13.02.2020 Whanganui River and The Bridge to Nowhere???

Early start for me today as I headed out for my jet boat ride on the river and walk to The Bridge To Nowhere. A really helpful lady in the visitor centre at Okahune organised this for me. She said I would be done on the jet boat trip by 3pm which would give me plenty of time to follow the river on the old river road down to Whanganui afterwards.

The Whanganui is the largest navigable waterway in the country and my jet boat trip would take me for a 32 kms ride to the Mangepura landing, then a 40 minute walk to the bridge and then for me back on the river to our starting point. The other members of the trip were dropped off on the way back about 10 kms from home and came back in canoes - difficult to do when you are a solo traveller - and that's my excuse over with!!

Brendan was our guide and driver of the boat whose life story read like a bumped up version of East Enders - how he has survived without jumping off the Bridge to Nowhere I have no idea. A cheeky guy with all the lines and happy to do 360 turns wherever possible on the river. Looked after us very well though and carried hot drinks and biscuits for everyone up to the bridge.

The Bridge was built in 1936 to give some of the brave early pioneering farmers access to their farms in an area which is known as "The Valley of Abandoned Dreams" Not many made it and I am not surprised to clear the land alone never mind the bridge must have been an absolute nightmare. There was a Bennett and a Morgan listed on the list of early pioneers - must have been tough guys. By 1959 now one was making any money out their on the ridge and the government paid the remaining farmers to move off and bought back the land for conservation so now the bridge literally does go to nowhere. Apparently there is a twin bridge somewhere else which is called - you guessed it "The Bridge to Somewhere".

The river gorge was beautiful even though the water was very low - under 1 metre deep in some places which made for an exciting bumpy ride over some of the rapids. The water running below the bridge was so shallow that we could see the eels basking in the sunshine and waiting for whatever we had left of our lunch...

We were back bang on time and I looked at the road 65 kms for me to my destination - I'll be there in no time. I think it took me about 2 hours - in some places I felt like I was doing 360 degree turns on the road as it twists and turns following the river but there were a couple of breathtaking scenic stops where I could get my breath back and take in the views. Back in the 1840s a lot of missions were established along the road with names like Hiruharama or Jerusalem, Atene or Athens and Ranana or London - never seen a place less like London in my life... The road needed all of my concentration and I was shattered by the time I got to my little hut by the river for the night. Looks a bit like our Shepherd's Hut Aimee Mommertz but at least I didn't have to light a hobbit stove to keep warm. Just glad that there wasn't a Jamboree going on in those tents behind me. Although I would have been glad of a beer if they had been.