“Bridge to Nowhere” in Whanganui National Park, New Zealand

One of the most visited attractions in Whanganui National Park, New Zealand, is the “Bridge to Nowhere” -  an abandoned and isolated concrete bridge spanning the Mangapurua Stream in the middle of the rainforest. With no roads leading to it, the bridge looks ridiculously out of place. It is accessible only by jet boat or kayak, followed by a 40 minute hike along maintained bush trails.

The bridge was built across the deep Mangapurua Gorge to provide access to an area where the government was opening up land in 1917 for pioneering farmers, mainly soldiers who had returned from World War I. The intention was to build roads to it later, but the area proved to be so remote and unsuitable for farming that the venture failed and the farms reverted to native bush.