I thought I’d share some pictures I took a few years back of one of New Zealand’s most spectacular pieces of scenery, the Manawatu Gorge.
It’s one of my favourite stretches of road – and until recently, the way to get from Palmerston North on the western side to the pretty little Hawke’s Bay town of Woodville on the other, thence on to Napier. Was? Recently? It has always suffered from falling debris, and during August 2011 the hill on the right in the picture below fell in, dumping spoil on the road and taking out a bridge.
Traffic passing from the Manawatu district to Hawke’s Bay had to be re-routed across a narrow and winding saddle road. And there was a scream in Woodville, which relies on passing traffic (I always used to stop in ‘Cafe 88′ in the main street, or at nearby Fontaine Square, an attractive little park with a gazebo-like band rotunda, a public toilet, and a jumble shop opposite). Repairs have involved excavating 370,000 cubic metres of spoil from the hill to stabilise it. As I write this, the gorge road still hasn’t been fully fixed.
In hindsight it wasn’t surprising. The Manawatu River, running east to west, slices through a mountain range. Tectonic activity lifted the Ruahine and Tararua ranges, and the river cut its way through them. Tectonic movements broke the rock along the way, and the result is 10 km of gorge with fractured greywacke sides. When the settlers hacked a road through, on top of an old Maori track, the excavations de-stabilised the hillside. These steep and friable slopes have been shedding rocks ever since.
Peter Jackson never filmed The Lord of The Rings in this part of the country. It’s still a pretty awesome piece of scenery. Any thoughts?
Copyright © Matthew Wright 2012
That’s fantastic – I so wanna come there! Must Pin that pic.
I already did
Have a look at my pinterest board http://pinterest.com/mjwrightnz/new-zealand-landscapes/ – if you want to repin from there, please do!
Love all those gorges, stunningly beautiful. Wish you’d had a photo of that cafe in Woodville. I must visit it one day, I was born there but have never visited – whisked away never to return
Thanks for the nostalgia trip.
I might see about a pic down the main street of Woodville next time I’m driving through. Had to give up using the cafe, though – they drink chlorinated Manawatu water and it makes the tea taste terrible! I hate to say it, the usual stop on the road to Napier these days is the Dannevirke McDonalds… (cringe, I knew I’d hate to admit that)
Now that’s a pity. I wonder if they serve beverages at the Gottfried Lindauer Replica Studio in Woodville? That’s where I’d be stopping off for a gander. There’s a man with a fascinating history.
Now that looks like an interesting place to visit.
I love New Zealand scenery. Especially the west coast of the South Island. The North also has some stunning places, as these pics of yours illustrate!
You are making me homesick!
It is pretty fantastic – but then Aus has some great scenery too! I probably shouldn’t say this, but I have some pix of the west coast which I’m going to be posting not far off. I’m a NI denizen myself but my wife’s relatives live in Greymouth and Westport & I cut loose with my camera last time we were down there.
Beautiful but that road looks terrifying.
It is! Actually it’s worse if you take the train, which runs on the other side – you get to see how little of the roadway is actually on solid ground…
Don’t! Just thinking about it is making my hair stand on end.
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