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Candys bend on the old Otira Gorge road.1970`s.
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DescriptionTony Simpson
I remember clearly the first time I ever drove over there in my own car was a 1953 100E Anglia in Nov 1971 on my way to work on a dairy farm in Kowhitirangi. Broke down just below Candy's bend and hitched a ride to the Otira pub. I was straight out of high school at the time (age must have been 18). Stopped at the pub. Went in all casual and experienced and explained to the barman what had gone wrong and asked if I could call the AA please - happy to pay for the toll call (no cell phones of course). The bloke at the bar said he was happy to help, to which I said a big thanks. He paid for a beer for me (I was 18 at the time - two years under the magic age - or maybe 3!! - while we waited and then picks up the phone on the bar and three rounds on the operator call and "Hi XXX, John here, Otira Police. Can you put me through to the AA please." (Old people like me will remember this rural phone palaver from back in the day.) To cut a long story quite short, about 3 hours later AA arrived, took me back up the Otira face, dropped in a new fuel pump and away I go. A huge thanks after all those years to the barman, to the copper and to the AA - made my trip to Hoki from Chch and down that amazing face that memorable, I remember it like it was yesterday.Map[1] ContributorGraeme Williams
I remember clearly the first time I ever drove over there in my own car was a 1953 100E Anglia in Nov 1971 on my way to work on a dairy farm in Kowhitirangi. Broke down just below Candy's bend and hitched a ride to the Otira pub. I was straight out of high school at the time (age must have been 18). Stopped at the pub. Went in all casual and experienced and explained to the barman what had gone wrong and asked if I could call the AA please - happy to pay for the toll call (no cell phones of course). The bloke at the bar said he was happy to help, to which I said a big thanks. He paid for a beer for me (I was 18 at the time - two years under the magic age - or maybe 3!! - while we waited and then picks up the phone on the bar and three rounds on the operator call and "Hi XXX, John here, Otira Police. Can you put me through to the AA please." (Old people like me will remember this rural phone palaver from back in the day.) To cut a long story quite short, about 3 hours later AA arrived, took me back up the Otira face, dropped in a new fuel pump and away I go. A huge thanks after all those years to the barman, to the copper and to the AA - made my trip to Hoki from Chch and down that amazing face that memorable, I remember it like it was yesterday.Map[1] ContributorGraeme Williams
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Location (city or town)Candys bendOtiraArthurs PassLandmark (Place)Candys bendEventCandys bend on the old Otira Gorge road.1970`s.
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Category TagRoads
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CommentsAnne Honey
And all the road condition broadcasts and the Arthurs pass road is closed with a slip at Candys bend. So often when i was a child.
Nicki Thain
The amount of times we drove over there in the 70s to holiday home on coast
All was quiet in the car and everyone was working their own brakes Scary
Susan Barlow
Nicki Thain After doing the zig-zag! (Didn't we do it tough?
Nicki Thain
Susan Barlow sure did...
Elly Freeman
Remember it well. Not to mention seemingly long 1 Lane, thus hoping like heck there was no traffic coming the other way
Marilyn Finn
I remember it well. Seem to have memories as a child, of watching out for & counting the cars that had gone over the side!!! The latter, might have been my imagination.
Phil Millar
I know a Lady who jumped over the edge on Candy's bend!
Glenn Brickmann
Phil Millar i think some crimes jumped from a police wagon there aswell
Murry Tengu
It was by far the icon of the WESTCOAST i know of many many well respected driver's hu would not attempt the pass wen icey snow etc there were alot of city slickers that would catch the train because thy were not up to it driving the pass awsum memories working with dad on the j1 bedford picking up rocks off the pass i couldn't see ova the steering wheel dad would put it in gear an let me go while he was outside picking up rocks an yip them tight as bends ryt wea the lookout part was it was a mission trying to turn the wheel at the tender age of 7/8yrs old if that because thy were the hardest an tighest corners just b4 the top cant do that stuff 2day to much cotton wool teachings nw days thy would neva handle the old gorge only them that drove worked on it know how dangerous it can be at the flick of a finger in front of ur eyes ur life can flash like that mean as miss it shore it sort the drivers out even on the gud days but a little bit of ice snow then we seen hu was the real person left on the road cause we towed heaps of people's out but that was just hw my oldman was would stop an help anyone in need an we carry that on today otira mean child hood days
Karen Beaumont
I would rather drive the old zigzag than the new , ugly, viaduct
Murry Tengu
Karen Beaumont 4shore sort sum of these younger driver's out motorway drivers dont like driving wen its raining etc etc thy wud trip out doing the pass
Karen Beaumont
Murry Tengu so very true. I saw many breaks burning going over there.
Jennifer Gaskell
Jennifer Gaskell
I remember Candys Bend very well, when I lived at Otira in the mid 1950's, and we were travelling to Christchurch, and the boulders would be across the road , Mum had to get out of the car and try and make a way for Dad to drive through, if Dad stopped, the car had trouble starting again, those were the days. I knew a Lady who jumped from a Police Wagon which had stopped there, on the way to Christchurch.
Phil Millar
That Lady was my Aunty !
Jennifer Gaskell
So sorry Phil.
Rosalie Fleming
I taught with a lady who was in a parked car that slipped down/off Candy's Bend. Her back was broken so was confined to a wheel chair.
Mary Taggart
Scared me every time I had to drive up not so bad going down.
Marlene Jackson Perry
It used to scare the hell out of me, being a young passenger.
Frances McMillan
Remember stopping at the top with a boiling radiator.
Shazza Price
I used to hate driving that bloody road
Maxine Morgan
My parents had a.Morris Minor. Mum had.collected a pile of nice stones forthe garden. Poor old Morris couldnt get up the hill. So the stones got abandoned and the luggage got moved out of boot to back seat and off they drove with no more problems. Somewhere near that piece of road is a small cairn of stones
Mary Moffitt
I had an Austin Mini then too. I drove over these roadworks about this time, it was dark, and I could not see where the road began and ended, so I had to get out and walk ahead to check where to go, repeatedly. It was terrifying. There were no markers on the sides or anywhere.
Janet Jamieson
Came down the old Zig-Zag's in a big Chevy Ambulance with no brakes
Bob Jamieson
Coming back to Greymouth from Ch.Ch. one rainy night in the VW driving through the flooded fords before Arthurs Pass, then dodging rocks on the Zig Zag / candy's bend. Got home and rang folks to be told that the Otira route had been closed since mid-day. Good old VW.
MIcheal Hunt
towing a load of wood over only to overheat halfway up
Myron Caldwell
Michael Hunt. isn't that why they had billies and water stops so you could cool down, and start again, once she stopped steaming.Bob Jamieson
Coming back to Greymouth from Ch.Ch. one rainy night in the VW driving through the flooded fords before Arthurs Pass, then dodging rocks on the Zig Zag / candy's bend. Got home and rang folks to be told that the Otira route had been closed since mid-da… See More
MIcheal Hunt
towing a load of wood over only to overheat halfway up
Arthur Bass
She was an interesting bit of road The Zig Zag and all that went with it.
Jason Boddy
Arthur Bass a lot of old cars stopped And couldn’t get going again, and how many cars had to stop to cool down, not these days
Naireen Bass
Arthur Bass is Candys Bend where the waterfall used to come on to the road - where the flash 'canopy' is now?
Jenny Leach
Oh yes remember candy's bend to bit scary
Colin Taylor
Did that drive many many times and loved it
Heather Newby
I remember us five kids having to get out of the Ford prefect and walk alongside it up the hill after candys bend.
Sha Un
Great photo!!
Jillian Gardyne
Dad had an old Model A Ford that he would pile his 6 girls and Mum in and drive over there in the early 60s so scary on that crumbling gravel road.
He enjoyed the thrill of it, we didn't.
PaulAnthony Teens
Wayne can remember you and your family. In our class at St Mary’s
Pete Lusk
Wild country - I never saw it this raw.
Arthur Bass
I was there end of the 70's. Some thrilling trips in the snow and ice. Once the windrows from the grader froze it was safe as. Early form of armco railing.
Naireen Bass
I'm not sure what part of the road it happened but I know a couple who were hit by a boulder on the Pass while driving from ChCh to the Coast. They were very nearly pushed over the edge and it stuffed their car and left them very traumatised, as you can imagine.
Karen McTaggart
the old man used to get homesick after the pub on Friday nights, regularly, pile the kids and cat into the mark 1 Zepher, mother the torch bearer to guide the car over in the fog, we thought it was all normal, scary but normal, if we went during the day, it was a long pub crawl from ChCh, pretty normal, pub crawl around, a then back again .
Niaouli Wolf
Laura Mills Detlaff I think it was called Candy’s bend because there was a road man’s hut there and the road man was Candy. The remains of the hut were still there in the early 1950’s. We lived at Otira from 1950 until 1962. My Dad was the storekeeper of Otira General Store now sadly disappeared.
Arthur Bass
There are heaps of tales about the Zig Zag when it was gravel.
Cheryl Riley
Back in the day we first checked on Candys Bend rather than the road conditions heading over the Pass.
Brian McIntyre
A continuous shingle slide forcing ongoing road closures
Naireen Bass
Brian McIntyre yes, the new viaduct has proven it's worth.
Brian McIntyre
Naireen Bass thats for sure but I enjoyed the old road before it was sealed
Les Bryce
Naireen Bass Candys bend is still there, not part of the viaduct, It is just up from the waterfall.
Tom Jones
Can remember driving up there in a Morris Van, passengers had to get out and walk to the top, James (chaf),Sue Finch,Trude Moreton,Sheralee Harris
Arlene Hutcheon
I remember Candy's Bend from when I was a young, in the 60s and 70s. Don't remember that big tree there tho
Alan Beck
After the viaduct, it was 'Death's Deception'. Was a driver called "De'Ath" deceived by the geography? In the old days, a helpful commercial Traveller in a coupe gave a car a push from behind.
Tony Simpson
I remember clearly the first time I ever drove over there in my own car was a 1953 100E Anglia in Nov 1971 on my way to work on a dairy farm in Kowhitirangi. Broke down just below Candy's bend and hitched a ride to the Otira pub. I was straight out of high school at the time (age must have been 18). Stopped at the pub. Went in all casual and experienced and explained to the barman what had gone wrong and asked if I could call the AA please - happy to pay for the toll call (no cell phones of course). The bloke at the bar said he was happy to help, to which I said a big thanks. He paid for a beer for me (I was 18 at the time - two years under the magic age - or maybe 3!! - while we waited and then picks up the phone on the bar and three rounds on the operator call and "Hi XXX, John here, Otira Police. Can you put me through to the AA please." (Old people like me will remember this rural phone palaver from back in the day.) To cut a long story quite short, about 3 hours later AA arrived, took me back up the Otira face, dropped in a new fuel pump and away I go. A huge thanks after all those years to the barman, to the copper and to the AA - made my trip to Hoki from Chch and down that amazing face that memorable, I remember it like it was yesterday.
Judy Cardno
Tony Simpson wonderful story
Sandra Douglas
Hated candy's bend my sister &, I had get out & move rocks at times on our trips..once following a house truck who missed a gear up rnd next corner our veh got stuck in 2nd gear..we had put rocks behind wheels to hold it..so the gear selectors cld b unjammed..there for abt 3 hrs...pss rain.. not one veh stopped to help..Dan McKenzie
Got my s1rx7 stuck on that bridge lol
Bryn Tate
Candy`s bend was named by the Engineer Jack Manson .His daughter Vera
Glenn Brickmann
Didnt a crim jump out of the paddy wagon to his death there
While bein transported to chch
Yvonne Beri
I remember dad having to reverse up top of zigzag themes van would not drive up.Many hair raising trip to Te kinga
And all the road condition broadcasts and the Arthurs pass road is closed with a slip at Candys bend. So often when i was a child.
Nicki Thain
The amount of times we drove over there in the 70s to holiday home on coast
All was quiet in the car and everyone was working their own brakes Scary
Susan Barlow
Nicki Thain After doing the zig-zag! (Didn't we do it tough?
Nicki Thain
Susan Barlow sure did...
Elly Freeman
Remember it well. Not to mention seemingly long 1 Lane, thus hoping like heck there was no traffic coming the other way
Marilyn Finn
I remember it well. Seem to have memories as a child, of watching out for & counting the cars that had gone over the side!!! The latter, might have been my imagination.
Phil Millar
I know a Lady who jumped over the edge on Candy's bend!
Glenn Brickmann
Phil Millar i think some crimes jumped from a police wagon there aswell
Murry Tengu
It was by far the icon of the WESTCOAST i know of many many well respected driver's hu would not attempt the pass wen icey snow etc there were alot of city slickers that would catch the train because thy were not up to it driving the pass awsum memories working with dad on the j1 bedford picking up rocks off the pass i couldn't see ova the steering wheel dad would put it in gear an let me go while he was outside picking up rocks an yip them tight as bends ryt wea the lookout part was it was a mission trying to turn the wheel at the tender age of 7/8yrs old if that because thy were the hardest an tighest corners just b4 the top cant do that stuff 2day to much cotton wool teachings nw days thy would neva handle the old gorge only them that drove worked on it know how dangerous it can be at the flick of a finger in front of ur eyes ur life can flash like that mean as miss it shore it sort the drivers out even on the gud days but a little bit of ice snow then we seen hu was the real person left on the road cause we towed heaps of people's out but that was just hw my oldman was would stop an help anyone in need an we carry that on today otira mean child hood days
Karen Beaumont
I would rather drive the old zigzag than the new , ugly, viaduct
Murry Tengu
Karen Beaumont 4shore sort sum of these younger driver's out motorway drivers dont like driving wen its raining etc etc thy wud trip out doing the pass
Karen Beaumont
Murry Tengu so very true. I saw many breaks burning going over there.
Jennifer Gaskell
Jennifer Gaskell
I remember Candys Bend very well, when I lived at Otira in the mid 1950's, and we were travelling to Christchurch, and the boulders would be across the road , Mum had to get out of the car and try and make a way for Dad to drive through, if Dad stopped, the car had trouble starting again, those were the days. I knew a Lady who jumped from a Police Wagon which had stopped there, on the way to Christchurch.
Phil Millar
That Lady was my Aunty !
Jennifer Gaskell
So sorry Phil.
Rosalie Fleming
I taught with a lady who was in a parked car that slipped down/off Candy's Bend. Her back was broken so was confined to a wheel chair.
Mary Taggart
Scared me every time I had to drive up not so bad going down.
Marlene Jackson Perry
It used to scare the hell out of me, being a young passenger.
Frances McMillan
Remember stopping at the top with a boiling radiator.
Shazza Price
I used to hate driving that bloody road
Maxine Morgan
My parents had a.Morris Minor. Mum had.collected a pile of nice stones forthe garden. Poor old Morris couldnt get up the hill. So the stones got abandoned and the luggage got moved out of boot to back seat and off they drove with no more problems. Somewhere near that piece of road is a small cairn of stones
Mary Moffitt
I had an Austin Mini then too. I drove over these roadworks about this time, it was dark, and I could not see where the road began and ended, so I had to get out and walk ahead to check where to go, repeatedly. It was terrifying. There were no markers on the sides or anywhere.
Janet Jamieson
Came down the old Zig-Zag's in a big Chevy Ambulance with no brakes
Bob Jamieson
Coming back to Greymouth from Ch.Ch. one rainy night in the VW driving through the flooded fords before Arthurs Pass, then dodging rocks on the Zig Zag / candy's bend. Got home and rang folks to be told that the Otira route had been closed since mid-day. Good old VW.
MIcheal Hunt
towing a load of wood over only to overheat halfway up
Myron Caldwell
Michael Hunt. isn't that why they had billies and water stops so you could cool down, and start again, once she stopped steaming.Bob Jamieson
Coming back to Greymouth from Ch.Ch. one rainy night in the VW driving through the flooded fords before Arthurs Pass, then dodging rocks on the Zig Zag / candy's bend. Got home and rang folks to be told that the Otira route had been closed since mid-da… See More
MIcheal Hunt
towing a load of wood over only to overheat halfway up
Arthur Bass
She was an interesting bit of road The Zig Zag and all that went with it.
Jason Boddy
Arthur Bass a lot of old cars stopped And couldn’t get going again, and how many cars had to stop to cool down, not these days
Naireen Bass
Arthur Bass is Candys Bend where the waterfall used to come on to the road - where the flash 'canopy' is now?
Jenny Leach
Oh yes remember candy's bend to bit scary
Colin Taylor
Did that drive many many times and loved it
Heather Newby
I remember us five kids having to get out of the Ford prefect and walk alongside it up the hill after candys bend.
Sha Un
Great photo!!
Jillian Gardyne
Dad had an old Model A Ford that he would pile his 6 girls and Mum in and drive over there in the early 60s so scary on that crumbling gravel road.
He enjoyed the thrill of it, we didn't.
PaulAnthony Teens
Wayne can remember you and your family. In our class at St Mary’s
Pete Lusk
Wild country - I never saw it this raw.
Arthur Bass
I was there end of the 70's. Some thrilling trips in the snow and ice. Once the windrows from the grader froze it was safe as. Early form of armco railing.
Naireen Bass
I'm not sure what part of the road it happened but I know a couple who were hit by a boulder on the Pass while driving from ChCh to the Coast. They were very nearly pushed over the edge and it stuffed their car and left them very traumatised, as you can imagine.
Karen McTaggart
the old man used to get homesick after the pub on Friday nights, regularly, pile the kids and cat into the mark 1 Zepher, mother the torch bearer to guide the car over in the fog, we thought it was all normal, scary but normal, if we went during the day, it was a long pub crawl from ChCh, pretty normal, pub crawl around, a then back again .
Niaouli Wolf
Laura Mills Detlaff I think it was called Candy’s bend because there was a road man’s hut there and the road man was Candy. The remains of the hut were still there in the early 1950’s. We lived at Otira from 1950 until 1962. My Dad was the storekeeper of Otira General Store now sadly disappeared.
Arthur Bass
There are heaps of tales about the Zig Zag when it was gravel.
Cheryl Riley
Back in the day we first checked on Candys Bend rather than the road conditions heading over the Pass.
Brian McIntyre
A continuous shingle slide forcing ongoing road closures
Naireen Bass
Brian McIntyre yes, the new viaduct has proven it's worth.
Brian McIntyre
Naireen Bass thats for sure but I enjoyed the old road before it was sealed
Les Bryce
Naireen Bass Candys bend is still there, not part of the viaduct, It is just up from the waterfall.
Tom Jones
Can remember driving up there in a Morris Van, passengers had to get out and walk to the top, James (chaf),Sue Finch,Trude Moreton,Sheralee Harris
Arlene Hutcheon
I remember Candy's Bend from when I was a young, in the 60s and 70s. Don't remember that big tree there tho
Alan Beck
After the viaduct, it was 'Death's Deception'. Was a driver called "De'Ath" deceived by the geography? In the old days, a helpful commercial Traveller in a coupe gave a car a push from behind.
Tony Simpson
I remember clearly the first time I ever drove over there in my own car was a 1953 100E Anglia in Nov 1971 on my way to work on a dairy farm in Kowhitirangi. Broke down just below Candy's bend and hitched a ride to the Otira pub. I was straight out of high school at the time (age must have been 18). Stopped at the pub. Went in all casual and experienced and explained to the barman what had gone wrong and asked if I could call the AA please - happy to pay for the toll call (no cell phones of course). The bloke at the bar said he was happy to help, to which I said a big thanks. He paid for a beer for me (I was 18 at the time - two years under the magic age - or maybe 3!! - while we waited and then picks up the phone on the bar and three rounds on the operator call and "Hi XXX, John here, Otira Police. Can you put me through to the AA please." (Old people like me will remember this rural phone palaver from back in the day.) To cut a long story quite short, about 3 hours later AA arrived, took me back up the Otira face, dropped in a new fuel pump and away I go. A huge thanks after all those years to the barman, to the copper and to the AA - made my trip to Hoki from Chch and down that amazing face that memorable, I remember it like it was yesterday.
Judy Cardno
Tony Simpson wonderful story
Sandra Douglas
Hated candy's bend my sister &, I had get out & move rocks at times on our trips..once following a house truck who missed a gear up rnd next corner our veh got stuck in 2nd gear..we had put rocks behind wheels to hold it..so the gear selectors cld b unjammed..there for abt 3 hrs...pss rain.. not one veh stopped to help..Dan McKenzie
Got my s1rx7 stuck on that bridge lol
Bryn Tate
Candy`s bend was named by the Engineer Jack Manson .His daughter Vera
Glenn Brickmann
Didnt a crim jump out of the paddy wagon to his death there
While bein transported to chch
Yvonne Beri
I remember dad having to reverse up top of zigzag themes van would not drive up.Many hair raising trip to Te kinga
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West Coast New Zealand History (12th Mar 2023). Candys bend on the old Otira Gorge road.1970`s.. In Website West Coast New Zealand History. Retrieved 4th Apr 2026 08:57, from https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/1982