Headquarters Site and Around

From SH1 you turn left on to Breakneck Road, but according to the Cadastral Maps held in the office, the road should be named Middle Ridge Road. The road passes over the Waianakarua River - the bridge was not build by the Waitaki County Council at all; it was privately built, paid for by the Irelands. Margaret MacKay showed me some photos of the bridge under construction and I am not sure if G T Gillies built or, or their GMC with a crane on was simply hired in but the photo was of the truck. I would suspect though that they built it.
Before the bridge was built, Frame's Crossing was used - turning off just before the Sawmill, crossing the river, then on to Reid Road and back on to Middle Ridge Road. Middle Ridge Road climbs up the hill past Mrs Thorpe's/Allan Dick's house, into the forest and on up the ridge to Mount Misery Road, which ends up at the Red Hut on Glencoe Run.
Breakneck Road used to start where Middle Ridge starts its climb, and now while the botton half is a good enough road, where it climbs over Diamond Hill it has become an unused track, so Diamond hill or Rodman's Roads are used.

The old HQ site was Rodman's homestead on the corner of Breakneck and Rodman's Road. This old house was built using indigenous timbers and the T&G pannelling of the ceiling was Matai - painted over but! There were large Eucalyptus globulus trees there and a small line of Ngiao. The Store Shed was adzed panels of Rimu and roof trusses were poles of Red Matipo, Myrsine australis the qualities of which are unknown today - the wood is striking because of the medallary rays.

It was decided that a new HQ site was needed, so 40 acres of river flat was purchased off Maggie Cunningham. This was land bounded by Breakneck Road and the Waianakarua River. This was one of the very few rivers in New Zealand where the landowner owned the river bed - to the center of the average water course.
Maggie Cunningham's father had been burnt to death on this flat when he was burning off gorse there! She subdivided sections for Crib ownership - holiday houses - and all the survey pegs were established by NZFS surveyors. Plans were actually drawn up to make a forest villiage there, but that did not happen.
Maggie was an elderly woman and she called into the Dunedin Office because she could not visulise the sections she had sold off. She had had to donate an area for 'recreation' which was a rough gulley to the NE of the property. Maggie was fiesty and District Office turned her on me, to show her the sections. I prepared for her, by locating all the pegs and painting them white. When she arrived, I gave her a cup of tea and a biscuit (well Albert did, but I told him to!) and I simply treated her with respect. She understood the layout completely and she left happy. Dunedin was pleased with the outcome because she mentioned me in the glowing terms elderly women use!

When I arrived, on the forest, there was a new office building, an oil store and four bay garage. Albert was struggling to make a garden, complaining about the lack of water/pressure.
We were to fix that! And create a very popular garden/arboretum and camping ground.

Bert Bennett allowed us to put a large water tank up on the hill opposite, the track was so steep that the transporting truck lost steerage, so Mick had to pull it up with the D6.
That hill was steep; previously it had a crop of pine trees growing on and a person was killed during the harvesting process. But I remember watching Jimmy Blair and Charlie James buldozing it clean - it was spectacular because of the riskiness of it all!

There are some names here that need further discussion, so I will.