Bridge To Nowhere MTB Ride
16 - 18 March 2012
One of the North Island's best mountain bike rides which includes a jet boat ride. Project Tongariro is going to make a weekend of it.
Total Cost per person $225 including 2 nights accommodation, meals and transport by shuttle and jeboat.
Download the Programme and Budget
Email Mark Davies on davies.family@xtra.co.nz with expressions of interest.
Friday 16 March 2012
Travel to Ohakune meet at Serac Ski Club Lodge Turoa Village sometime early evening.
Saturday 17 March 2012
Bridge to Nowhere Mountain Bike Adventure
Sunday 18 March 2012
Travel home anytime after breakfast
Bike skills and experience necessary
Riders need to be intermediate to experienced. The track grade is 2 to 3 and can be rough in places and you need to be prepared to do some walking pushing your bike. The ride is 38km in total and will take five to six hours in the saddle to complete.
Bike condition
Your bike needs to be in top condition. I recommend a full service before the weekend. Each rider needs to be fully self sufficient n with a spare tube and enough gear to make temporary chain repairs.
The Mangapurua Track
The Mangapurua Track (33km from the start to The Bridge to Nowhere (2.7km from Mangapurua Landing is maintained as a walking and biking track and provides access from the Whanganui River to the iconic Bridge to Nowhere. The tracks follow historic roads originally installed to service the two valleys that were settled as part of rehabilitation settlements where land was offered to returned soldiers following World War 1.
The ride is quite strenuous. It entails 5 km of steady uphill at the beginning and this takes about an hour in low gear. At the top of the track there is a rolling four to five km’s and then a long decent into the valley and a rolling ride to the bridge, river and landing. It’s a big day out in total.
History of the Bridge to Nowhere
This simple concrete bridge symbolises a failed attempt at back country pioneering by a community of returned World War 1 servicemen and their families.
A Reward for Returned Soldiers
During World War 1, the government offered land in the Mangapurua and Kaiwhakauka valleys to returned servicemen as part of a soldier settlement scheme. In 1917 the first pioneer settlers started taking up the available holdings. Life was difficult from the start. The land was remote, hilly and untamed. Road access was limited and the settlers had to clear their holdings of dense forest and transform them into farm land. Despite the obstacles, the returned servicemen were enthusiastic and determined. At the peak of settlement there were 30 farms in Mangapurua and 16 in Kaiwhakauka. The shared experiences - through war and these new challenges - created a strong bond, and for a number of years the community thrived.
The Bridge
"The old timber swing bridge (Morgan's Bridge)"
A wooden swing bridge was constructed across the Mangapurua Stream in 1919. This connected the isolated valley with the riverboats that brought goods along the Whanganui River. However the settlers had always expected that roading access would be improved - a more solid bridge would be built and that it would form part of a road between Raetihi and Taranaki. Planning for the new bridge started when the timber bridge began to rot. In 1936 the new steel-reinforced concrete bridge was finally opened. It was an impressive sight at nearly 40 metres above the river within the steep ravine walls. Today, you can still see the remains of the old swing bridge from the concrete bridge that replaced it.
The "Valley of Abandoned Dreams"
"Returned servicemen building new lives in the Mangapurua Valley"
By the time construction was finished, many of the Mangapurua settlers had abandoned their holdings. The physical labour and economic hardship had taken their toll on the returned servicemen and their families. Serious erosion (caused by the clearing of bush), flooding and poor road access were other obstacles that the settlers could no longer overcome. By 1942 only three of the farmers remained in the valley. They were eventually forced to leave when the government decided that road access would no longer be maintained. By 1944, everyone had gone.Not only that, they left virtually penniless.
Today
"The Bridge to Nowhere today"
The concrete bridge - now known as the Bridge to Nowhere - is the symbol of that ill-fated settlement in an area known as the "valley of abandoned dreams". The Bridge to Nowhere gets more use now than it did when it was first built. It is the unofficial flagship of Whanganui National Park and a major visitor attraction on the Whanganui Journey - one of New Zealand's Great Walks.