Last Sunday, the engineer and I drove up to the opening of the new $25 million bridge over the Matahorua Gorge, just south of Putarino on state highway 2 to Gisborne. As my mother and sister live in Gisborne, it is a road I have driven countless times. With a new bridge over the gorge, a 4 km, difficult piece of road will be eliminated from the trip. This bridge is 137 metres long, with 12m piles hand excavated into the cliffs of the gorge. Over 4,000 people joined us on the bridge walk on a beautiful Sunday morning. Two buses from Wairoa and three from HB were the first to drive over the bridge, all carrying enthused walkers.

The engineer and I on the new bridge