Waitotara Valley Road is recognised as the longest no-exit road in New Zealand. This year, thanks to the Manawatu 4WD Club, NZ4WD Event Manager Ashley Lucas finally got to traverse it – from beginning to end!

The old woolshed had certainly seen better days, the lone chimney a reminder of the house that once stood there, the yard littered with junk including an old beaten Land Rover, Allis Chalmers bulldozer and what was left
of a Mini ute.  

It was one of the 80 4WD North Island Adventures in Andi Cockroft’s  book and after first reading about Ernie’s Place in NZ4WD 22 years ago, I have finally visited ‘Nirvana’, the home of Ernie Matthews, the ‘old man of The Moey.’

It was a fundraising trip into the Waitotara Valley organised by the Manawatu 4WD Club with a base camp at Ngamatapouri, a small settlement 55 kms up Waitotara Road, at the junction of the Waitotara and Makakaho Rivers; and whilst tarseal all the way to Ngamatapouri, I did ponder if I would ever get to the end.

Just like in the Scouts

Around 100 4WDs set up camp across the river at the Ngamatapouri sport club ground on Friday ready for an early 7.30am start on Saturday.  Everyone was allocated a group, with names such as Kauri, Kowhai, etc, with the group sizes kept to around 14-16, vehicles each with a leader and tail end vehicle.

The idea was that everyone would get to cover the same ground over the two days yet rarely did the groups actually meet up during the day.  The organisers boasted that they had nearly 200kms of tracks for us to traverse, so for those of us using petrol engine vehicles it was suggested to take extra fuel.

I had been allocated Kowhai group and we lined up to head back out on the Waitotara Valley road.
A few kms down the road we turned off onto a track that would take us up over the hills to the next valley, through a forestry block and then out past Lake Mangawhio which forms part of the Mangawhio Scenic Reserve.  

My old mate, Dusty Rhodes

A short and very dusty road trip had us heading back up another road and over the hills again but not before a short stop to change a flat tyre on a 42-year-old Land Rover. 

After dropping off the steep hills back into the Waitotara Valley we were on the other side of the river and wound our way along the edge of the hills, beside the river through Kowhata Station where they have a foot swing bridge near the house to walk across; the only access in earlier days.  There is an alternative vehicle access by driving further up the valley them coming back down Puau Road, which is how we exited back to the Ngamatapouri Hall.

Here we regrouped for morning tea before continuing further up the Waitotara Valley on Makowhai Station, the 8,900 hectare (22,000 acre) family farm of the Haddow’s and Matthews’.  This is where a young Ernie Matthews grew up and the farm is still in the Matthews family; managed by Ernie’s nephew Henry Matthews and now also home to Settlers Honey.

We headed up the Kapara Track which is only maintained for the commercial purposes of extracting that liquid gold, Manuka Honey.  The track had recently been graded as we were right in the middle of the season and there seemed to be beehives around every corner.  The land is once again thick with Manuka, and with it, bees and their hives!

We were fortunate on this trip to have such good weather, as the tracks were steep as we made our way over the hills and along ridgelines and with it being papa (aka ‘grease-rock,’ Ed) country, any sort of moisture would make driving these tracks interesting to say the least.

As it was the hazard on our trip was dust and there was plenty of it. So much so in fact, that with vehicles keeping a decent sort of distance on the steep inclines and trying to stay out of the dust, (especially those without the benefit of air conditioning) our group did get quite spread out.

Before I knew it we had arrived at Ernie’s place (see sidebar story) and slowly drove past the woolshed that Ernie built using split Manuka for the gratings.  

Backtracking to the old house we then headed out on the Moeawatea Valley Road
in a westerly direction towards Waverley.  It might be classed as a road but again it was really not much more than a track which Ernie used to walk to get his mail and supplies from his letter box at the end of the road, a 30km round trip.

We continued westward out past the old bridge over the Tawhiti Stream.  The bridge still stands there but now the road is down over a concrete ford.  The road can be so treacherous in the winter that the council closes it with huge heavy steel gates at the end.

Next up, up up…

Next up we turned into Mataimoana Road, past the repeater tower before  once again traversing some steep farm tracks complete with a few ‘hairy’ corners to get around. One in particular saw long-wheelbase vehicles have to make a two or even three-point turn, with occupants praying for traction in the loose dusty conditions. 

We climbed so high, in fact, that we had views of Mt Taranaki to the west and also glimpses of Mounts Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro to the north.  We eventually came out at the Makowhai Station homestead before arriving back at camp at 6.30pm, having covered over 120kms mostly off-road and with just enough time to wash the dust out of our hair before walking down to the Ngamatapouri hall to quench the throat and for dinner provided by the locals. What a feed it was, too, with plenty to go around including corn on the cob and crayfish. 

Since Friday the organisers had been selling raffle tickets for donated prizes including a set of tyres.  Back at camp everyone gathered around for the prize draws.  One chap was eventually awarded a hard luck prize after spending $60.00 on tickets and not getting a single prize.

Sunday was another early start and this time Kowhai group would head further up Makakaho Road onto another station where once again we climbed up and traversed ridge lines to the highest point with more views of Mt Taranaki.  

Plenty of spade work

On the track up there was a very narrow section on a corner where a slip had come down and taken part of the track away.  The Manawatu Club had done plenty of spade work to make the track passible but for those in the big rigs with the corporate boardroom table for a bonnet it made for a puckering of the seat moment.

Next was a quick look at the station’s own power station at the Makakaho Falls before heading up the hills on the other side of the road.  

Once again the climb through bush and farm land was steep and as it was a hot day yet again over heating was a concern for one or two.  It was then into a bush area known locally as Peats Bush where we eventually came out on the side of the hill where a hut had been built with amazing views of the Taranaki country side. Inside was a large table made from a Totara log that had been submerged in the Makakaho River for hundreds of years.

It was a great spot for lunch and take in a bush walk which had many of the forest giants still standing.

Back out onto the ridge tops the views of the four mountains were a little better due to less cloud coverage and haze and we headed for yet another hut on the station before completing the loop back to Makakaho Road.

It had been a great weekend and the small groups worked well and allowed for a steady flow all weekend.  We certainly covered close to the anticipated 200kms off-road in extremely dusty conditions and hopefully the club managed to hit its target of $20,000 raised for two charities; Canteen NZ and Surf Lifesaving.  

For most of the weekend we lived off the grid with no phone reception, just like Ernie Matthews did, and it was a personal highlight to eventually visit his ‘Nirvana’ in the Moeawatea along with where he was brought up in the Waitotara Valley.