Whangamomona...a little country in a little country in the country

Phew!  There is 20 minutes of my life I will never get back.

Along a long dirt back road called the Forgotten Highway which runs down the centre of the North Island of New Zealand is a country within a country.  Strange but true.  I never knew.  As I was driving this annoyingly long road, filled with landslides, stunning country hillsides and beautiful native forestry with my Aunt, who thought it would be fun to take the super-duper long way to Taranaki we came across Whangamomona.  The Republic that is.  Now, there is not a lot there to make up a whole country but you know they have a pub and a post office so what more do you need?  Think about it, you can farm all day, drink all night and post the odd letter to friends in New Zealand or if feeling a bit adventurous...Australia.

Stamped!

So I do not know exactly how there came to be a little country in a little country but according to the barmaid at the pub (name forgotten, all apologies) it goes something like this... Taranaki decided that Whangamomona was not good enough to be a part of the Taranaki District, then Whanganui said, alright lads we can have you as part of ours.  But the good folk of Whangamomona thought they were too good for those lot and decided to become a Republic.  They can stamp your passport and all that jazz, but I do wonder how seriously they take the whole thing of country-dom.  You see they have had a goat, a dog and a turtle as their Presidents, which, makes me think they might be having a bit of a laugh.
According to our lovely barmaid it is all dead serious and not to be laughed at.  I say pah!  I shall laugh at your Presidents!  Lookout, I may have gained myself a lifetime ban from the Republic of Whangamomona!