Bridge to Nowhere, Manawatu-Wanganui

Deep in the forest of Whanganui National Park is the “valley of abandoned dreams,” and a lone concrete bridge.

Though only accessible by boat up the Whanganui River, the first pioneers in the area believed that eventually, a road would link to the valley. They constructed the bridge in anticipation, but the road was never developed.

Left isolated, they faced a lonely wilderness too difficult to tame. Today, the area is abandoned but the Bridge to Nowhere still stands as a symbol of the ill-fated settlement.