Not quite sure if it’s office fever, or the lure of pizza, but the Wednesday night sessions have been going off. This week eleven keen diggers managed to finish off two switchbacks and the 70 metres of track in between them. AWESOME!

Thanks to Geoff, Alex, Murray, John, Neil, Shane, Jabez, Mike, Matt, Nick and Jonathan… and the Makara Peak Supporters for the pizza and tools. And John for the ideal pig-out pad.

We’ll have another dig and pig evening next Wednesday. At the rate we are going the track should be open for the Makara Peak Rally in early December (6 weeks away).

Some more pics from Wednesday night

Another great after work, work party was held last night with a small but dedicated group working on switchbacks number 2 and 3, plus a huge amount of widening in between, the track is looking goood.

We still have a large amount of work to do before this track will be finished in time for December, but it is progressing well, if you feel like throwing a pick around midweek instead of a pen then come along and enjoy some good company, pizza and track satisfaction.

Some more pics of the GVN

Tuesday started of a beautiful fine day for the Global Volunteers to get out and experience some good old Kiwi track building; shame the weather crapped out on them by lunchtime. They were steadfast in there approach though and carried on through the worst of it for an hour or so in the afternoon.

Thanks for the help and hope you enjoy the rest of your stay in NZ.

The Council contractors are moving along quickly with the bridges and retain wall at the bottom of the track. Here are some before, after and during shots so we can remember what it was like before the workmen got there.

The major project is the retaining wall 100mtrs from the bottom of the track, then straight after the wall there are two bridges to go in and then further up (about halfway) they have already built two bridges.

As soon as they are finished we can start bring in gravel from the bottom of the track which will speed things up.

What more could you want from an after work track building session, good company, good progress, good pizza and good beer.

If this sounds like your kind of thing then keep a look out on the Website for more info. We will be trying to do one of these midweek work parties every week from now until December.

Wednesday was a great turnout with 8 likely lads throwing the picks around and with more daylight hours after 5pm to come it can only get more productive.

Come along and blow some steam off.

Another busy day on Lazy Fern was had on Tuesday.

The Conservation Corps led by Jonathan widened another 50 mtrs of track in the morning and then got a lesson in the afternoon on using the power barrow.

Work was done on the Swig Connector and gravel was laid on around one third of the track. This is all part of opening up the Lazy Fern track for all to ride.

On a windy, grey old day a small but effective team finished off about 200 metres of track, so we are now well into the 'Switchback Zone'.

Many thanks to Murray, Alex, Zac, Don, Ben and his kids, Rob, Steven, Ian, Grant and Alex, Malcolm, Craig, Jonathan, and the person whose name we have missed out. The standard of work was very high and will stand the test of time better than any other track we have built in the park so far.

Half the track is now gravelled, and well over half of it has been widened. The WCC will have a contractor on the job soon to build bridges and a retaining wall. The Makara Peak Supporters will continue to pay contractors to gravel the track during the week.

On Wednesday evenings there will be volunteer work parties to improve the switchbacks. Hope to see you this Wednesday after work.

This is going to be an awesome track when it is finished