Giddy heights over water took some getting used to

Bob Isgrove never quite got used to working 43m above the Waitemata Harbour's waters, mixing concrete for the road over the new steel edifice.

"I worked on there okay but never completely got used to it," says Mr Isgrove, who was 17 when he was recruited in 1958 to the bridge's northern concreting crew.

"When the smoko whistle blew, the guys used to go running across the girders to get to the shed first, but I still tip-toed across."

But he had a better head for heights than a fellow recruit who made it only halfway up the bridge.

"He just froze solid and they had to get about five guys to carry him off," recalls Mr Isgrove, now of Beachlands.

Although the job was not as hazardous as that of riggers working without harnesses to attach steel to the apex of the bridge, 64m above the water, there were some daunting times.

Particularly challenging was having to work under the bridge deck, prising large pallets off the new concrete, for which Mr Isgrove earned two shillings and six pence an hour ($4.72c today after inflation) danger money, on top of a normal weekly wage of about £12 ($472).

"They were too heavy so we used to push them over the side and when they hit the water they just exploded into matchwood. The police used to come racing over in their launch because they were dead against it, but of course we used to make sure there was nothing underneath first. We used to say they slipped."