Rail cart tours business Forgotten World Adventures changes hands

Grant Ross, the new owner of Forgotten World Adventures. Photo / Supplied

Taumarunui rail carts tourism business Forgotten World Adventures has changed hands and will reopen to the public from Friday ahead of the busy season.

The business, which operates self-drive golf cart rail adventures, jet boat rides and accommodation locations across 142 kilometres of railway track and native bush land across the central North Island's King Country, has been acquired by Kiwi and former professional rugby player Grant Ross.

Ross and his family relocated to New Zealand from France in March to run the business, with Ross now chief executive, taking over from founder Ian Balme, who has retired.

Ross - who acquired the multimillion-dollar business for an undisclosed sum - agreed to buy the business without seeing it in person. Based in Paris at the time, during lockdown and amidst New Zealand's border closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he was looking for a business to buy to enable him to return home.

The long-time television industry consultant was initially advised against buying the business - being a tourism and hospitality operation.

"With that in mind I tried to stay away from that, and there were a lot of distressed businesses for sale in those sectors, but I came across this tourism business called Forgotten World Adventures and from the moment I saw it and its quirkiness I fell in love with it," Ross told the Herald.

"I tried to put it out of my mind, but I went to bed thinking about it and I woke up in the morning thinking about it so I realised there was little I could do about this, so I had the company valuated and negotiations started."

He looked at more than 125 businesses for sale across a variety of sectors but settled on Forgotten World Adventures as he believed it had the potential to become one of New Zealand's top five tourism attractions.

Forgotten World Adventures operates tours of forgotten townships, country farms, and native bush in converted golf carts on abandoned railway tracks from Taumarunui through to Stratford.

It was one of few tourism attractions to remain steady over the past two years, with 80 per cent of its business made up by New Zealand visitors. The business already has 4000 bookings for the upcoming season.

Ross said the business stood out as it had performed well over the past two years despite most of the industry facing mass disruption as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Forgotten World Adventures' turnover increased by over 35 per cent last year.

Ross said he believed the business was poised for its best season yet this summer, and was confident the business would continue to grow.

"It's all about the people and the history. That's what people want these days; they want a unique experience and they want to be able to learn something. The history of that area with the pioneering and railway and Māori history is incredibly rich, so it was clear in my mind [this was the business for me]."

Ross was meant to be back in January to take over the business but due to issues with a routine ankle replacement surgery taking a turn, and subsequently told he would have to have his foot amputated following infection and weeks in hospital, plans were delayed.

He remains in a moon boot and on the mend and so personally experiencing the Forgotten World Adventures rail cart and its other attractions remains on his to-do list.

Forgotten World Adventures' core business is a tourist trail on rail carts, spanning 142 kilometres. Photo / Supplied

Over the past few months engineers have been managing and repairing a large landslip on the property where 50,000 cubic metres of land moved in July following heavy rain, shutting down the business.

The Forgotten World Adventures attraction spans across King Country, Taranaki and Manawatū.

"This business to many is unknown, as is the Forgotten World Highway area, and I believe that this business and these experiences have the potential to be one of New Zealand's most-loved and iconic must-do adventure experiences," Ross said.

"This is Kiwiana at its best - you see the most amazing New Zealand landscapes, you listen to amazing New Zealand stories and there is no doubt in our mind that it has potential to grow and become one of the top five Kiwi adventure must-do experiences."

"We're looking very healthy in our forward bookings and we're pleased with the way things are going. We already have about 4000 people in the books and that will double by the time we get to Christmas-mid January."

Before the onset of Covid-19, Forgotten World Adventures serviced 80 per cent domestic visitors and 20 per cent international, which Ross anticipated would continue this year until it launched international campaigns next season.

Rail carts are the core business spread across rural native bush land, supplemented by jet boat rides on the Whanganui River and accommodation at the Forgotten World Motel and Whangamomona Hotel.

Forgotten World Adventures is a small to medium-sized business by turnover, making less than $5 million per year, and employs 38 staff. The Forgotten World railway took almost 32 years to complete and was started in 1901.

Forgotten World Adventures has around 7000 visitors each season. Photo / Supplied

Prior to the acquisition, Ross was a high-flying television executive and a professional rugby player in South Africa and France for 12 years until his retirement in 2000.

Over the past 15 years, Ross has held various executive and corporate roles within the European television industry, including as global head of format acquisitions for Dutch TV production giant Endemol, the biggest TV producer in the world, and the creator of shows such as Big Brother and Fear Factor.

Before Forgotten World Adventures he was a television consultant. He owns an agency representing show creators. Ross said he is excited by the prospect of running a business in an industry that he has no experience in.

"I love the idea of starting something that takes you out of your comfort zone and makes you feel alive, because you have to make it work because you have millions invested."

Cambridge-based Ross is from Wellington but has lived in Europe for 31 years. He left New Zealand in 1989 to play rugby.