Hills that are Climbing by Themselves

Anticlines—the starting point of a mountain range pushing upward—are often difficult to view but not so in Manawatu. The 50 kilometres Pohangina Anticline runs alongside the Tararua and Ruahine Ranges, which began life as anticlines about half a million years ago. Rising at a rate of at least one millimetre a year, the Pohangina Anticline is growing rapidly in geological terms. Tectonic landforms are not common worldwide and certainly not adjacent to public highways.

The nearby Manawatu Gorge is a textbook example of what happens when a range rises across a river, and one of only a few places in the world where the river flows east to west through a main divide.

For further information on Manwatu view our Manawatu regional information section.