0 thoughts on “Old Whangamomona Road”

1. I did it a couple of years ago in dry weather and it was a great ride we looped round to the north with permission of the station owners. There is no cell coverage in Whangamomona so you need to ring ahead to get permission to ride through the station.

2. Hi, anyone done the Old Whanga Rd in the last few years? Or any further update from the Stratford District Council known? thanks

3. Facebook group Member Facunda Rosa went through on February 8th and found 4×4’s had made a big hole which he got stuck in.

   

4. I heard from my neighbour, whose crew rides dirt bikes, that the road had suffered a major slip and also a bridge had been washed out making it impassable but that was back in March/April after the last of 3 ex-tropical cyclones pushed through. It is possible that the local 4×4 club has fixed up the road since then.

5. Anyone done this recently?? Ggood dry weather should make lots of fun

6. Another picture. This isn’t from the Old Whangamomona Rd, but is from the same area. Stratford District Council are warning people that the bridge is unsafe to use and use is at their own risk. So if this is where the money is planned on going, then have at it I say.

   

7. Well I could be for this depending on how they would want to spend that money. Id imagine these days 1.86M won’t actually get that much work done, so hopefully they are just looking at strengthening the bridges and perhaps some work on slip control measures. On the other hand if they plan on widening, metalling or removing the challenges of the road, that would be very sad indeed.

   

8. This article just appeared in the local Newspaper.

   

9. Today I armed myself with a saw and cleared the track of fallen manuka as seen in the video by @daniel_fisher . I did the damp and slippery Old Road as a solo ride on my Kawasaki KLX150L with a well worn 80/20 Avon Trailrider tyre on the rear wheel starting from the Bridge to Somewhere (Aotuhia) and ending at the Whangamomona Hotel. Daniel mentioned a couple of holes that swallowed bikes and I encountered them too. One lies in wait at the 3 km mark and the last really narly one at the last tunnel heading north. The punga logs are sunken/broken and a real hindrance in making way past the tunnel end so be prepared to take some time to scope out a good line through the quagmire.

10. @daniel_fisher Thanks for sharing your video. I’ll probably head out there in the next couple of days with a saw and clear some of the downed trees blocking the track.

11. Rode this on Monday morning North to South. If your prepared to waste 20mins I have made a video of the entire length in it’s current state. From the videos/pics above, there are no longer Punga logs after the tunnel, but the slips have been cleared. Current state, quite a few trees down, large and small (unpassable by 4×4 right now, pine tree within a meter or so of cliff I had to ride around) couple of the bogs I bottomed out on, and there are a couple of sink holes on the track, but still very rideable, at least on a small bike anyway.

12. Stratford District Council is looking at the future of Whangamomona and 2 of the things it’s looking at are the full sealing of SH43 – the Forgotten Highway and the future status of the Old Whangamomona Road.
    Stratford District Council hasn’t maintained the the Old Whangamomona Road for about 20 years and is considering options including removing it’s paper road status completely, or having some level of involvement in it’s maintenance.

    Stratford District Council has a submission form where you can read it’s thoughts and provide feedback. You can download the form here: http://www.stratford.govt.nz/images/District_Plan/Stratford-2035-Future-of-Whangamomona.pdf

13. Made it

14. a couple of pics

15. Might be a bit late for you Riley, but we just got back from doing old whanga rd. Depends what your riding capability is and what bike you’re on, but its pretty hard core. At one point seriously considered turning around, but had pretty well committed at that point. Glad we finished it as it got better further in( in saying that it was fricken epic all in all) There are some serious sections of mud and bog holes at the moment though. Easy enough to get through in the end, but you never know how deep those holes are going to be. Easier once you just commit and say wtf here we go then. Have fun, its a blast

16. G’day, anyone know the current conditions of the Old Whanga Road since the last few storms? Looking at going through ANZAC weekend, mates are also keen to take a 4wd if that is viable?
    Cheers

17. There was a bit of mud last Wkend

18. Was out there last Saturday hunting. Aside from the two bog areas mentioned its actually pretty good. Slippy but there was a group of guys on dirt bikes came past as we were walking back to the car. walked most of the way along.

    Edit: The road did suffer a massive slip before the conservation area and there is a sign saying road closed. I got my 4×4 to the conservation gate tho.

19. <cite>@Brent Finlay said:</cite>
    Any Idea on current state of this Track as looking at going this way this Sunday 8th and doing the big loop where it pops back out at Kohuratahi rd on to 43

    I was out there just over a month ago and it was wet and boggy by the two tunnels. Since then we have had a huge amount of rain, I’m picking it’s going to be bad there at the moment. Not sure about slips etc but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was unpassable.

20. Any Idea on current state of this Track as looking at going this way this Sunday 8th and doing the big loop where it pops back out at Kohuratahi rd on to 43

21. Updated thanks. That’s what happens when you are tired and are trying to do lots of things at once.

22. Maybe need to edit the above? 42nd, or Old Whanga Rd?

23. The Old Whangamomona Road is now open again and the track has changed in places due to the the slips and damage shown above.

    We traveled over the Old Whangamomona Road as part of our Adventure Riding NZ 2016 Taumaranui Ride and recorded an updated tracklog which is now available for download.

24. The Old Whangamomona Road still has some big slips in place.

    

    

25. Old Whangamomona Road is currently is closed due flood damage, slips etc as a result of the horrendous rainfall over June 20th to 22nd.
    The Whangamomona Road Action Group Inc are intending on having the road reopened for the summer months.