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State Highway 1 from Waiouru to Wellington is packed with small museums and other attractions that will delight enthusiasts and those with an interest in military history or transport. It is a long drive so make sure you allow time to take in a few well worth while stops, especially at the Southward Car Museum.
After 20 years of construction work, the first north bound train on the 680 km main trunk line, left Wellington over a century in 1908. It was a major expansion of the North Island rail network from just 74 km in 1870 to a mainline rail system in 1909. The main trunk was a great leap forward for North Island transport and up until the Second World War at least, most people travelling between Wellington and Auckland took the train. In many of the towns along the route, the skills of the surveyors, engineers and workmen who completed the railway are commemorated in small museums. Today you can still see rows of the original workers' cottages, all built to a uniform design, giving a special character to many of the main streets in the towns along the way. State Highway 1 from Auckland to Wellington generally follows the route of this main trunk railway, having eventually superseded the railway as the main transport link as the trend towards carrying cargo by truck and passengers by car developed over the last century. State Highway 1 from Waiouru to Wellington is packed with small museums and other attractions that will delight enthusiasts and those with an interest in military history or transport. It is a long drive so make sure you allow time to take in a few well worth while stops, especially at the Southward Car Museum.
Waiouru - Army Museum
1waiouru army museum
The trip starts at Waiouru at the southern end of the Desert Road on SH1. The museum is on the left heading south.
A great place to make a stop just south of the Waiouru army base, the Queen Elizabeth II Army Memorial Museum features a wide range of military memorabilia, weapons, medals, paintings, models and films. Outside the museum a number of armoured fighting vehicles are on display, including a Centurion tank and an M41 Walker Bulldog tank as well as a number of field guns. The museum also possesses restored Daimler Ferret Scout Cars and the British made Scorpion tank that later replaced them in New Zealand service.
Taihape-Utuki
2taihape
From Waiouru head south 29 km on SH1 to Taihape.
Regular ‘Steam Engine Sundays’ are run throughout the year, taking passengers from Wellington, Paraparaumu and Levin to Taihape which has become famous as the Gumboot Capital of New Zealand. Gumboot Day is held on the first tuesday after Easter each year and include a gumboot throwing competition as part of the festival, which aims to break the record for the worlds’ longest gumboot throw. Taihape has had a long and close association with the railway. Generations of New Zealanders fondly remember the railway station's cheery cafeteria which stayed open to serve refreshments at ungodly hours to travellers on the Night Limited, an overnight express train that operated between Auckland and Wellington from 1924 until it was replaced by the sleek Silver Star with its bow tie wearing stewards in 1971. The distinctive houses on the side of the town's main street date back to 1904 and were built for railway workers when the Main Trunk Railway line reached Taihape. The Taihape Museum can be found on Hui Street, located in an old church that dates back to the early 1900s. It features a number of displays showing the development of the railway, as well as the forest clearance and sawmilling that preceded the main European settlement of the area. There is also a replica of Taihape's first store as well as an early blacksmith's shop built using pit sawn timber, along with the original telephone exchange and a linotype machine used for many years by the Taihape Times.
3mangaweka
Continue south-west 19.7 km on SH1 to Mangaweka.
There are three old churches on the main highway through Mangaweka but the main landmark is a 1940s vintage DC3 airliner, containing a cafe, perched on the side of the road. Now bypassed by SH1, the township has a flourishing artists' community with a number of art galleries and hosts a controversial annual Fakes & Forgeries Art Exhibition and Festival in October and November each year. Nearby the Rangitikei River has become popular for jet boating, kayaking and white-water rafting. The Mokai Gravity Canyon also provides visitors with the opportunity to take an 80m bungy jump, a 50 m free fall from a swing bridge or a ride on a flying fox across the valley. One of the largest railway viaducts in the country, the Makohine Viaduct is located near the town and there are a number of walks along a section of railway line and tunnels that was replaced by a deviation on the main trunk railway line in 1981.
4marton
Continue southwest 48.4 km on SH1, turn right onto Calico Line and drive west 3.3 km to Marton.
Once a watering-place for farmers driving stock, Marton was formed when four early settlers subdivided their holdings into house lots. The town grew quickly after 1885 when the building of the railway began and today the town features a number of historic buildings. Construction work on the Church of St Stephen on Maunder Street began in 1871 on what was originally the site of a redoubt and today the church is one of the town's oldest surviving buildings. The old bank and tavern on Broadway have been preserved as part of the historic commercial precinct along with an old brick courthouse built in 1897 which is an excellent example of Victorian architecture. You can also visit the Captain Cook Pioneer Cottage on Wellington Road, which has been furnished with colonial period household items. Every summer visitors come to find their way around the 8 km of paths cut through a maize poddock to create a natural maze that can take up to 45 minutes to negotiate.
5bulls
Return to SH1 and continue 12.7 km southwest to Bulls.
This small farming community located at the junction of SH1 and SH3 has made the most of its curious name by incorporating 'bull' into the names of almost every shop in the town. The fire service is ‘Extinguish-a-Bull’, the pharmacy 'Indispens-a-bull', the public
toilets 'Relieve-a-bull', they have an animal ‘Hospit-a-Bull’, an Information Center that is ‘Inform-a-Bull’, the doctors ‘Cure-a-Bull’ as well as a friendly ‘Const-a-Bull’ in a town that the residents claim is ‘Unforget-a-Bull’. The town was originally named after its founder, James Bull, who was the owner of the first general store. The name Bull Town was later changed to Clifton and then renamed Bulls at the request of New Zealand’s Pemier, Sir William Fox.
Levin
6levin
Drive southeast 6.3 km from Bulls on SH1 past Ohakea Airbase on the left to Sanson, turn right and continue 49.3 km south on SH1 to Levin.
The largest town in the Horowhenua District, Levin was originally founded in 1889 as a camp for railroad workers and was named after a director of the railroad company. Bordered by the Tasman Sea on one side and the Tararua Ranges on the other, this pleasant rural township is the centre for a range of outdoor activities in the area. Lake Horowhenua, a dune lake, is popular for rowing and yachting, while to the south, Lake Papaitonga has historic connections with the important Maori chief, Te Rauparaha. If you walk south from Waitarere Beach, just northeast of Levin, you can reach the rusting wreck of the sailing ship Hydrabad, which was blown ashore during a storm in 1878.
7otaki
Continue 20 km south on SH1 to Otaki.
Located near the north bank of the Otaki River, the town is a gateway to the Tararua Ranges. At the Otaki Forks visitors will find picnic, swimming and camping areas. There are extensive tramping tracks throughout the Tararua Ranges, serviced by a number of tramping huts. Otaki Beach, 3 km away on the coast, is a wild and windswept place, perfect for an invigorating run. The area is historically significant for Maori, the Raukawa marae and a Maori college are both located near the town along with one of the country's oldest churches, Rangiatea, which dates back to 1846. Just inland is a horse racing course which is the home of the Otaki-Maori Racing Club. The club was formed in 1886, the local Maori having raced horses since the introduction of thoroughbred horses to the district in the 1840s. The first recorded Otaki race meeting was held in 1854, the early New Year race meetings later resembling carnivals which attracted up to 4000 people, including around 200 Europeans. The punters came from as far away as Rangitikei in the north and Wellington to the south, many arriving in bullock drays.
te horo
Continue 4.5 km southwest on SH1 to Te Horo.
The Hyde Park Museum at Te Horo features an incredible collection of Kiwiana, including a complete grocery store stocked with over 3000 items still bearing their 1937 price tags. There is also a model railway and a collection of toys and models from the 1920s.
waikanae
Continue south 10 km on SH1 to Waikanae.
Located on the north bank of the Waikanae River, which flows from the Tararua Range, this is a popular retirement town with a beach settlement 5 km away. The long sweeping surf beach fronting the Tasman Sea is a good place for swimming and beachcombing and the Waikanae River, to the south of the town, has swimming holes, walkways, and is a popular location for catching whitebait when in season. The Nga Manu Sanctuary, off Te Moana Road signposted from the highway, comprises 15 ha of swamp-land and scrub. This is the home of mute swans, pied stilts, ducks, parakeets and kea. You can see kiwi, morepork and tuatara in a nocturnal house and explore the area on a number of bush walks. There are many artists living in the area so it can be fun to browse the local galleries.
southward car museum
From Waikanae continue 3.6 km south on SH1 and turn right into Otaihanga Road. The entrance to the Southward Car Museum is signposted on the left.
The largest and most varied collection of cars in the Southern Hemisphere with over 350 vehicles, the museum includes an original De Lorean, an aluminium bodied car made that was made famous in the movie Back to the Future. There are relics from the Second World War, including an amphibious Schwimmwagen and a Kettenrad, a twin tracked motorcycle. The museum also houses some distinctive classics including Marlene Dietrich's 1934 Cadillac Town Cabriolet, a gull-winged Mercedes Benz, a 1915 Stutz Indianapolis race car, a 1950 Cadillac that belonged to gangster Mickey Cohen and an 1895 Benz Velo 'horseless carriage'.
paraparaumu
Return to SH1 and continue 3.5 km south on SH1 to Paraparaumu.
The town of Paraparaumu grew around a railway station, with a beach settlement later springing up 4 km away on the coast. Just north of the town is a farm park featuring farm shows and gourmet food producers with cheese, olives, honey, ice cream and other tasty treats available. The forest clad volcanic cone of Kapiti Island is just offshore. This was once the stronghold of the Maori chief Te Rauparaha and later the site of some early whaling stations. Kapiti was made a nature reserve in 1897 and today the island has been cleared of predators to make it a suitable home for a number of rare and endangered species, many of which no longer survive on the mainland. Little spotted kiwi are now thriving on Kapiti along with takahe, saddleback, the stitchbird, North Island robin and most recently, short tailed bats, which were released there after being bred in captivity. Only 50 people a day are allowed to visit the island on special trips, booked through the Department of Conservation in Wellington. The Kapiti Aero Club provides scenic flights and glider rides in the area.
tramway museum
Drive south 6.5 km to Mckay's Crossing on the right just off SH1.
The Tramway Museum in Queen Elizabeth Park provides a glimpse into Wellington's past with its collection of working heritage trams and memorabilia. The museum operates the wooden trams dating from the 1920s and 1930s that ran in Wellington until 1964 and includes a 2 km section of track, providing rides through the scenic coastal sand dunes of Queen Elizabeth Park to Whareroa Beach.
Paekakariki
8paekakariki
Continue south 3.4 km on SH1 to Paekakariki.
Paekakariki is a beach town that features one of the characteristic long sandy West Coast beaches complete with driftwood of all shapes and sizes and numerous multicoloured sea shells washed ashore by the waves. A popular and safe place to swim in summer it is also a good location for surfcasting and in a northwest swell at mid to high tides can become one of the North Island’s premier surfing beaches. The history of Paekakariki has been intimately linked with the railway and today you can visit the Paekakariki Rail & Heritage Museum which is open to the public on weekends near the busy train station. Steam Incorporated have been active in a number of preservation projects and you can see many of these restored steam locomotives on display at the Railway Shed which is open on most Saturdays.
paremata
Continue south 16 km on SH1 to Paremata.
The London-based New Zealand Company acquired land around both arms of the Porirua harbour in 1939 with plans to build a township on the Pauatahanui Inlet. The Ngati Toa objected to this purchase of their land without their consent and in 1846, part of the tribe fought British troops in the Horokiri valley, before eventually retreating and allowing the Europeans to settle around the harbour. Located on the southern entrance to the Pauatahanui arm of the Porirua Harbour, Paremata was the original site of military barracks built in 1846 to quarter British troops protecting Wellington from the Maori attack, however the buildings collapsed as a result of poor materials, shoddy construction work and a series of earthquakes.
9porirua
Continue south 4 km on SH1 to Porirua.
Porirua Harbour attracted whalers and sealers as far back as the 1830s and later became the site of a military outpost during the mid 1840s. Today, this sheltered Y-shaped harbour is home to a number of yachting and boating clubs and is a popular location for windsurfing, waterskiing and jet skiing. The Pataka Museum and Art Gallery on Te Hiko Street features exhibits from the township's colourful past as well as showcasing Maori, Pacific Island, New Zealand and Asian contemporary art and culture. You can also visit the museum at the Police College on the hillside just north of the city. Because most peoples perception of the Police has been coloured by the many hours dedicated to good cop, bad cop story lines on prime-time television, the actual role of Police in New Zealand’s history has been largely overlooked. The New Zealand Police Museum presents a fascinating display of evidence from our Police history, including historical objects and original evidence. Displays include the 1913 strikes, 1981 Springbok Tour, the Erebus disaster and the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior.
It is another 19 km to Wellington heading south on SH1.