Opiki Toll Bridge

If you look north as you cross the Manawatu River near Opiko you will see a relic from the district's industrial past.

In this region once there were numerous flax mills. ”Flax milling” was a distinctive feature of the New Zealand economy from the 1860s until the 1970s. Flax mills were established on the edges of flax swamps throughout the country and could be easily distinguished from other factories by the strange sound made by the stripper - a high-pitched whine or scream, which could be heard over a considerable distance.
Flax mills were also characterised by the rows and rows of fibre which could be seen drying on the ground or hanging over fences in the vicinity of the mill. Each stripper required about 20 acres of drying paddocks. After processing the fibre was pressed into bales, tied with ropes and carted to the nearest port or railway station for transport to market. At the peak of its production (1910-1918),this region produced nearly two-thirds of New Zealand's total output of flax fibre.
The Opiko Suspension Bridge was part of the transport system. It enabled mill owners to ship the bales across the river and get them to the rail. It was constructed by the shareholders in one of the larger mills, the Tane Hemp Company and completed in January 1918 at a cost of £2821.
With the collapse of the flax fibre industry but continued demand for its use the bridge was financed by tolls. The state-built bridge succeeded it in 1969.

Now the decking has been removed but the suspension remains.