Steamboat Alice is now in Tauranga after being relocated from Taupō. Photos/ George Novak
Steamboat Alice is now in Tauranga after being relocated from Taupō. Photos/ George Novak
A unique piece of New Zealand's maritime history has avoided the scrapheap and will grace Tauranga's Harbour.
'Steamboat Alice' voyaged to the city from Taupō aboard a haulage trailer on Tuesday without any ceremonial fanfare.
The lady of the lake, who is more than 120 years old, was bought by businessman Kevin Mann and she will rest easy on the salt water.
He could not bear the thought of Alice being ''lost forever to the scrap heap'' and was inspired by her story.
It's believed Alice was a NZ-built wooden steam powered vessel constructed in the late 1800s at the tail end of the first industrial revolution. She originated from the Kaipara Harbour.
''We are in the fourth industrial revolution with cloud technology and so on and I think we can learn so much from the past to help us navigate the future.''
Mann hopes to enlist the help of fellow enthusiasts to spruce up the boat and he wants to share her with others.
Inside Steamboat Alice. Photo / George Novak
''I think there are opportunities for school children to learn about technological history. There are very few places in New Zealand other than the Maritime Museum in Auckland and that is a long way for people to go.''
He thought the older generation would also be interested in visiting Alice and some may be able to use their skills and experience onboard.
A member of the Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat Club, which celebrated its 100-year anniversary earlier this year, Mann was looking forward to registering Alice ''as its oldest member''.
Taupō's Michael Drake and a group of friends spent about 10,000 hours restoring Alice between 1990 and 2000.
He was delighted to hear the old steamboat was being given a new life in Tauranga.
Steamboat Alice on the water in Tauranga. Photo / George Novak
"Three friends and I bought this very old boat from Auckland in 1990 - she was an empty hull. We brought her down here and one of us was an expert with steam so we put a steam boiler and a steam engine."
For 10 years, the group got together every Saturday morning to work on the boat, developing a tight bond in the process.
"Tom Waterland was really keen to have a steamboat so he imported the castings for a 10 horsepower steam engine. He had the skills to build it up and then he was looking for people who knew about boat building, repair, and running boats so three of us did.''
The men ran her on the lake commercially from 2000 to 2008.
Drake was confident Alice would be bought back to her former glory.
''I think it's great because she was just slowly deteriorating and a boat needs to be used. It's wonderful and I've been in touch with the new owner to say I'll give any assistance I can."
