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March 5, 2014
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Puhoi • Warkworth • Snells • Matakana • Omaha • Leigh • Pakiri • Wellsford • Port Albert • Kaiwaka • Mangawhai
Trolley derby to be a real doozy Mahurangi College’s entry in the Warkworth Trolley Derby looks set to be a serious competitor on Sunday March 9. The group has taken the trolley for a test run where speeds are estimated to have reached 60kph and the vehicle was up on two wheels on the corners. Metalwork teacher Grant Waugh and woodwork teacher Pat Henchie have been helping a group of Year 7 to Year 10 students during lunchtimes, after school, and weekends to get their entry up and running. And the students have been learning the secret to making a winning trolley. “It needs to be light and low to the ground. Having good teachers helps too,” says Year 10 student Louis Tailby. “It’s amazing what you can make with a few bicycle wheels, a metal frame and an old school chair,” says Year 9 student Oliver Johnson. The group went along to one of the workshops held in the build-up to the derby, which will be run along Morrison Drive, and learned a few tips from competitors. The steering is now changing from the rear to the front. continued page 2
Mahurangi College students say a light frame and a low centre of gravity should make their trolley a winner.
Rodney ‘most expensive’ place to live
Forget Herne Bay and Remuera — if you need to commute, then Wellsford, Warkworth and Matakana are Auckland’s most expensive places to live, according to two academics at the University of Otago. The pair have published a research paper in the journal Cities which argues that transport costs need to be taken into account when considering where to live.
The paper uses data from the 2006 Census to map people’s journeys, and suggests that Wellsford, Warkworth, Orewa, Matakana and Helensville are Auckland’s most pricey areas if the cost of commuting to work is factored in. The study comes as real estate agents report growing interest in property in the Mahurangi region, as central city house prices rocket.
The authors note that housing affordability is usually measured solely in terms of people’s income as a proportion of house prices. By this measure, Auckland houses are among the most expensive in the world. But by adding transport costs, “a very different pattern of affordability emerges”, they say.
off the drawing board this month . . .
new Bach - Whangarei heads
l Graham SawelArchitecturAl Designer
PH 425 9759
9 Falls St • Warkworth
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