Οι καλύτερες MTB διαδρομές στο Μαναουάτου-Γουανγκανουί

easy after work training ride

It’s very cold here, do have extra gear.i.e gloves, thermals etc

Open 1pm - 5pm for those not staying in the lodge. You can buy pizzas and soft drinks and it can be a place to warm up, Clean drinking water tap and bike wash behind the the lodge.

The Maramataha Bridge is one of the longest (141 m) and highest (53 m) suspension bridges in New Zealand and can be visited on foot or by bike.

A jigger is a small vehicle adapted to run on rails. Early jiggers were powered by humans using hand levers or pedals. Jiggers came in all shapes and sizes, from converted motorcycles to cars and trucks. Jiggers provided a quick and inexpensive way to transport bush teams, their families and visitors up and down the track. They would ferry staff to Ongarue in emergencies and for regular weekend trips, shopping trips or cinema visits. Turntables were used to change the direction of travel.

OK, you've cut down a forest giant. Now how do you haul the huge log out of the forest? Steam-powered log winches were the answer until 1945, when they were replaced by mobile bulldozers. Winches were placed at strategic locations along railroad lines. They were moved to a new work area when an area was cleared. The steam winch crew was typically five men. Long ropes were run to the fallen logs by men called "ropeys." The ropey and steam winch operator communicated using whistle signals. See below. Winches could only pull logs in straight lines unless a pulley system was installed anchored around the base of still-standing trees. The "breaker-out" was the man who set up the pulley system to get the logs to the haul line. "Skiddies" were the men who moved the logs once they were on the skid. Sometimes an additional winch was used to get the logs over the skid and onto the rail. Winch drivers also had to operate the fire for the boiler. Larger crews had a two-man "firewood team". "Ropeys" were also called "whistleboys". They pulled on a light "straw line" to operate the tractor whistle. Whistle speak 1 whistle = stop! 2 whistles = pull on! 3 whistles = give me rope! 4 whistles = emergency stop!

The cross-cutters were crucial men on the front lines of the logging operations. They were the ones who actually felled the trees. It was skilled and demanding work, reserved for only the fittest and strongest men.

The last camp on the railway. Waikoura was the largest Ellis & Burnand camp and was established in 1950. It looked like a small town with a "main street" and houses for married couples. To make room for building sites, the ground was stripped down to the pumice. For home gardens, topsoil had to be brought in. The houses were prefabricated in Te Kuiti and brought up by the locomotives. The best huts from Waione Camp were also moved here. Now only the concrete cookhouse steps remain. After the tram line was damaged by floods in 1958, it was closed, the locomotives retired and for the last eight years logs have been trucked to the sawmill.