Locals describe their favourite hidden spots - what do you love about this place and why is it special to you?

Susan Heal gets to visit places in her job as the Manuherikia Irrigation Scheme race manager that few people will ever see.

The main intake for the scheme is in the remote Ophir Gorge where a 470m-long tunnel was dug through the massive rocky hillside by workers during the First World War - otherwise known as Horseshoe Bend.

The road to the tunnel is on private land and at certain times of the year the steep windy track down is tricky to negotiate.

Susan drives into the gorge once a week to check the generator that controls the amount of water that can be taken from the Manuherikia River into the irrigation scheme.  

“If it’s been raining it’s too dangerous to drive, so I walk in.”

The generator broke down a few weeks before Christmas, and the contractor isn’t available to fix it until well into the new year, so at the moment she has to manually adjust the gates using a hydraulic pump.

This place is special to Susan because it’s so inaccessible and remote, “and what on earth were the old timers thinking ploughing a tunnel through the hill to get water to the orchards and market gardens in Alex?’

With 400 shareholders using the Manuherikia scheme around Alexandra, Springvale and Chatto Creek, summer is the busiest time of year, and the allocation of water can be challenging.

“People complain about the cost of water but it’s all of the infrastructure we have to maintain.”