Ok, bit of a strange blog title, but that is justified by the strange thing that we found.
About a hundred years ago, a chap in Whanganui wanted to expand the town onto a nearby hillside. However he thought that the climb of 60m would put people off and reduce land prices.
So he came up with a brilliant idea!
He bored a tunnel 200m into the bottom of the hill, and then put an elevator in!?!
We think that the only question is, why hasn't every other city near a hill done this? There is apparently only one other example of this particular flavour of craziness in Mexico city.
We chatted to the lift attendant on the way up, and she has operated this lift for the last 44 years (!). In this time, she said that there have been very few changes. To be quite frank, it showed. Nerves of steel were required to ring the bell and commit to the ride. The Kepler ridge-walk was like stroking a puppy by comparison.
We are now in National Park (yes that is the name of the village) waiting for the cloud to lift and show us Mount Doom (aka Ngauruhoe). The photo below is of the mighty Ruapehu.
We'll be getting up close and personal with both of these giants over the next few days, so there will be no updates till the weekend.
About a hundred years ago, a chap in Whanganui wanted to expand the town onto a nearby hillside. However he thought that the climb of 60m would put people off and reduce land prices.
So he came up with a brilliant idea!
He bored a tunnel 200m into the bottom of the hill, and then put an elevator in!?!
We think that the only question is, why hasn't every other city near a hill done this? There is apparently only one other example of this particular flavour of craziness in Mexico city.
We chatted to the lift attendant on the way up, and she has operated this lift for the last 44 years (!). In this time, she said that there have been very few changes. To be quite frank, it showed. Nerves of steel were required to ring the bell and commit to the ride. The Kepler ridge-walk was like stroking a puppy by comparison.
We are now in National Park (yes that is the name of the village) waiting for the cloud to lift and show us Mount Doom (aka Ngauruhoe). The photo below is of the mighty Ruapehu.
We'll be getting up close and personal with both of these giants over the next few days, so there will be no updates till the weekend.
Ah well, apropos the elevator. Your pictures are rather disconcertingly similar, in some ways, to the Kehlsteinhaus. This is more generally known as the Eagle's Nest, and is the lift in the middle of a mountain above Berchtesgaden in Austria, which was made for Hitler by his friends as a 50th birthday present. It's only 124m into the hill, but the elevator (shining hammered brass or bronze, if I recall) is also 124m up to what was described as a "tea room" and is now a nice restaurant. There are quite a few alarmingly famous pictures taken in and around the Kehlsteinhaus, including by the necessarily monumental fireplace, etc. Few feature Hitler himself, who didn't visit frequently because, it is said, he was scared of heights.
ReplyDeleteDurie Hill came first, and is a nicer idea all round. Though it has to be said, the view from Adolph's place is more spectacular. Unless it is in cloud, which of course it was when we were there. I see that the concession that operates the affair now also does salt mine tours. Um.
Anyway:
Good luck with the next treks!
PS safely got lots of walking done in Exmoor with nothing broken this time. And much lovely Exmoor consumed. They've just built a new, really big, brewery at Wiveliscombe. Hurrah!
There's a very cunning escalator (rather than elevator) system to get people up the steep sides of the hill from Central to the higher residential areas in Hong Kong... a lot easier to build than boring an elevator shaft... and a lot less scary to use I suspect.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central%E2%80%93Mid-Levels_escalator_and_walkway_system
Makes you wonder why there wasn't something similar installed in various places in Darwen! Would have saved me the daily slog up Earnsdale Road.
G
That elevator looks like a quality piece of work What could possibly go wrong?
ReplyDeleteThat elevator looks like a quality piece of work What could possibly go wrong?
ReplyDeleteSurely it should open overnight? If you're staggering home blind-drunk from the pub, that's when you need an elevator rather than a walk up a steep hillside....
ReplyDelete