The first visitors to Strawberry Gardens could ride in a horse drawn cart from the Battery. Later the carts were replaced by horse drawn tram.

In 1912 the horses were replaced by a petrol driven tramcar and the caption on the picture above claims it was ‘first in the Kingdom’. A petrol tram is indeed a curiosity and news about it even appeared in a New Zealand newpaper in April 1912, the Wanganui Chronicle. During the first World War the petrol was replaced by gas carried in a large rectangular bag on the roof of the tram. The route was along Heysham Road; at first it passed through the newly built up area of Sandylands then out into the open country along what used to be called Cross Lane to Four Lane Ends and to Strawberry Gardens at the bottom; that last section of Heysham Road was once Overtown Lane.