After staying the night on a DoC (Department of Conservation) site just outside Ohakune, we head into town for a coffee and we find Kombi where we have a very good flat white https://www.facebook.com/kombiohakune/ . When he was in the Forestry service, Don was posted here for a while and so we go for a little drive around – for old times sake! Ohakune has transformed into a Ski Resort, but to Don’s delight has still retained it’s charm. As we drive out of town, we spot some flags by the side of the road – and a GIANT carrot! Not only a giant carrot but a Carrotland Adventure Park! Ohakune is know as the carrot capital of New Zealand and sure enough, as we travel along the road, we spot carrots being harvested. Very orange!

Our next stop was a memorial to the 151 people who died as a result of New Zealand’s worst rail disaster. It also commemorates the death of a local man whilst rebuilding the new bridge. The Tangiwai disaster occurred at 10:21 p.m. on 24 December 1953, when a railway bridge over the Whangaehu River collapsed beneath an express passenger train at Tangiwai. The locomotive and the first six carriages derailed into the river, killing 151 people. The inquiry found that the accident was caused by the failure of the tephra dam holding back nearby Mount Ruapehu‘s crater lake, creating a lahar (pyroclastic flow – mud, rock, water & sulphuric acid) in the Whangaehu River which destroyed one of the bridge piers at Tangiwai only minutes before the train reached the bridge. Mount Ruapehu was not erupting at the time. This is a significant place for Don as his father was supposed to be on this train but changed his plans at the last minute. Lucky escape. The memorial is both informative and poignant.

Don drives the next bit of road – and again, thank the lord as it is a very twisty SH4 with lots of wild goats frolicking along the side of the highway! What a shame, we’re in a van – I could just eat some goat curry right now! We arrive in Wanganui mid-afternoon and camp at the golf club. What a lovely city – great architecture, bit of a hippy/arty vibe.