Life after the Apocalypse Riding the old Manawatu Gorge road
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- #caravancamping #offgridliving #rvlife
Hello to all our @Vagabond Life subscribers
After leaving Timona Park in Feilding we travelled over The Saddle, with a stop at the top to view the wind turbines.
You really feel small when you see these giants, however I am told that there are some in Wellington which are even larger than these ones.
We continued onto Ferry Reserve next to the old Manawatu Gorge Road, this is a free camp which has toilets and is right by the river, with great views of the bridge over the river leading to the start of the old gorge road.
While we were having some great weather, we decided to take you on an adventure bike ride along the old Manawatu Gorge Road and I have got to say, it felt like stepping into an apocalyptic scene.
It was eerily quiet as we dodged rocks and boulders along the road and we were amazed to see how nature has taken back the road.
Further up you can see why they finally decided to close the road and just give up on constantly fixing up the cliffside with netting, as a huge slip has covered the road so much so that you can’t even see the road anymore and it just looks like a bush scene.
If you ever get the chance to either walk or bike this old gorge road, we highly recommend it, you will not regret this adventure.
#vagabond #boondocking #retireearly
Music by Coma-Media from Pixabay
The new "Ruahine Saddle" is 10 degrees climb up from Ashhurst and 8 degrees up from Woodville. Another NZTA Project !......
Yes we have been over the saddle too - check our video around December/January last/this year.
I hope you appreciated your bike ride, thru the Manawatu Gorge (when you look back at your film footage, remember what you saw, was initially created by pick, shovel & wheelbarrow back in the days of NZ's depression Years - a single traffic lane to start with), there have those, who have done the same thing, and have gone from one to other side and back again. . What you witnessed, started in 2004, when we had rain that poured from the paddocks at top of gorge and as it cascaded down, undermined the rock, that then fell, blocking the road and falling into the river. Has been a common occurrence, from the day of the gorge road opening. The Saddle road was "not up to speed" at that time sadly, and became the "main road" (east - west), it deteriorated from the heavy traffic. The other "over the hills road" (Pahiatua Track) also suffered - also was not built to take the traffic volume that followed. . Our National Roading People (one with funny name) & Local Councils were told, 2004, that slips, like the one that had just occurred, would re-occur (which it did, the last ultimately leading to the closure of ..) and it was time to look at creating a new highway. Sadly it took to long to get the "wheels in motion", lots of money spent on upgrading the Saddle Road, which again suffered with increased traffic volume. With your recent travel over the Saddle Road, you would have seen the new roading development.
Hi Robin, wow thanks for that information, it is such a shame it has closed considering what you have advised about who built it (well the initial single lane) and the blood, sweat n tears that would have gone into creating it.
I thought it was built in the 1800's.
Cool spot there at the ferry reserve. I jogged through to the end of the Gorge like you say, pretty awesome spot aye, peaceful and quiet
Yeah it is a great little spot, very peaceful. We are very lucky to have such great spots to camp for free.
When I was a child we often drove through the George. This was so sad for me to see as it was always maintained. He worked for Manacon Tanks and he would take me with him to deliver huge concrete water tanks. I would be in the passengers seat of the truck looking down to a shear drop into the valley at the river. If it was a one way area you would sometimes need to back up to a passing pay. The thrill of going trough this George with my dad driving the truck was one of the highlights of my childhood. If you got to see a train on the other side that was a huge bonus. He also would relay the history of the area and the sad story of the train derailment . Was alway going to go back for another drive through but did not realised it was now closed and in such a state .😢
Hi Donna, wow that would have brought back some memories for you then. Yes it is in a very sad state and quite eerie, as it is so quiet there and amazing how the earth has started to reclaim the road back to itself.
Thanks for sharing your memories ❤️
Enjoyed the great footage of the Gorge. Very eery. We were camped in that ferry reserve about 4 days ago. I drove over the Saddle road to get diesel too. I noticed one of the turbines wasn't spinning so maybe it was about to blow up and they turned it off haha.
Hey guys good to hear from you, hope you are enjoying your travel around the North Island.
it's something everyone should do. I've walked from one end to the other and back again in a couple of hours.. the funny thing is that it would have cost 1/3 of what they have spent on the saddle road to keep it open while they build the new road over the top of the ruahine range.
Wow, yeah next time we are there I'd love to walk it, it's a really nice road, so quiet/peaceful and amazing how nature is taking it back. A great road, I agree everyone should walk down.
I hope those wind turbines will be able to supply enough power for charging our ebikes.
No worries there Robert, that's what's so good about these bikes, long life batteries.
Hi Just found your channel, and have subscribed. Like your Kiwi honesty.
We are about to embark on a 3 mth tour to the Sth Island, and your videos have been a great inspiration.
Question - you have changed your bikes. Is there a video about this explaining why? Cheers
Hi Kevin and Annemarie we originally had had different bikes. Shelly's was a cheap entry level bike that didn't match my bike. So we opted for bikes that had the same level of speed and battery capacity.
Youre not born to work from 9 to 5 live life to the fullest
We agree 💯 who knows how long we are here for. Our philosophy is life is for living, sometimes if you have to work it should be only be temporary, then back to living life again.
In the decade ahead as climate change starts to bite more roads that are built along river banks will become financially unviable to maintain and like this one closed...the road to Westport that runs next to the buller river is just a few major flood's away from being shut permanently...I love the old kiwi spirit , " YOU SHALL NOT PASS " " KEEP OUT " , " DANGER STAY OUT "...all these words aren't in a new Zealanders vocabulary!!.😂💕🇳🇿
😆🤣 Yeah your not wrong there, it's the "she'll be right" attitude.
Apparently they are looking at opening it up to the public to ride it "officially" as they know people ride it/walk it anyway.
@@vagabondlife2018 by the looks of those rock falls..you can count me out!!.😂😂💕🇳🇿
Yes I would guess they would to make it somewhat safe if they are going to open it to the public, otherwise someone's head would be on the chopping block if someone was injured from falling debris.