Yesterday we drove the 149 km down the Forgotten World Highway from Taumarunui to Stratford. It was a fascinating and enthralling journey through bush, gorge and mountain views arriving at a great hotel (in the self declared Republic of Whangamomona) for lunch.

We stopped the night outside Hawera on a farm with calves, sheep, pigs, hens, a horse and dog for companions, oh, and not a few biting insects.