Ferry good news

Roadworks are being shifted around a gracious old lady of the harbour as volunteers breathe sighs of relief inside the Toroa, reports Joanna Davies.
Diggers start cutting into the banks around the Lincoln Rd on-ramp. Orange cones line the road, reminding drivers to be wary of construction workers.
Across the motorway, between the overbridge and Henderson Creek, the old Toroa ferry rests on a hard stand.
As her preservers work against time to finish the restoration, she will watch over the expansion on one of West Auckland's busiest interchanges - and she won't have to move.
Don Henwood, secretary of the Toroa Preservation Society, says the organisation originally thought the ferry would have to move.
"But the ferry is still too fragile," he says. "We have done a lot of work, especially over the last two years, to replace the steel in the hull to give the ferry enough strength before we complete the outside of it. Moving it would have done a lot of damage."
Society member Peter McCludy says the organisation first found out about the motorway expansion from owners of neighbouring properties in May last year.
"Some of them have had to move and, initially, we had to as well.
"But the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) came to the site and had a look at the work we've been doing, and we can stay," he says.
Some of the society's work sheds will have to be moved to make way for a wider off-ramp, but Mr McCludy says it is a better than moving the ferry.
"The agency have been very good in accommodating us," he says.
"They also changed the route of the power lines along the motorway so we can still get a crane in."
The Toroa is a well-known landmark along the Northwestern Motorway. It has been on this site for 10 years and, although it doesn't look like much work is being done, contractors work every day to repair the inside framing.
Depending on funding, the $1.5-million restoration could be completed in the next three years.
As for the interchange, the existing two-lane overbridge will be replaced by a seven-lane bridge, and the motorway will be widened with an extra lane in both directions.
The project will cost $100 million, and should be completed in 2013.
The NZTA's regional director for Auckland, Stephen Towns, says the agency was aware of the Toroa's restoration when it first started planning the interchange.
"The managers worked with the Toroa Preservation Society during the design phase of the improvements to insure the ferry could remain on its site without disruptions or delays to the construction.
"The agency is delighted that work can continue to preserve a part of Auckland's past while it makes improvements to the Northwestern Motorway for the city's future."
Believing in ferries
The Toroa, Maori for albatross, was launched in 1925 as part of the Devonport Steam Ferry Company's fleet to sail across the Waitemata to Auckland city. Before the harbour bridge was built, she carried up to 20,000 passengers a day, and was retired in 1980.
The preservation society is always looking for volunteers to help with  restoration. Email crew@toroa.org.nz