Taumarunui to Tatu via River Road. Has any reader recently driven over this roadif so how good is it and is it all sealed

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trele, Mar 1, 12:19pm
Has any reader recently driven over this road!If so, how good is it and is it all sealed!
therafter1, Mar 1, 1:26pm
I have never heard of the place !

The river road is sealed, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it 'good'. I drove it about 12 months or so ago and wasn't particularly impressed, there is the odd scenic area, but it is mostly pretty ordinary. The segment thru the Tangarakau Gorge is scenic and worth seeing. That segment of the road was still unsealed when I drove it last.

If you are driving the road for scenic reasons I would do it in mid to late Autumn, that would add plenty of colour to what is mostly pastoral type views.
intrade, Mar 1, 1:42pm
i might have been there i look it upyup i looked at a house in tokirima its all sealed there is no cellcoverage 12km out of taumarunui and its 45minutes to the turnoff , i have not been down the left after the turnoff i went thru ohura . only went all the way on the forgotten world highway in 2010 somwhere the tarseal stops but i cant recall where i guess it be 1h to tatu from taumarunui. make sureyou got enough fuel and tools to change tyre if needed.
therafter1, Mar 1, 1:46pm
Ahaaaa, so there is such a place. Its an old coal mine village. I have never been there and we lived at Kaponga for a while and did a fair bit of driving in the local area but never ever went to that place.
therafter1, Mar 1, 1:47pm
Good advice there Intrade, the options for fuel and repairs are Taumarunui or Stratford.
trele, Mar 1, 3:04pm
Many thanks for your input.I am looking for a shortcut from Stratford to Taumarunui- I am actually going in the opposite direction from what I posted.I was just uncertain about the Tatu/Taumarunui sector and showed the heading to the post as Taumarunui as Tatu may not be well known.Looking for a bit of a change in scenery as have been over most of the major roads in that area.
intrade, Mar 1, 3:12pm
forget it there is no short cut it took me 6h from stratford the forgoten world highway is partial unsealed and there is tons of rocks blocking either side of the road plus a oneway tunnel on the route. if you want fast your better off to go up to the turnoff to taumarunui heading towards tekuiti from highway 3 and in to 4
intrade, Mar 1, 3:14pm
if you want scenic yea it be ok and i was on there in may 2010 and was wallowing thru mud on the unsealed road part just calculate that it will take you all day that way.
lookoutas, Mar 1, 4:27pm
If it took 6 hours intrade, you must have had a few stops. There is no way it's quicker to go via the 8 mile!
In the days of low-flying, I used to do Taumarunui to Whanga in just a gnats over 1 hour - the mandatory stop at the Pub, and another hour to Stratford.
Normal driving, allow 45 minutes from Tatu to Taum.
Tatu now only consists of a road to the left called Tatu, that disappears into farmland. Make sure to take the next turn right, otherwise you'll finish up at Ohura. Make sure to stop at the Lavender Farm if you have someone with you that requires your points built up. The owner is a good friend.
mothergoose_nz, Mar 1, 4:38pm
stratford to taumaranui is is a quick little drive through. an hour or two. been through a couple of times and it is handy short gorge in the middle. nothing to get to excited about
therafter1, Mar 1, 5:15pm
The road has been upgraded since 2010 other than the short segment thru the Tangarakau Gorge, its still nothing to write home about. In saying that there are different strokes for different folks, and what one finds to be bordering on the mundane, others may find interesting.

If anyone that likes to drive long winding roads has never driven it, then it is worthwhile doing purely for the long winding road if nothing else. But as the pictures that I have posted suggest, there are still points of interest, which include the tunnels that Intrade has mentioned.
lookoutas, Mar 1, 7:16pm
To answer OP's question.
It's a back country road, not a motorway like some expect it to be.
There is no metal between Tatu and Taumarunui, but there is 12 KM of metal through the Tangarakau Gorge between Whangamomona and Tatu
lookoutas, Mar 1, 7:38pm
It did take me 6 hours once! I got a flatty on the Whanga Saddle - put the spare on and it went flat within FA. So I hitched a ride to Stratford with a lady in a truck. She dropped me & wheels off at a tyre shop, and called back after getting groceries. As I hadn't been able to raise my mate who I was supposed to be meeting at Strathmore, I hitched a ride back to the car with her and turned up at original destination 4 hours late.

On the way into Stratford the lady apologised for taking so long. I said. "No-one's passed us!" More or less saying I couldn't have got there any quicker.
On the way back she informed me that the truck had a fifth gear, but she always has trouble selecting it and was too embarrassed to try. I told her not to worry about me and give it a go, so she crunched it into fifth and the bloody thing almost doubled in speed.
pestri, Mar 1, 9:30pm
It's no shortcut. possibly just as good up to Pio Pio and down the coast over Mt Messenger or thruOhura and out to the Coast from there. but then you'd miss the Whanga Pub.
andrewph, Mar 2, 1:31am
Yes i did it a couple of weeks ago. Thats highway 43 Taumaranui to Straford. Im in Glenfield and had to go down to Stratford I looked at the map before i went down and thought i hadnt been on the inland route only out round the coast via New Plymouth. It looked to be a straighter route so i went via Taumaranui . It's a windy road throught a really scenicrugged farm land into a gorge then the tarseal stops and you start to wonder weather youre going the right way Ha ha! Then you go through a neat tunnel on to farm land and a nice river to follow to Whangamoma something where they were having their republic day. Sheep and horses and stalls with all the locals having fun. Cars parked a km either side of the town. Then an easy drive to Stratford. Between Taumaranui and the end of the gorge there isnt a straight more of than 50m. Brake, steer brake steer all the way.
trele, Mar 2, 3:43pm
Thanks everyone and, Andrewph, your recent experience was a very useful guide.I will be taking a visitor from overseas out and about so it will be great to get out into the backblocks particularly as there will not be any time pressures.
paul271, Mar 2, 6:33pm
Have a look at ohura if you pass through that way, biggest main street youve ever seen, but with no one there. You could shoot a machine gun down the road and be pretty safe in the knowledge that you wouldnt hurt a fly :-). Sad to see it getting so tired, it used to be a thriving town when I lived there 30 years ago, now its just a ghost town.
therafter1, Mar 2, 8:45pm
The old prison at Ohura is worth a look as well.

http://www.ohurastateprison.co.nz/
phillip.weston, Mar 4, 5:56pm
I love this road! last did it in 2007. I remember I had a boot full of tools in my car and I had been going around corners so fast my socket set came undone and scattered around the boot - it seems I had a bung missing from the bottom of the quarter panel and must have lost at least 3 sockets in the process :(

I'm coming back to Taumarunui in a couple weeks to see family, I'm just wondering if I can find an excuse to go to Taranaki (or further) just to drive on that road again.
intrade, Mar 4, 11:45pm
phillip weston i might be there soon again also if you want to come by for a coffee i can tell you how crap mitsis are then lol
lookoutas, Mar 4, 11:46pm
The bikers love it. Hundreds go through there at this time of the year.

Only drawback is the road maggots that don't know how to move over.
therafter1, Mar 5, 12:05am
If I were you Phillip I would forget about the forgotten highway and see if you can con your way into driving an hour and a half south and do the Gentle Annie from Taihape to Napier and back. It is my opinion that this is the best drive, with some of the best scenery in the Nth Island.
lookoutas, Mar 5, 12:58am
Never been right through Gentle Annie, but I've been everywhere out there. Big country - if ya like that.

Hey Phil - ya ever been over the Opotiki!
Well worth it for an hours jaunt. Go up over the Opotiki and down to the Otunui School (where quality were educated) then hook a left and come home over the Kururau. Just after leaving the seal and rounding a hairpin to the left, there's a lone shed on a plateau on the right - that's all that remains of where I grew up.

If you're sick of metal, you can take the right turn just before the hairpin, and follow the seal out to the River Rd.
And there's a hole in the bucket.
jmma, Mar 5, 3:59am
Do you recognise my profile pic (o:
therafter1, Mar 5, 3:37pm
I have never looked closely at the 3 marae that I have noticed going back and forwards, and I??