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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 5, Issue 5 (September 1, 1930)

Old Whalers’ Bay

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Old Whalers’ Bay

A picturesque little coast town with landscape features all its own is Kaikoura.
A Typical Everyday Scene on the New Zealand Railways. (Photo, W. W. Stewart.) A long freight train passing through Paekakariki station, Wellington Province.

A Typical Everyday Scene on the New Zealand Railways.
(Photo, W. W. Stewart.)
A long freight train passing through Paekakariki station, Wellington Province.

No other town in New Zealand is like it. Some day—perhaps—the South Island Main Trunk line will run through it; for the present you must depend on car to reach it unless you like knocking about in a little coastal steamer. The nook in Kaikoura that has most charms for me is South Bay, a mile or so away from the business town; it is the whaling-station bay. There is a little Maori village there, on the sandy point called Te Hiku o te Waero—“The End of the Tail.” One day, on the beach, I watched the operations at the modern whaling works, where a pakeha party of men was boiling down a recent catch. A thousand pounds worth of bone—curious black slab-like stuff, frayed in hairy filaments at the edges—was stacked on the shore to dry; it came from that now rare species the “right” whale.

Near by there were relics of an older day. An ancient wooden capstan stood on the beach; once upon a time a dozen men would walk the long capstan pole round—it was a great single bar—and haul the whale up high and dry.

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New Zealand Railways Maintenane Men at Work Along the Line Eminent British authorities who have inspected the railway tracks in New Zealand have reported that transtandard of maintenance observed in this country is not surpassed anywhere in the world. The above illustrations depict the activities of the men whose efficient work has done much to earn the above tribut and given the New Zealand Railways their unique safety record of over 100 million passengers carried during the past four years without one fatality. The illustrations shew:—(1) (2) (3) (4) track relaying operasons; (5) getting correct gauge measurement; (6) drilling a rail; (7) lunch time; (8) (9) (12) ballasting the line; (10) (11) taking levels; (13) taking a sight; (14) removing a rail on Paremata bridge; (15) ceveying rails by trolley; (16) removing an old rail; (17) lifting and packing operations. (Rly. Publicity Photos.)

New Zealand Railways Maintenane Men at Work Along the Line
Eminent British authorities who have inspected the railway tracks in New Zealand have reported that transtandard of maintenance observed in this country is not surpassed anywhere in the world. The above illustrations depict the activities of the men whose efficient work has done much to earn the above tribut and given the New Zealand Railways their unique safety record of over 100 million passengers carried during the past four years without one fatality. The illustrations shew:—(1) (2) (3) (4) track relaying operasons; (5) getting correct gauge measurement; (6) drilling a rail; (7) lunch time; (8) (9) (12) ballasting the line; (10) (11) taking levels; (13) taking a sight; (14) removing a rail on Paremata bridge; (15) ceveying rails by trolley; (16) removing an old rail; (17) lifting and packing operations. (Rly. Publicity Photos.)

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