CUR NORTHERN TOURIST RESORTS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 304, 22 December 1903, Page 2 (Supplement)

CUR NORTHERN TOURIST RESORTS.

KUTES ON LAKE WAIKARKMOANA. (I - ruin Our Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, this day. A leading citizen of this town, who hiid jit-.! u-uui'id from a vi-it to Lake \\ai,,ii!<'ij.ojiia, inform., mc thu Governi.ici.t 1., luring tiie development of the i;..vi; w.'il in uaiid. and muKing it mueii

iih.ro ciuici t ,i;lc f ur tourists. A wellliii iii-..n-il li'iu.st: uu.s bfi ji iju.it in a shelt> ica part .if the eastern shore; a launch (LiuiU in Auckland; placed at. the dis-j«<i.-.iJ of vi.-kor.,, and Guide. Warbrick I ..-. !»•! ,) hard m worii for some tirnecon-

'■-■i■ iia_; linn: kauri beats to replace 1 •"■ luavj' itiii 1 almost Useless iu)is that ha\i; itiii.c duly for some years. Opinions Oil , nut altogether in favour of the site c.'h..-i ;i fur tne bouse, which those who b.ivc moat to do with it agree is situated too lar liom Onepoto, tla , point where the road from the coast reaches the lake, and iii if.-elf the must interesting spot vii it.s shores. A great deal has yet to b<! done in the way of erecting finger [•'-Is, the ab.s.-n;-e of which is liable to c::u.,c people to go astray and lose valuar a: time. The nine 1" the little eorap.inion laivi , , V\ aikaie iti, is at present a veritable trap. Wliile my iufurmant w.ii tlipre a clerical poiitlfina.il missed ti.o route, ami found himxelf ten miles mi the rood to (ii-'i. mc before he beruiiie iis-,uied sonicthhig was wrong. At present, 100, there are no guides, and tiicre no mm who knows much about i. i' .-pets of iiit"ir-t. thut shoulu not he i!M.-..scd. 1 lie \i.-ilnr Iki* to tind them out for liiin-i'lf. The greatest difficulty oi all is the uiii-ertainly of reaching the ];.ue niiil tlif ua.-tc of time that may be j volvi-tl. The bar of the Wairou is a very doubtful quantity, and oven when 3'onnal <! !, es not permit the steamer to take into account i!ie hours at which the Cii.u-hi's have to inn. Thus my infor- ] ant found he could not fret back to ]\ ; ipior under live days, and he might pa-.ilv hnvc been morn. Mr Donne, superintendent nf the Tourist. Department, has already taken this matter in 1: ■-ill. and aftrr tlio new year coaches v. ill run twice a week from Napier, inptenij of once. Guide Warbrick's idea is that the road from Rotorua should be completed, so that the traveller can come down from the North, strike the lake at V. hanganui, and be carried across to the I; use in the launch, thus saving 1G miles of road. (The launch, by the way, my informant thinks, might have been betW built. If a passenger steps forward, he tilt- the screw out of the water, and t'.u- engineer has to call him back. She will have to l>r heavily ballasted in the 1---CIH with >an.l bags.) Experience will phow the pnTgetic head of the Tourist pppartment \. here improvements can be rin.de in thp present conditions, and some of them will practically cost nothirz and give a maximum of convenience. As to the lake itself, it i 9 well worth a visit for those who are sportsmen. My informant ~ays the.trout now run up to ITlbs and over, and have been taken in large quantities.