Driving into New Zealand’s Forgotten World

“I had just a single night at Omaka Lodge before being taken 19km north to Okahukura and the start of the old Stratford-Okahukura railway, long since abandoned by regular train services and now known as the Forgotten World Line. It’s not quite true to say I had a no-drive experience in New Zealand – from here to Whangamōmona, 82km to the south-west, I would be driving my own ‘rail cart’,” Jamie Lafferty writes in a travel piece for the Financial Times.

“Imported from Texas, these were crudely converted golf buggies, still with a useless steering wheel, complete with a clip for scorecard,” Lafferty explains.

“Unlike conventional rail travel, where there is no control over the scheduling, nor destinations, this trip would allow me to stop when I chose, so long as I wasn’t being halted by other forces.”

Original article by Jamie Lafferty, Financial Times, April 11, 2023.

Photo by Jamie Lafferty.