5 October 2007

East Tunnel Mouth Track

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A pink ribbon in the midst of a bunch of houndstongue fern signals a poison bait station not far off. I check Alice.

A rocky stream races down the hillside and a bridge makes room for it to pass. There's some amazing stonework on the supporting structures of these bridges.

In some places the roads are there only by the grace of some quite skilful engineering.

Alice moves up to the edge and backs away.

Here, a supplejack has fallen along with it's support and its just-ripening berries are available to photograph

Here's another fine piece of road engineering.

Up ahead is the Waitakere Tramway Terminus. This tramway was originally built to carry materials to the Waitakere Dam site in the early years of the 20th century

This is where all the rolling stock is garaged when not in use.

Points have always fascinated me, ever since I used to visit at my grandfather's house which was sited right next door to Fernleigh Station near Waiuku. Fernleigh served the local butter factory, both in transporting the butter and in providing coal to run the factory. Grandad was a regular visitor with a wheelbarrow and shovel collecting what had fallen to the ground from the carriages.

Right beside the track is an almost pure white forget me not, with just enough blue in it to intensify the whiteness.

The tunnel is mostly kept barred when the train is not running. The train does only travel at a little more than walking speed, but there's no spare room in the tunnel at all.