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Fun continues while Gondola gets a check-up

Thursday 15 August 2019, 9:02AM

By The Shine Collective

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Engineers from around the world are undertaking planned maintenance at Skyline Rotorua
Engineers from around the world are undertaking planned maintenance at Skyline Rotorua Credit: Skyline Rotorua

ROTORUA

Skyline Rotorua’s Gondola is temporarily out of action to allow programmed maintenance at the city’s favourite activity destination.

The Gondola is closed from 14 – 27 August, but visitors with tickets to the activities and dining will get free transport to the top of Skyline to enjoy the adventure park’s other great activities.

Andrew Jensen, General Manager at Skyline Rotorua, says he regrets the inconvenience to visitors, but the long-scheduled maintenance is part of the life cycle of the Gondola installed in 2005.

“Like every business working with machinery we need to ensure that the Gondola is in shipshape condition. Our maintenance engineers have been planning the maintenance for the last 12 months, organising parts from overseas and building structures onsite to assist with the work – including a massive purpose-built lifting frame.

“To back up our inhouse expertise, we’ve flown in Doppelmayr [the manufacturers of the Gondola] experts from Austria, Australia, Switzerland and around New Zealand.”

The Gondola will have a mechanical overhaul, including a fresh motor and gearbox, bull wheel bearing replacement, and re-splicing of the haul rope– all designed to ensure the long-term operational and safety of the equipment for visitors. 

“We undertake regular daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance all after hours, but from time to time it’s necessary to undertake more extensive work which cannot be completed in an overnight timeframe. We’ve kept industry partners, operators and guests in the loop too, to make sure our visitors are well-informed.

“We already use vans to transport nervous or anxious visitors to the top of Mount Ngongotaha so we’ve just brought on some extra vehicles to transport our remaining guests up the slope. All our normal activities will continue, albeit with some minor delays while waiting for vans. We simply cannot move the same volumes of guests with the vans so we ask that visitors be patient with us.

“Unfortunately we’re not able to accommodate our Mountain Bike Park users – transporting the bikes is quite cumbersome as you can imagine, so we made the tough decision to close the MTB park for the period as well.”

The maintenance means the park will be at full strength in time for the September school holidays, and with the next major maintenance of this level not scheduled for some years to come, Skyline visitors can remain assured of their safety for their next fun family day out.

Visit www.skyline.co.nz/rotorua for more information.