Only the most intrepid geocachers would want to leave the Forgotten World Highway (SH43) at Strathmore and brave an hour’s drive off the beaten track on a No Exit road, on what has been called the ‘Overlooked Highway’.
Unlike the famous isolated ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ in Whanganui National Park this classic depression-era sister bridge is going somewhere, but at a cost. The road starts 35km north of Stratford, past the Strathmore Saddle and after turning off at Makāhu becomes a typical back country metalled surface. The existing road was constructed in 1985 to allow access to a Lands and Survey farm redevelopment in the area. It’s a rough trip for the family car and recommended for 4WD vehicles especially in Winter, motor bike, or even mountain bike – certainly getting there is half the adventure. There is no cellular coverage and very few houses.
While you get to the cache “from Taranaki”, it’s actually 8 km outside Taranaki in the province of Whanganui.
The Bridge to Somewhere is a substantial concrete structure built over the Whangamōmona River in 1936 at Aotuhia, where pioneer settlers had eked out an existence since 1896. They were joined by returned servicemen from WWI who were balloted onto the land. For the first few years access was from the Whanganui River via a narrow bridle track that is now part of the Matemateonga track. By 1914 a road that wound its way down the Whangamōmona River from Whangamōmona was completed.
A few years later Aotuhia was established enough to have sports events on the domain, a 20 pupil school, a telephone exchange and a post office run by one of the locals out of their house. But the land fought back with floods, slips and blocked access and the 1930’s Depression finally forced them to abandon their settlement.
Ironically, the bridge was built only after most of the settlers had departed.
There are a series of seven walking tracks in Taranaki’s eastern hill country which cross through Aotuhia Station and link with the Wanganui River and Matemateaonga Walkway (access to these walkways are restricted during lambing season). These walkways are accessed from Whangamomona via the Whangamomona Road and from Stratford via the Mangaehu Road. The walkways included in this grouping are the: Bridge to Somewhere to Wanganui River Track (Route 1), Bridge to Somewhere to Whangamomona River Falls Track (Route 2), Kurapete Track (Route 3), Tirohanga Track (Route 4), Whangamomona Road Historic Walk (Route 5), Okara Station – Kuri Stream Walk and Trig 8’ Walk Route 6).
Route 5 is also a significant cycle ride, the Bridge to Somewhere Loop Ride: This shared pathway leads from Whangamomona down to the Bridge to Somewhere on Upper Mangaehu Road. From there it is possible, with permission, to loop back through Aotuhia Station to Okara and Putikituna Roads back to SH43 and then to Whangamomona. An alternative route back to Whangamomona is from the Bridge to Somewhere using Upper Mangaehu Road, Brewer Road and then Jury Road back to SH43.
Ron Lambert, 'Taranaki places - Inland Taranaki', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, Available at http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/25916/the-bridge-to-somewhere (accessed 1 February 2019).
Story by Ron Lambert, updated 7 Sep 2016