The Auckland Harbour Bridge - the Coathanger

The Auckland Harbour Bridge - or the Coathanger as it was once affectionately called joins the city to the North Shore.  It was completed in 1959.

Prior to that if you wanted to take a car to the North Shore you had to either drive right around the top of the harbour - a tedious trip.  Or you caught a vehicular ferry which was a wonderfully exciting experience - and expensive.  You lined up your car at the wharf and drove down a creaking wobbly metal plank and then once on the ferry you had to park your car very close to the edge and jammed up alongside all the other vehicles.  If it was a rough day - well that just made it even more of an adventure.

The construction of the bridge was watched with enormous interest as bits were barged in and attached. On the Grand Opening Day people were allowed to walk across it - never to be allowed again.

To pay for it you had to pay a toll of 2 shillings (later 2/6d) at a line of toll booths across the northern side of the bridge. That's 20 cents - which was worth a lot more then than today!



Show-offs got quite good at tossing the money to the toll booth operator as they sped through. Most people slowed down and placed the money into the operator's hand though it was still a challenge to try to do that without coming to a complete stop. The worst thing was when a person in front of you didn't have their coins ready (or the right change) and a queue formed and waited with tooting horns blaring.



These days the bridge has the added attraction as a site for bungy-jumping. Tourists and locals throw themselves off the bridge into (well nearly), the sparkling waters of the Waitemata Harbour.