Beyond The Forgotten Land

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It was a tunnel.
Kiore Tunnel (Taranaki) entrance in black and white
In the middle of the wilderness, days from civilisation there was a  tunnel.

Not a nature made tunnel but a tunnel with a smooth road to walk upon, tall purposeful walls shaped by tools, a tunnel that was made by someone.

We setup camp close to the entrance but out of the bitter cold wind that howled out of the entrance.

On the first morning we sent up Dr Kingly and his assistant, Arthur, to check out the other side of the hill. We watched them clambering the steep edges and disappearing into the thick undergrowth.

Whilst the rest of the crew waited we threw stones into the tunnel trying to be the first to get to the end. We shouted obscenities to hear our echoes. We even tied some rope around Jones and sent him in but the poor animal only made it a few yards before hurtling back with what looked like frost on his fur.

It was dusk when the two returned and repeated their story over and over to disbelieving colleagues.

"There is no tunnel", Dr Kingly insisted again. "I'm telling you, Arthur and I climbed for about an hour, at the top of the hill we could see for miles, even back to the port."

"But, how can there be no tunnel when we can all quite clearly see the end, it's not even half a mile long", Captain le Noir was becoming quite agitated.

"We can see that as well as you", Arthur sighed, "but there is no tunnel exit when you climb the hill. In fact, we didn't even get to the other side of the hill, it's a long way up and then a plateau, with more hills in the distance. There isn't an 'other side of the hill', not anything we could see and we spent hours looking. I'm telling you, that exit of that tunnel does not come out anywhere near here."
Mangaoapa Road, Taranaki 4395, New Zealand

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