Grid of six photos of different tunnels in New Zealand including the Kaori tunnel and the Waterview tunnel. Has been colourised green

Which tunnel will come out on top? (Image: Gabi Lardies).

SocietyApril 20, 2024

All 29 road tunnels in New Zealand ranked from worst to best

A bunch of people

Which tunnel will come out on top? (Image: Gabi Lardies).

From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country.

The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more easily that Aotearoa is fully on board with. While enthusiasm for tunnels has been demonstrated most recently and notably by New Zealand’s transport minister Simeon Brown, it’s a passion that has a long history in this country.

By our count there are 29 tunnels you can drive through in New Zealand, and we have ranked them all, so if a shit one is on your route, you can take the other way around.

But what makes a good tunnel? We’ve decided that the value of these elongated holes comes down to their length, beauty, engineering, and free flow of traffic they allow.

We settled on a total of 29 tunnels with a lot of help from this very helpful Wikipedia page, and disqualified any of the following:

Tunnels that don’t exist and may never exist
Out-of-use or closed tunnels
Rail or cable car tunnels (although train conductors are said to be driving, they’re stuck on the rails so it doesn’t count)
Any tunnels for walking or cycling – transport is all about driving now, OK?!

Apologies to any tunnel that should have been included and wasn’t.

A note on language: tunnels come with their own jargon – entrances are portals, roofs are crowns, floors are inverts and sides are sidewalls.

29. Karori Tunnel

Wellington

Inside New Zealand’s worst tunnel. (Photo: Paul Le Roy, Flickr.)

As someone who grew up driving through Karori tunnel in order to get virtually anywhere, I can confidently say it’s pretty shit. Only 70m long, it barely qualifies as a tunnel, more a thick archway. The entrance and exit (no matter which direction you’re travelling) is connected to a bend, making it unpredictable traffic-wise. It’s old and so buses are too big for one lane and either require an oncoming car to essentially scrape the side of the tunnel or stop before the tunnel to let the bus pass through. Again, this would be easier if the tunnel didn’t have corners on each end, giving drivers approximately half a second to make the decision before being inside the tunnel with no turning back. It’s also always dripping, even when it’s not raining, and is gross to walk through. Technically a tunnel that works but certainly not a good one. / Mad Chapman

28. Rotowaro Road Tunnel

Just outside of Huntly

The tunnel on Rotowaro Road looks eligible for short tunnel syndrome. However, it hasn’t let its length turn it sour, even though it is far less than 70m long and some (Mad Chapman) would categorise it as a thick doorway. On its own it is not particularly beautiful, but 22 hours a day big yellow tip trucks roll over its top, carrying dirt and rock to fill the old Rotowaro opencast mine. It is these trucks, in my favourite colour, which have the Rotowaro Road Tunnel’s placement in the ranking, from last to second to last. / Gabi Lardies

27. Terrace Tunnel

Wellington

A great example of an expensive motorway project that did nothing whatsoever to solve traffic. It was originally meant to be two tunnels, with three lanes in each direction. Due to funding pressure, it ended up being just one tunnel, with two lanes going north and one permanent traffic jam going south. / Joel MacManus

26. Urutī Tunnel

Taranaki

Chains hang from the crown to warn tall vehicles they’re nearing the top. (Photo: Peter via GoogleMaps).

This tunnel is pretty – Taranaki museum Puke Ariki even deems it “gorgeous”. It’s 200m long, which is decent. It’s the access point to Urutī Valley, where Tom Cruise hung out for a while and pretended to be a samurai. Despite these excellent qualities, it’s a bad tunnel because at each end there are signs advising pedestrians not to walk through, and prohibiting stopping. It’s notoriously unstable. Also the uphill slope is freaky – apparently it causes a tightening sensation. No thank you. / GL

25. Mount Victoria Tunnel

Wellington

A polarising, controversial tunnel that no one is happy with, but all for different reasons. If you’re driving, the tradition of honking in the tunnel is a delightful little game, especially for any kids in the car. If you’re trying to walk or bike, the tradition of honking in the tunnel is pure agony, the terror of a thousand hells beating down on your eardrums. You will not have a single moment of peace until you are free from its dark belly.

The tradition has a dark history – it began as a tribute to Phyllis Symons, a 17-year-old girl who was murdered, buried (possibly still alive) inside the tunnel’s earthworks. Not so fun now, huh?

The tunnel’s single lane in each direction isn’t really enough, and it often gets shut down by accidents. But the bigger problem traffic-wise is the fact that it ends at the Basin Reserve, the biggest and worst roundabout in the country. / JM

24. Moa Point Tunnel

Wellington

Another “tunnel” in Wellington. / GL

23. Seatoun Tunnel

Wellington

This tunnel connected Seatoun to the rest of Wellington in 1906. Previously, people had to go by ferry or traverse dense bush. Now, Seatoun is Wellington’s most expensive suburb with a median house price of $1,740,650 – more than double Wellington’s median house price ($820,000). Jeepers. / GL

22. Fraser Smith Road Tunnel

Near Awakino, Waitomo

This tunnel is sooooooo beautiful. If it wasn’t on a dead-end road, aka useless, it would be number 1. / GL

21. Johnstone’s Hill Tunnels

Auckland Northern Motorway extension near Pūhoi

It costs $2.30 toll per car, per trip, to pass through these tunnels. They are aqualine, like two elegant nostrils on a rather craggy hillside, but coming from the south, the experience of going through the tunnel is overshadowed by the bridge, which elevates you over a river and wetlands into that hillside. That feels rather sublime, and passing directly into a dark, confined space feels a little like going into an office on a Sunday – not quite right and a little bit soul-destroying. / GL

20. Arras Tunnel

Wellington

At least it cannot be mistaken for any other tunnel (Photo: NZTA)

Let’s be honest, this is barely a tunnel. The Arras Tunnel would more accurately be called the Arras Underpass. But, as tunnels go, it’s a very nice one. It’s 130m long, and well lit. It helps that it’s one way, because oncoming traffic in tunnels always freaks me out. There are poppies on the walls, in memory of the wartime efforts of New Zealand miners in the French town of Arras. It’s a nice touch. But the best thing about the Arras Tunnel is what’s on top of it. Channelling the motorway bypass underground opened up space for Pukeahu National War Memorial Park, a beautiful public space and unofficial skate park. / JM

19. Whangamōmona Road Tunnels

Whangamōmona

Both are pretty, but on a road that hasn’t been maintained by the district council for over 80 years, with maintenance funded by a jar at the Whangamōmona pub. As a result, they are only suitable for 4WDs. I do not have a 4WD. / GL

18. Northland Tunnel

Wellington

Very intriguing due to its proximity to the Karori Tunnel, but peculiarly the footpath always seems to have abandoned e-scooters on it. What happens in the middle of the tunnel that makes people dismount? Why did people in Wellington’s northern suburbs love building tunnels so much? Nonetheless it’s a perfectly serviceable tunnel, solid middle of the pack. / Shanti Mathias

17. Huinga Tunnel

Taranaki

Entrance of Huinga tunnel. Yonic shaped and cut into mossy stone — Huinga Tunnel, as seen by a Google Street View car.

It’s rather hard to ignore the vulvic shape of this tunnel, thanks to its pointed crown. This is not a bad thing, just its most defining feature. Perhaps, in 1893 when it was built, there weren’t too many design options around. It’s the oldest of many little tunnels in Taranaki, and even though for the Huinga District Centennial it was rated only an 8/10 for heritage value, in December 2012, locals and former residents of Huinga held a party to celebrate the tunnel. / GL

16. Kiwi Road Tunnel / Eastern Kiwi Road Tunnel

Taranaki

Extremely similar to the Huinga Tunnel, just a little more egg-shaped. / GL

15. Tarata Tunnel

Taranaki

Same as above. / GL

14. Kiore / Matau / Matau Valley / Mangaoapa Road Tunnel

Taranaki

It looks like a long, dark passageway in a church. Creepy but quite beautiful. / GL

13. Okau Tunnel

Taranaki

photo from the outside of the entrance of Okau Road tunnel. Lots of native bush around the entrance — A very beautiful tunnel, but beauty can only get you so far (Photo: Andrew McMillan)

The Okau tunnel is Ghibli-esque, sitting in the hairpin bend of Tongaporutu River, and reached by bridges on either side. I like it. / GL

12. Panmure Covered Box Tunnel

Te Horeta Road, Panmure, Auckland

This 220m tunnel, running alongside the rail line, opened in 2014 – ten years later it almost elided our ranking. As well as the usual car lanes, it has properly separated cycle lanes, which are beautiful features. Its proportions are well balanced and sleek, though chatter in the office indicated it resembles an overpass. A good, solid tunnel, but nothing too special. / GL

11. Makahu Tunnel

Taranaki

This is one of just two tunnels in Taranaki not shaped like a vulva. Instead its top is semi-circular. Boring, until you learn that over the years, the locals have held numerous impromptu parties inside the tunnel, which occasionally forces travellers to join in, or wait until the end to get through. / GL

10. Victoria Park Tunnel

Auckland

This is an extremely useful tunnel. One minute you’re in Auckland city, next minute you’re basically on the Shore. It’s got lights that dim depending on the time of day, so that you don’t get blinded coming in or out of the tunnel. It feels like a high-tech, seamless driving experience. Maybe engineering can be cool. / GL

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8 & 9. Paratitahi Tunnels and Raramai Tunnels

South of Kaikōura

These two sets of twin Kaikōura tunnels 3km apart are very “blink and you’ll miss it” but make you appreciate how crazy it is that the mountains are right next to the sea, and the way the light shines through them makes them kind of look like eyes as you approach. The tunnels adorn a lot of sun-faded postcards in the Kaikōura township. I feel that at some point in time a largely unsuccessful effort was made to brand the tunnels as New Zealand icons or something. / SM

7. Tangahoe Tunnel

Taranaki

The Tangahoe Tunnel has a 4.5 star Google rating from 10 reviews, with comments such as “The tunnel and old bridge were pretty cool”, “very neat” and “would make a fun spooky Halloween walk”. One reviewer was glad not to have driven their rental van down it, as it appeared there were remnants of side view mirrors littering the tunnel. I think they were pussies. / GL

6. Lyttelton Road Tunnel

Christchurch

PHoto of the inside of the Lyttleton road tunnel. The sidewalls are covered in white tiles — Cinematic, says Alex Casey (Photo: Patchy1 via Wikimedia)

A stunningly beautiful and cinematic tunnel. The pristine shiny white tiles, the bleach blonde hills hugging the entrance, the gentle curve concealing what lies ahead. But even more powerful than the aesthetic of the Lyttelton Tunnel itself is what it represents: a magical portal from the flat wide streets and black puffer jackets of suburban Christchurch to the jagged hills, twinkling port lights and creative kooks of Lyttelton. Besides, is there any other tunnel in the country that comes with 98% guarantee of seeing Gary McCormick at the end? / Alex Casey

5. Homer Tunnel

Fiordland, leading to Milford Sound

I went through the Homer Tunnel over the summer (and spent a lot of time helping my sister with her fieldwork which was in the Homer basin right next to the tunnel). It is interesting because it was built by the public works department, and it’s also a plot point in the Guardian Māia video game/interactive story. It’s a very nice experience because it is so exhausting being surrounded by absurdly beautiful scenery at all times and it gives you a little break from that. / SM

4. Mt Messenger Tunnel

Taranaki

This tunnel is at the tippy top of the very windy road over Mt Messenger and a happy reward for actually making it to the top alive. Nothing more thrilling/terrifying than squeezing through the tunnel just as a milk tanker is coming around the corner the other way. Very little time to beep though, which is sad. Currently the Mt Messenger Bypass is in construction – so there will be no more driving through this tunnel, but there will be another, 235m tunnel. This tunnel deserves extra points for its endangered status. / Tara Ward

3. Waterview Tunnel

Auckland

Photo of the entrance of Waterview Tunnel, with a sign saying "no lane changing". — Always follow tunnel rules.

While many tunnels on this list are fun to drive through, the Waterview Tunnel excels because it is nice to drive through. There’s no novelty tooting, no feeling of rising dread that it might collapse at any moment – it’s just a really nice drive. As a Wellingtonian, I didn’t realise tunnels could be spacious and properly lit (even if it’s that weirdly alien orange glow that we’ve decided is how we want all our tunnels to be illuminated). Waterview is also the country’s longest tunnel and there’s a sense of exhilaration when you hit that bend in the middle and realise you’re only about halfway through. Buckle in and enjoy the ride, I say. / Stewart Sowman-Lund

2. Moki Tunnel

Between Whangamōmona and Taumarunui

If I wanted to impress a newcomer, and at the same time try to explain part of our national identity, I’d drive them through Moki Tunnel, while showing absolutely no emotion on my face. I’d continue chatting about flat whites, the housing crisis and our low-wage economy as they shat their pants next to me. The tunnel is a narrow single lane, it barely looks like a crack in the rocky mountain. It’s no surprise that it was hand-dug with picks and shovels in 1935 by workers for the Public Works Department. They buttressed its ceiling with wood. Its sidewalls are dark, wet, mossy and encrusted with fossilised crabs. At its entrance is a sign calling it the “Hobbit’s Hole” though hobbits, I’ve heard, prefer more comforts than this tunnel could offer. / GL

1. Hataitai Bus Tunnel

Mount Victoria, Wellington

Photo of the entrance to the Hataitai bus tunnel with a yellow bus coming out — The best tunnel in Aotearoa and possibly the world (Photo: Tom Ackroyd via Wikimedia).

The Hataitai Bus Tunnel is exclusive and glamorous. Only one bus is allowed to enter at a time with a system of lights. If you are sufficiently public transport pilled you can learn to feel like a punter lining up outside an exclusive club as your sleek Metlink omnibus waits outside its dark mouth. Like all glamorous experiences, there’s an element of risk involved: as you roll through the total darkness, the light from inside the bus casting only the faintest glow on the tunnel’s close grey walls, there is absolutely no way to be sure that you’re not about to hit a bus coming from the other direction. Instead, you have to surrender to trust in the bus lights and your driver. Also, it makes it much faster to get to Hataitai (which is convenient if your friends have a homebrew set-up in their Hataitai flat) and to the airport, and you get a tour of some random streets in Mt Vic on the way. Extremely convenient and special, great tunnel; everyone tell Nicola Willis that the second Mount Vic tunnel already exists and it’s full of buses. / SM

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a sign reads "trans rights are humans rights" at the trans support rally in Albert Park. A tree stands in the background against a bright blue sky

Trans rights supporters gather at Albert Park in March 2023 (Photo: Anna Rawhiti-Connell)

OPINIONSocietyApril 19, 2024

What access to puberty blockers means for trans young people and their whānau

Julia de Bres

Guest writer

Trans rights supporters gather at Albert Park in March 2023 (Photo: Anna Rawhiti-Connell)

The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience.

In August 2024, the NZ Media Council upheld one aspect of a complaint about this article, relating to the statement about research relied upon by the Cass Review.

Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The Māori health framework Te Pae Mahutonga terms this Te Mana Whakahaere: autonomy. As The Professional Association for Transgender Health Aotearoa (PATHA) explains, this principle encompasses “people’s autonomy over their own bodies, represented by healthcare provision based on individual choice and informed consent”.

Puberty blockers are a form of gender-affirming healthcare. They are used to pause the physical changes of puberty that may cause distress or dysphoria for trans youth. They give young people time to reflect before making decisions about whether to proceed with gender-affirming medical interventions, such as hormones, at a later age. Young people can stop taking puberty blockers at any time and puberty will recommence.

Not every trans young person needs or wants puberty blockers, but access to timely and appropriate gender-affirming healthcare is essential for many. Also crucial is agency over their healthcare. Trans people should be involved in decisions both at the individual level of their own healthcare and at the structural level of decisions about healthcare delivery.

Trans young people who have had puberty blockers have told me how important it was for them to make their own decisions about accessing this treatment.

“Research and discussion around hormone blockers made it very clear that they were a necessary medication for me. […] The dysphoria I experienced during the early stages of my transition left me feeling trapped and uncomfortable. Having the bodily autonomy to go on hormone blockers gave me a sense of agency I was lacking at the time. This was cemented by the extremely positive effects that the medication had on my mental and physical well-being. […] Now five years after I began them, I couldn’t be more grateful for the buffer zone they gave me before starting hormone replacement treatment.” – 18-year-old trans man.

“For me, hormone blockers were the light at the end of the tunnel. My depression and anxiety were spiraling from male puberty because it felt like there was no other option, but hormone blockers were that other option. Hormone blockers pulled me out of the largest depressive episode of my life. Hormone blockers are a medication that I am still on and will continue to be on until I get gender-affirming surgery, so this is not a decision I made once but will continue to make every three months for a long time.” – 18-year-old whakawahine.

In Aotearoa, we have been waiting for some time for the Ministry of Health to release an evidence brief about the safety, reversibility, and mental health and wellbeing outcomes of puberty blockers. This brief is now expected next week, and will be accompanied by a position statement from the government.

The ministry explains the delay by a need to wait for final feedback from key stakeholders on the position statement. These key stakeholders do not include the Professional Association for Trans Health Aotearoa, the nationwide transgender organisation Gender Minorities Aotearoa, any rainbow youth organisations, or NZ Parents of Transgender and Gender Diverse Children, a group supporting 1,300 people raising trans kids in Aotearoa.

The ministry is reportedly taking into account the recent release of the Cass Report reviewing gender-affirming care in the UK, to see if it provides any new findings to inform the evidence brief. This report emerges from a very different health context than Aotearoa and has been strongly criticised by trans community advocates and clinicians providing this care. Community concerns are based on the report’s approach to evidence, for example dismissing almost 100 studies because they were not randomised controlled trials, even though such trials would be unethical in this field.

Another fundamental concern is the lack of inclusion of any trans people or clinicians with expertise in gender-affirming care in the final decision-making related to the review. As PATHA observed, this is akin to undertaking a review of women’s health without the involvement of any women, or a review of Māori health without the involvement of any Māori.

Meanwhile, the wait for a government response is harming the wellbeing of trans kids and their families, who often struggle even now to access gender-affirming care. Parents in a national support group told me they are scared.

“As a parent I have been trying to shield my son from this debate. I feel very anxious that he will hear it and it could derail his wellbeing. It feels like people with no lived experience are debating our lives and is a very lonely, isolating feeling. And frightening.”

“The unknown and constant risk of things being changed for the worse weighs heavily on me every day. I am constantly checking for news releases waiting to hear what the latest advice to the government is. I am really fearful for the future.”

“Uncertainty on what options will remain available or not and the resulting public scrutiny either way is weighing very heavily on these kids and yes on us as parents too.”

“The threat of affirming care being taken away from them is terrifying.”

If the Ministry of Health asked, parents would have a lot to say about the importance of access to puberty blockers for trans kids and their families.

A person holds a sign advocating for trans rights (Photo by ANDREJ IVANOV/AFP via Getty Images)

This parent support group includes people whose kids have taken puberty blockers, who have chosen not to, or who have wanted to but have not been able to access them. When I asked those parents whose children had taken blockers about their experiences, mental health effects were at the forefront of their minds.

No one in the group reported a negative experience with blockers, echoing the Cass review finding that there is less evidence of harm from blockers than benefit. But many reported negative experiences before their children accessed them. Parents told me that puberty blockers gave their children time and space to make decisions, stopped unwanted physical changes, improved their wellbeing, reduced distress and in some cases saved their lives:

“Puberty blockers have meant that we can slow down, and not rush into major changes. It’s given my child time to get psychological assistance and work through his dysphoria and reduce his distress. It’s provided him with mental stability, and there’s nothing more important than that.”

“My child was desperate to start blockers before she started to look masculine. She was severely depressed and suicidal. Starting blockers allowed her growth to slow, and she avoided all the things that she was petrified of.”

“The difference to my son’s mood and functionality was night and day. He was able to finish school and in his final year become one of the country’s top scholars.”

“After the first injection of the blocker, my daughter’s anxiety and depression significantly reduced. There have been no further incidents of self harm.”

When considering medication for a young person, the key question that likely goes through any parent’s mind is “is it safe to give this to my child?”

Looking at what parents and young people told me, another way to ask this question is “is it safe not to?” Allowing puberty to progress in trans young people who experience distress about their gender is not a neutral act and may have lifelong harmful effects.

A person holds a sign reading "Trans People Just Want to Live" — (Photo by ANDREJ IVANOV/AFP via Getty Images)

Discussions about transgender health often centre cisgender decision-makers and clinicians with no personal experience of what it means to be a young trans person facing puberty. Recognising that trans young people and their families are experts in their own lives is essential to providing equitable access to healthcare. It is the combination of clinical and lived expertise that makes healthcare decisions responsive to community needs. As one parent puts it:

“I’m worried decisions will be made based on reports such as the Cass report rather than looking at actual lived experiences and evidence by listening to those working directly with those affected by gender dysphoria i.e. medical practitioners, whānau, trans children, those who have finished the puberty blockers journey, those on it currently and those yet to begin.”

Based on claimed “weak evidence” of effectiveness, the Cass Report recommends “extreme caution” in prescribing puberty blockers to trans young people. This advice runs counter to the two main international guidelines in the field, and it also runs counter to the experiences of trans young people and their families in Aotearoa.

Parents, clinicians and researchers would all welcome more research into the effects of puberty blockers, to continue to identify and deliver best practice care. But access to puberty blockers must be retained alongside this. Right now, extreme caution means reassuring families across Aotearoa that their children will be able to access gender-affirming healthcare, including puberty blockers, whenever they need them.

For more information, you can read three information sheets here, covering current scientific evidence, family experiences, and clinical experiences of using puberty blockers in Aotearoa. These were compiled in August 2023, with input from researchers, clinicians and community experts in trans health and wellbeing.