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Story: Bush trams and other log transport

Page 8: Bush transport yarns

When we invited people to send in stories about their experiences in the bush, it was not surprising that a number wrote about different types of bush transport. Here is a selection.

What's your story?

The big bang

Bulldozers like this normally handle the toughest conditions. But when one got stuck in the mud near Ohakune, Bill Bellman witnessed a remarkable scene.

A lot of bull

On illicit escapades, Margaret Beumelburg and her friends used to ride jiggers like this one (approaching Mataroa Tunnel, near Taihape, in 1906). She recalls one ride into the bush – and out in a hurry.

Goodbye to the bush

Frank Ward squares a stringer (a weight-holding beam for a bridge), over which bush trams pass. As his daughter Elizabeth explains, Frank spent his working life in the bush, and wrote a poem about it just before he died.

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How to cite this page

Paul Mahoney, Bush trams and other log transport – Bush transport yarns, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/bush-trams-and-other-log-transport/page-8 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Paul Mahoney, published 1 March 2009.