Taumarunui is the calmest town in New Zealand. Due its location, there is virtually no wind. This probably adds to the feeling of a ghost town. The buildings are old and to modernize means they have to build according to code, and it’s too expensive. Buildings can’t pass codes so owners leave them.
The population is 4,800. They have a McDonald’s, and a New Zealand town needs to have a population of 4,000 to get a McDonald’s according to our tour guide.
We notice that all the cemetery tombstones are highly decorated with flowers.
We passed a school, and they have a large rugby field. Their mascot is the eel!!
Also, I saw many basketball hoops that had no backboard. I thought than it might be a money issue, but I learned that it is a very popular sport called netball. I wondered if it is an Olympic sport.
The IOC requires a high geographical scope for inclusion in the Olympics (played by men in 75 countries and by women in 40), but netball is mostly played in Commonwealth countries.
King Country was named that because of a Māori king. When the white settlers came, they wanted to know what land belonged to him. They were looking at a map. He took off the top hat of the Englishman and said, “All the land that this hat covers.”…and he kept the top hat.
The chief also said that no alcohol could be served. He had seen the detrimental effect it had in his people.
The Māori called this area, The Great Forest. When the immigrants were enticed to come to New Zealand in the 1880’s, all they could see were trees. They had to clear trees and get it ready for farm land. When they cleared the land by burning, there was so much smoke that the sun looked like the moon at night.
Eventually, this area was prosperous trading in livestock, coal, dairy and lumber.
The Strafford-Okahukura Line (SOL) which today is referred to as the Forgotten Railroad was to link with the Main Line. In its heyday in the 1950’s, the SOL line had twelve trains running per day: five eastbound freight trains, five westbound freight trains and two passenger trains.
A railroad was needed to transport and many people and businesses lobbied to have the train come through their town. Construction on the rail line started in 1901 and was completed in 1932.
The railroad was able to secure a monopoly. Trucks could not travel more than 35 miles from their base. That prevented long distance hauling so railroads had to be used.
The project was estimated at $350,000 but ended up costing 3 million dollars.
Since there was no steel in New Zealand. It was in short supply due to WWI and had to be imported from Australia. Structurally, the tunnel was designed with a curve at the bottom so they didn’t have to use steel in the tunnels.
The conditions were poor. The weather was either cold or hot or muggy/rainy. The biggest issue was profound isolation. There were many surprises along the way such as valleys that needed to be filled.
Workers were recruited and given an ax, spade, wheelbarrow, and a tent. Little towns popped up due to construction camps that were erected along the railway. Spikes were placed in the walls of the tunnels to hang lanterns.
There were groups consisting of three teams that worked in 10-meter sections. The first group dug, the second group blew up the section, the third group prepared the land to lay the track.
When they came to a large mountain. They could go through it and add 7 miles to the rail line or go through it. They decided to go through it. They started from both ends.
French and Italian engineers were brought over as they were experts in tunneling. The tunnel was built to European standards which are larger and turned out good for future uses. The tunnel is cold. It could not be ventilated so they curved the tunnel to create a chimney effect with a cold gradient to suck out the air.
They cut a walking path over the hill to guide the placement of the tunnel below. They were only off by 2 inches when the two ends met.
Tunnel 24 is the longest tunnel (1.5 km) and took 8 years from 1912-1920 to build. It was dug by hand.
In 1983 the last passenger train went down the line. It derailed so passenger trains were no longer allowed. Freight trains by Frontera Dairy continued until 2009. By 2010, it was moth-balled by Kiwi Rail. Today they have leased the SOL for 30 years to the Forgotten Railway.
In the 1950’s there was a boom in wool. New Zealand had the third highest GDP per capita in the world. Wool was so profitable that people would pick wool off fences. One lb. of wool would yield 1 British Pound of money.
Cosmopolitan Clubs were places for the miners to socialize along the railway. Even though the towns are mostly gone, the Cossie Club is still a meeting place for the few that remain.
The native pine, kahikatea, has no smell but contains antibacterial compounds, and boxes were made to transport butter. This wood was also used for butcher block. There was a brick factory that was used to support building the tunnels and then became a butter factory. It produced one ton of butter per day.
We stopped at a now wide spot in the road called Matiere which means sweet fragrance. We had hot chocolate there. Our server called it Milo. Apparently that is a brand name of a hot chocolate drink by Nestle.
In the town of Matiere, some craftsmen got together and started to make toddler swings. They had a little success in Europe but could never break into the USA market. One day they got a call from Kourtney Kardashian who asked if she could put their swing on her holiday gift giving guide. The rest is history!!
Ōhura was going to be the thriving city in King Country. It was the #1 Ford dealership. Everyone had a job in New Zealand.
Ō in Māori means “the place of”. All of the town names are Māori and are difficult for me to pronounce and all sound similar … especially the long ones.
Tatu State Coal Mine ran from 1936-1971. There was housing for close to 100 men. Then it was turned into a state prison. It was called the Ōhura Hilton. Inmates were not hardened criminals but rather incarcerated due to white collar crimes. It was the perfect spot as it was out in the middle of nowhere.
There wasn’t even a fence until 2002 and that was built by the inmates. This was a working farm, and it was self-sustaining. They even had a food box company before that was trendy. They started an apiary and had a thriving honey business. All the prisoners had jobs chopping firewood and cleaning up creeks. They were free to go to the shops.
Soon the government got involved and eliminated spades and hoes due to safety reasons. Next, one needed to be certified to run a chainsaw. Soon there was nothing for the prisoners to do. Our guide said, “That is not good and things got ‘how’s your father’?”(Rob and I looked at each other quizzically.) See below for an explanation.*
In 2005, the prison closed completely as no one wanted to come work and live there. Now the Seventh Day Adventists live here.
There were floods here and the gas station tanks flooded, and the owner didn’t plan to fix them. The nearest gas station was an hour away. Talk about planning ahead. This was the final blow as people would do their grocery shopping, etc., while gassing up.
Lastly, people could live here but it was prohibited to build due to flooding. Some people who enjoy an alternative life style parked their campers here.
In 2017 New Zealand decided that the Whanganui River has a legal identity and has the same legal rights of a person. It will provide for the river’s long-term protection and restoration by making it a person in the eyes of the law.
Once back in town, we decided to go to the movies. It is only opened for a few showings selected days.
Funny Kiwi Words and Phrases
“Off the chain” means “off the charts”.
All the motels had no vacancies because they were in town for the weeding. I assumed that there was a naturalist convention ridding the area of invasive plants. Imagine my surprise when I learned that it was a wedding.
Our guide told us that the Māori name for the town is 5x’s. He mentioned that the Māori came here to cut down really big trees and float them down the river. So I asked him if it was named that because it took five extra large men to cut down a tree. He said that it took five axes!! I guess that all the exes live in Texas.
Happy as Larry means extremely happy, but nobody knows who Larry is and why he is happy.
Rivers burst their bag means a flood.
Main street is still in good nick means good shape.
Back a few sunshines ago means a while ago.
*”How’s your father?”… not to be confused with “Who’s your daddy?”… means sexual intercourse, and we have no idea why it is called that.
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