Radionut50 is fascinated with NZ industrial history, especially in railway and tramway matters, so this cache brings you to an historic logging mill and tramway site.
The Makatote Tramway dates from the late 1920s, and was in use till 1940, when the sawmilling operation closed down as a result of financial difficulties. The site consisted of a branching network of tramlines extending east and northeast of State Highway 4, and contains a range of structures and features associated with the sawmilling operations, including skid sites, a log hauler, water pits, bogie wheels and a range of metal artefacts.
It also encompasses four associated house sites, marked by clearings in the bush running south to the point where State Highway 4 descends into the Makatote gully.
The Makatote tramway, including the associated house sites, is registered by the New Zealand Historic
Places Trust as a historic place, so you must not take anything from here.
There is some information available indicating the first tramway was constructed around 1905 but this has not been substantiated. It is possible that the later 1920’s construction may have used some of an earlier route.
The tramway brought logs to a mill located on relatively flat land adjacent to State Highway 4, and the tramway license also included access across what was then listed as the “Bulls to Taumaranui Road” to connect to the main trunk railway.
This cache is located at an information sign in the mill site, and requires parking in a safe spot on the east side of the highway (included in the listing as a parking waypoint) then entering an un-marked but pretty obvious track through knee-high grass.THE PARKING SPOT IS ACCESSIBLE BY TRAVELLING SOUTHWARD ONLY. IF YOU ARE APPROACHING TOWARDS THE NORTH, PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT TO U-TURN ON THIS BUSY ROAD WITH POOR VISIBILITY. USE THE SECOND PARKING WAYPOINT MARKED ‘TURNING POINT’ WHERE THERE IS AN ACCESS ROAD ON THE LEFT YOU CAN PULL OVER TO, THEN MAKE A SAFE CROSSING OF THE HIGHWAY TO RETURN TO THE CACHE PARKING SPOT.
The cache is a 400ml sistema box within a metre of the sign, so not hard to locate. Unfortunately the sign has not weathered well in recent years, so is hard to interpret – but for those with an interest in tramways, there is a plethora of artifacts to find in the bush to the north-east and east of the sign. You do not need to travel beyond the sign to find this cache though. We recommend you ensure you have a good GPSr with you if you want to follow the tramway so you can find your way back to your car, and to NOT ENTER THE BUSH ALONE.
The mill site has been over-planted with exotic trees, but a large steel plate (possibly part of a boiler) and some miscellaneous items can be found easily. Further along the tramway are steel rails and wooden rails (attached with substantial steel spikes), the odd wheel set (some with axles from logging bogies), plus wire ropes on trees where logs were hauled to the tramway with winches.
Do enjoy this location, it is a an example of New Zealand’s industrial history, a rare find so close to a main highway.
Acknowledgement to NZ Archaeology, and Heritage NZ as sources of most of this detail. A good background material source is here:
https://nzarchaeology.org/download/the-history-and-archaeology-of-the-makatote-tramway-erua