Damage to car prompts call to replace trees
Here’s a look at what’s been happening this week in Waikato community newspapers.
A woman wants the large trees in Tokoroa’s town centre to be replaced with smaller ones after her car was crushed by a falling branch.
Mangakino’s Rita Jensen was parked in Leith Pl recently getting something to eat with her friend and mother when things took an unexpected turn.
‘‘We had just finished ordering drinks and some food at a cafe when my friend, who was sitting outside with my mum, said ‘I think a branch has just landed on Rita’s car’,’’ she said.
‘‘They took off running up the street and saw a big branch had come straight down onto the roof of my car.
‘‘I was like ‘holy crap’, there was a lot of damage, and I was too scared to move it until I knew what was going on,’’ she said.
Jensen said South Waikato Mayor Jenny Shattock was outside a nearby shop at the time and organised for a council staff member to see to the incident.
‘‘They came and saw me and took photos of the damage and said they would get their insurance onto it,’’ she said.
‘‘It was just as well because there was no way I was going to pay for the damage when it was not my fault. It wasn’t even a windy-as day.’’
She said it was lucky no one was injured during the incident. The car was empty at the time.
‘‘If my kids had been in there it would have been horrible,’’ she said.
‘‘They are having to replace the whole roof of the car and the interior roof as well. It’s made quite a big dent.’’
Trees in Leith Pl are set to be cut down in March to make way for major upgrades but Jensen said it was also time large trees in nearby streets were cut down before someone was hurt or killed.
‘‘I know people in Tokoroa do like the trees and shade but they need to look at the bigger picture and think about people’s safety, ‘‘she said.
‘‘The South Waikato District Council would be better off getting these trees down and putting in smaller ones so there is still shade. That way they would not cause a lot of damage or harm anyone.’’
During the council’s January meeting the council discussed the safety of local trees and reported two recent incidents of trees falling onto cars.
Group assets manager Ted Anderson said while the council was aware of the risk of having trees he didn’t feel there was a strong enough call to remove them.
‘‘I don’t think that is something the community has a strong desire for but we do have to manage and mitigate the best we can,’’ he said.
South Waikato News
Advocate for heart health
‘If in doubt – check it out’ are words Tony Nesbit now lives by, after what he thought was indigestion turned out to be multiple heart attacks.
He is now an advocate for heart health and February is the Heart Foundation’s annual awareness month.
In December 2016 Tony suffered tightness across his chest and thought he had indigestion.
He didn’t suspect a heart attack because he didn’t have tingling or pain down his arms – signs he thought were associated with heart attacks.
A doctor told him he possibly had a hiatus hernia in his chest – part of the stomach pushing into the diaphragm muscle.
A week later he told his wife Paula he felt sick and had chest pain.
‘‘It was like a knot in my chest,’’ he said.
He felt exhausted and sweaty but eventually started to improve.
His doctor suspected angina, prescribed a spray and booked a treadmill test.
By May, Nesbit was using the spray sporadically.
He went into hospital for surgery on an infected finger, and an ECG during surgery prep revealed the infection wasn’t Nesbit’s only health concern.
‘‘The nurse said ‘you have had two heart attacks’ – I said ‘no I have not’.
‘‘In hindsight, we thought that must have been what happened at Christmas and in January.’’
Two days after leaving the hospital following his finger surgery, he returned for the treadmill test.
He was on the treadmill for three minutes, sat on the bed to rest and had another angina attack.
‘‘They used the spray on me and called the doctor,’’ he said.
‘‘He (the doctor) looked at Paula and said, ‘Tony won’t be going home’.’’
Nesbit was admitted straight away and had an angiogram.
Immediately he was booked in for quadruple bypass.
It was a stressful time for Paula, who was travelling to hospital every day in the Matamata Health Shuttle.
‘‘There were a few meltdowns,’’ she said.
‘‘My stomach was in knots and I was taking rescue remedy all the time.’’
During that time Paula received comfort from family and support from their friends and neighbours in the Parkside Lifestyle Village.
After nearly a month in hospital, Nesbit returned home and seven months later is well into recovery.
He is grateful to be alive and is sharing his story to encourage others to seek medical advice if they don’t feel well.
‘‘If in doubt, check it out,’’ he said.
Matamata Chronicle
‘‘I know people in Tokoroa do like the trees and shade but they need to look at the bigger picture and think about people’s safety . . .’’
Rita Jensen
Gondola on the way
A $25m gondola should be up and running in Whakapapa Skifield next year if funding is secured.
Skifield operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts (RAL) is describing the project as the largest and most technically advanced gondola in New Zealand.
It will travel 1.8km from Whakapapa’s Base Area (1630 metres) to the Knoll Ridge Cafe (2020m), taking just five minutes at full speed.
RAL chief executive Ross Copland said the project would bring 300,000 visitors annually over three years increasing spending in the region by $50 million.
It would create an extra 137 full-time jobs at Whakapapa in the restaurants, maintenance, sales, retail and transport teams.
‘‘The impact on the region is amazing. It’s quite dramatic and it’s exciting news,’’ Copland said.
He said the capital raising was progressing well and they were working hard to align financing, consents and design into the critical time window required to complete the project for the
2019 ski season.
The gondola will have 50 wheelchair accessibility cabins. Each cabin could hold 10 passengers with a two metre height clearance.
They will be fitted with internal ski racks, leather seats and wi-fi. It replaces the 30-year-old Waterfall Express chairlift, New Zealand’s first high speed detachable chairlift.
RAL secured a Tourism Growth Partnership grant in 2017 to complete a feasibility study which led to an application for economic development funding to support the project in July
2017.
‘‘One of our aims is to make Mt Ruapehu accessible for all, some of whom don’t ski but want to see the views and experience of being on the highest mountain in the North Island.
‘‘It will open up the mountain to less physically able visitors to enjoy the mountain air and views all year round.’’
The gondola would also allow the skifield to be open on more days, because of better protection from the elements.
‘‘The gondola will be a revolution for skiers with fewer closed days, improved performance on windy days and a blistering fast trip travelling at six metres per second,’’ Copland said.
RAL has already invested $22 million over the past 18 months with an additional $25 million been spent at its Turoa Skifield over 11-years.
Construction was expected to start in Spring.