We closed-up shop last night with the sky “on fire”. We reopened this morning to clear sky and the sun shining. The road conditions, opened or closed, for the route we planned to take, were checked. All good, even though there had been numerous rockfalls, landslides, washaways and fallen trees, all of which had been cleared from the main thoroughfare. We came across all of them with workmen still in attendance. Before leaving Hawera we explored it a little. A very clean, well ordered town with all the facilities one would need in this modern age. However, we both wanted to hit the road and experience The Forgotten World Highway. With Mt Taranaki/Mt Egmont clearly on our left we headed for Stratford and the beginning of Highway 43, more commonly known as The Forgotten World Highway.
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