Carrot installed

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 2, Issue 18, 2 October 1984, Page 22

Carrot installed

A handful of workers and several on-lookers were the only witnesses to the arrival of Ohakune's 'Big Carrot' at the Rochfort Park site last Tuesday morning. The weather was overcast with periods of drizzling rain but even that didn't interfere with the task of positioning the carrot on its pre-set concrete base. The carrot arrived by truck at the site at about 6.50am and was positioned as close as possible to the foundations. While hook and chains were attached to the 'top' of the carrot, the lower end was carefully padded with strips of plastic to prevent damage. It was then slowly and carefully up-ended by crane until it hung freely and with a little bit of assistance from the ground crew, the crane driver skillfully lowered the carrot on to the bolts which were protruding out of the concrete foundations. The 'fit' was perfect — with the four bolts slotting easily into the carrot's base plate. However, progress was held up temporarily when it was discovered that the nuts that were to be screwed down onto the bolts, did not fit. So, while the crane' continued to hoVer above the carrot, holding it vertical someone quickly went away to get the right sized nuts. With the carrot sitting securely on its foundations, the green 'foliage' was added.

This involved several of the construction team mounting the carrot via a ladder, and hoisting the foliage up with a rope, positioning it so that the bolt holes all matched (a task that was made somewhat more tricky than expected due to the fact that special alignment markers made on the carrot and on the greenery had been ihadvertently erased). With its new green foliage 'sprouting' nicely and the carrot itself 'growing' securely on its foundation all that remained was for the plastic cover to be placed in position to keep the carrot out of the watchful eye of the public.

Kim

McCulloch