STATIONS OF THE CROSS

 That heading doesn't have any real connection to this post but hey! Look at the calibre of readers this blog is getting. 

They'll think it's a clever pun on Easter and church going so it's a win:win situation.

No, I didn't 'do' the stations of the cross yesterday but Geoff and I went on the Dargaville 'railcar' journey.

We did start at a station and ended up back there and there was an abandoned station along the way.

No one was cross though as it was a pleasant trip of about 2.5 hours. Admittedly it was a bit of a 'there and back again' journey but was fun driving along the rails in the converted golf buggies. 

There was only one mishap with one of them derailing but no one was injured and the crew soon had it back on-line (the cars are very heavy and it needed to be jacked up and manoeuvred back on to the rails).

It's good to try out these things and to support small business enterprises. They were a nice family bunch running it and I hope that thy continue to do well. The enterprise was munted last year after Cyclone Gabrielle (bloody archangels) washed out the track and they were closed for about 10 months. They had an earlier problem with one of the carts and advised me by email that the 11AM booking I'd made would need to change to 2PM. I answered that it was no problem at all to which they were appreciative and offered a $40 discount off the $180 charge for 2 people. When I turned up yesterday for the trip and was paying, Dave the owner reminded me of the discount offer. I refused the offer which surprised him but I explained that I know of the difficulties of running small businesses and that I was happy to pay the original amount. This pleased him.

Dave and his team conducted the tour well, taking care as we crossed a road, farm tracks and rail crossings and at prearranged spots gave little talks about things of interest along the way. The railway (now disused) was built for the kauri logging industry

 many years ago and also serviced the flax industry - both now long gone. He had interesting stories about a railway cutting that was made through a hill and a brand new station and railway siding built but was never used. We saw them both and the 'bridge to nowhere' that was built but a year later the road was closed. We went under this bridge.

All in all it was a nice trip making for a good Norther Saturday.

Things are all on the go in Northland.