half million bricks in it, and it took
the workers eight years to build that tunnel alone. I mean,
it's just crazy what we used to do. So yeah,

(06:02):
when you're in the middle of that tunnel, that really
is great encounter with pitch black darkness.

Speaker 3 (06:08):
Yeah, yeah, that's amazing. And what are the landscapes like
around there?

Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, well, the King Country. I've always been fascinated by
this chunk of New Zealand because you can see the
volcanic creation of the landscape. All of those really tightly folded,
steep sided hills, all created by lahars from topol and
rupahu eruptions. So the topography is riveting. I mean those

(06:35):
hills I reckon in some vantage points, they look like
pyramids rising up from the land. An Egyptian tourist would
be impressed in the scenery. Yeah, it's so ever changing.
We created our way through this magnificentative forest where the
local ewe you are currently reintroducing Kiwied to the Bosh.
You see towering parper cliffs rising up from the railway line.

(06:58):
So yeah, it really is a banger of a trip.
Clattering along those tracks. It's just such a lonely remote
heart of the center North Island, and I think every
key we should do it.

Speaker 3 (07:08):
Yeah, sounds amazing, fantastic. Okay, so that is the Forgotten
World and the King Country. We'll put all the details
for riding the rails through the Forgotten World up on
the News Talk's 'DB website and catch you again next week,
hopefully a few dozen bluff oysters deep by then.

Speaker 1 (07:23):
Mate, Awesome Jack, Thank you for more from Saturday Morning
with Jack Tame. Listen live to Newstalks 'DB from nine
am Saturday, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.