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      • Lazy Fern in ACTION! What can we say What a great track What a great race What a great day What a great bunch of supporters May the digging continue long into the future

      • In late December 2005 strange thrashing and grunting noises were heard from the bush above South Kaori Stream. Wild pigs? Blind mountain bikers? Exploring botanists? Nope, it was the first of many exploration trips to find a suitable route for the proposed easy downhill track. Two years later, and the last ten metres of the track has just been built! Two years (almost), 2773 hours (at least), 1965 metres of track (approximate), 300 volunteers (bloody awesome!). On Wednesday night (5th December) the last ten metres was built, new signs were posted at the top, and a general track check was completed to remove any dodgy branches or stumps. Lazy Fern is now rideable all the way down thanks to the Wednesday crew of ...Murray, Mike, Karyn, Ian, Jonathan, Bronnie, Reece , Don, Mark, Clair, Aidan, Kirstyn, Phil, Hugh, Sasha, Oli, Dean, Alex, Anne-Louise, Trevor, Colin, Shane, Andrew and John.Most of us rode down it after the work party last night. Very satisfying:-)A few extra notes: 1. Last month WCC contractors finished building a long retaining wall, two bridges and two boardwalks. They did a great job of dealing to some very difficult obstacles. Thanks to the Wellington City Council. 2. 500 metres hasn't been gravelled yet, so please don't ride Lazy Fern after heavy rain: it would just cut it up. We hope to finish gravelling next year. 3. The track has yet to settle down. Please ride gently and avoid skidding. 4. The Koru will be an uphill only track now. And finally, a HUGE THANK YOU to the Makara Peak Supporters, for leading this project and providing yet another great addition to the mountain bike park.

      • 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).

      • 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.

      • 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

      • A working bee last Sunday saw the first 90mtrs of Lazy Fern widened to its proper finished width of 1.2mtrs, this meant we could lay gravel down for the contractor to come in and start building the bridges and retaining wall needed to get around that nasty gully at the bottom of the track. There was also some good progress made on two of the switchback corners and some more backbreaking widening done in between. The day was not all that peaceful as we had a breaker working on a few of the rocky bits not that the 17 hardy souls that braved the nasty start to the day complained. Cheers guys. Thursday rolled around and Jonathan, Don, Murray and Stu got to work laying the gravel down on the track, with two power barrows and a wee digger the large pile of gravel was dealt to in about 4 hours. We also managed to clean up the boggy section of the car park next to the toilet and get a well-needed load of gravel dumped and spread in that area. Lazy Fern needs to be gravelled by December for the Makara Peak Rally and with 1.5kms of 2.2kms to go we need all the help we can get. The track still needs to be widened to its full width and that means more muscle as we cant gravel until that is done. So please if you want to come to a work party, if you have been saying for ages “I need to get out and help these guys out” then come along on the 30th of September and lend a hand, this will be the last official working bee on the track before December. Thanks to all, and hope to see out and about.

      • Incredible progress has been made since our last entry on this blog. That's partly because the last entry was four months ago (shame), but mostly because a huge number of people have been digging away - an indication of how popular this track will be. The Makara Peak Supporters have held three work parties this year. Just last Sunday, we had 30 people working on widening the top 300 metres and gravelling the top 130 metres. That section is now finished and rides like a dream. Special work parties have also been organised for two groups of volunteers from TRANSIT (big thanks to Volunteer Wellington and the Makara Peak Supporters for helping make that happen). They were awesome, and built about 250 metres of track from scratch. Also a huge thanks to Grant Preston-Thomas and his friends Dave, Derek and Jock. These fine gentlemen have been working on Lazy Fern for two mornings a week, since the end of last year. They worked all the way up the track making a narrow walking path, and then all the way back down, widening as they went. They just finished last week, and most of the track is now a fun intermediate level ride. And lets not forget the volunteers from GVN who have built a connecting track from SWIGG to the top of Lazy Fern (the last two metres to SWIGG has been left until Lazy Fern is finished). Before you get too excited, it still needs a lot more work. There are still parts that need widening, and the Wellington City Council will be arranging a contractor to build a few bridges and retaining walls, to make it really easy. While all this is happening, the Makara Peak Supporters will be laying gravel down on the track - the mud is diabolical otherwise. Last of all, the track is not finished and as such is not safe for beginner riders - the temporary bridges are very narrow and slippery and there is a 10 metre long unrideable section near the bottom! Come along to the next work party on Sunday the 22nd July.

      • Slow but steady. Slow but steady. Until Sunday! Thanks to Matt, Hamish, Chris, Dave, Murray, Zac, Rob, Shane, Sacha,Don, Hugh, Simon, Grant, Dean and Jonathan the Lazy Fern track jumpeda big step closer towards being rideable.It was excellent to be working with a group that got so much achieved.Two switchbacks were carved out to be easily rideable, many majorobstacles removed (mostly tenacious holly, mahoe and barberry stumps),one temporary bridge installed and another 30 metres of track built. We should also mention the great work being done by GrantPreston-Thomas. He usually heads in with friends once or twice a week,building what he refers to as a 'pilot track'. This is always walkableand often rideable.Counting the pilot track, just over 1km has been built, which leavesjust over half a kilometre to go (all of this has been designed andhad the thickest vegetation cleared on it, so it is ready to build). Catch you at the next track work party.

      • The last day of Mo-vember saw a crew of 3 likely lads push through a few hundred meters of scrub to finish the track design for Lazy Fern. Coconut crackers in hand we sliced through the bush with ease (well not really, it was bloody tough in places). Good to get the design done as it means that the magic track elves can push through the track properly and we can start riding it. Please excuse the 1970 porn-star look but it was for a good cause, and yes I know it is hard to tell but Andrew does have a mo….or had he been drinking some chocolate milk..hmmmm.

      • Here are a few more photos. Just for those that are interested, the switchback involves almost as much work as 100 metes of siddling track. We have to dig out a huge amount at the top of the turn and barrow it down to the bottom of the turn, so that the end result will be a gentle, 3-metre radius turn.

      • Another 100 metres was built on Lazy Fern last Sunday, which was quite a surprise for everyone, becuase we had planned to work on T3, but it was too windy. Instead we worked from the bottom switchback (which took a huge amount of work) almost up to the next switchback. It was great to see so much progress made, and so much food eaten, in so short a time. Below are a few photos of some of the people who made it along. Sorry I didn't get good photos of everyone.

      • The track has already been started and a good 100-200mtrs is rideable from the bottom. A great Sunday work party did this a few weeks ago, but we will need plenty of help to get the rest of it finished. The pictures are of a route finding afternoon, as you can see the going is tough and getting that slope just right is tricky. We will be having more work party sessions on the track in the new year due to the work needed to be done in other parts of the park for the up coming Tour de Peak races on the 3nd of December. We may have some informal ones so if anybody is interested then don’t hesitate to contact the track builders at www.makarapeak.org.nz

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