"THE GREAT ROUND TRIP."

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 51, 28 February 1906, Page 3

"THE GREAT ROUND TRIP."

(YA niANGU AND THE HOT LAKES. £ E£CENT impression, ;(By C.E.W.I I suppose everyone who goes holiday- ,'• Tto Rotorua has ''done" the fania round trip, and, after the manner ?£ tourist, haU of the sightseers of Tnmmitied their sense of awe and KaT to cold type? Affected by the r«ilin_ fashion. I intend recording teuresaions, my excuse being that it SlTa record, not of the guide-book a but of an observant individual S wave but a small amount of attenu to the learned geological explana-U-°n= freely furnished by everyone, pre--110 n7General rather than a minute the grand spectacle. "Grand h" is a fairly appropriate designation. fi. is so much to see, even with Wai|X *„«. auiescent. that the day's trip rSes a succession of interesting Krfcs which would Lie better appreci|Sd wre they spread over two c.xc.r-

We'mnde the trip via Waimangu. rev, rnin a via Wairoa, as the hill-climbing S aid to be trying tl.i* way. No Lbt this is right, bul (i considerable mint of stiff travelling cannot be I'vlideil We ordered breakfast for 7.30 " and the coach for 8 o'clock. Break- ,!' t " h ac i scarcely started before the. trident driver's whistle announced his arrival. The meal is duly gone through to whistle accompaniment, and after a 'hurried search for indispensable things provokingly in the wrong place, we start L our 17-mile drive to VS aunangu. Without a lively, fraternising party this i_ive is - ot a success ' but Ull der good UodiHons the journey (which is not Without its picturesque points) passes 'irtasantly, especially as the excellent te am sent out by the Rotorua Motor 'taching Company makes light work of Fiiteen miles out. when the last tall ! T arn has been told by the "Washington" of the party, we see a. change in the landscape. Quiet greens give place to a vivid coppery tint, which covers the labouring hills. Their appearance is Irery much like gigantic tents of striped 'material. Closer observation discloses the fact that the stripes are clean-cut ravines, formed through the rain washing away the thick deposits of ash. Beautiful clusters of toi-toi grass grow ever the ash-covered hills, and at a distance the uninitiated might think the country was neatly plautcd with tall (lowering shrubs in rows. Behind this strange collection of striped hills looms the black bulk of Mount Tarawera, disielosmi» a tremendous rift towards the top, which gives the party some idea of 'the awful forces let loose on that fateful night in June, 1880. Between us and i Tarawera, forming a well-defined line, ate a series of ravines. It seems as if a railway contractor had been making earthwork experiments on a big scale, leaving off without quite completing anything. What a pleasant change, to turn from this stretch of desolation to the bright, well-arranged accommodation house which the Government has provided on a precipitous hill overlooking (the most active part of the thermal

.region. I Bob Ingle, the guide, greets us with

a bluff "Good morning." and his wife brings out large cups of tea, which we

aftcnrarijs remember gratefully as we jioil.ampng volcanic craters, leilecling ftte'glih of summer's sun. A slight shock of earthquake (attributed by the incredulous to the heavy-weight of the party) appropriately occurs as we com■mcnce our journey to the hot lake. ''Bob,'' who heads the party, carries our precious lunch basket, and is envied for the case with which he strides among loose, boulders and brittle volcanic ash. He also commands respect, because of his familiarity with weird and terrifying sights which we pass. On ''Frying Pan Hat" Bob delivers a lecture on' volcanic jaction, which straightway makes us beilieve we have the whole seismatic theory at our finger-ends.

"Bob" believes that the great ice age is a fiction, or at any rate that ice never did half the shaping of this earth it Is ■ credited with. He has a ready answer for every question, and it is not difficult Ito realise that the gigantic mysterious •forces exhibiting their energy tinder our very feet were capable of anything. We walk quickly over the frying-pan I flat, where hot water spurts up from the sand in innumerable jets, reminding us of boiling dripping. 'Then we halt in a narrow track, close to a cavern whence come volumes of steam with a tig roar. "Bob's" voice manages to make itself heard, and his calm explanations go on.

"See here" (we respectfully draw back [and watch the end of the guide's walk-jing-stick). "This is how volcanoes are formed." Bob proceeds to viciously prod the sand, and when the stick comes out a blower of steam from the hole sends up a shower of small stones. I ward from other parties that Bob does ||ne same thing every trip. He seems to Mre tamed one steam jet at any rate, l™t he has taken on another contract •which will not be so easy. I the great crater of Wainiangu, which ■«sed to provide an unequalled spectacle •*«n it sent a mounts- of mnd and (Wiling water a thousand feet into the *».» now merely a muddy lake. Its at «'s do not even steam, vet Bob %aks hopefully of starting the geyser J ain ' Pointing t 0 one corner, where ,le discolouration is more noticeable, !L S Jf y ? tllilt thi s indicates a throat " ca is not quite choked with sand. 'JS"? d t,lose associated with him in the wonders of this region, *»ow that the boiling lake called the . wino is connected with Wainiangu p 1 "; The latter is now choked with JJont oO feet of sand. They believe deal WalPr '" tlle Infern ° i s »"<*- niy raised, the increased pressure will Jsn."2 U!thin S "'S°- ! ' - They hope it !\r, K u. Sliicl <! Bteam P,I °US"-'' explained the shirt h, tIIPVC is so n ™ ch sand t0 don • What we T,,ou^ll t could be W" will take as many f or ' I this article was written be--Ij,e " eW Waij " all S: u obligingly took Si P «i P i!" ,meni out of Tourist Depart■W* officials' hands. ro„mr Ugh Walm angu is quiet, its surare still startlingly lively. j B Place is oppressively hot. and when *vainl aYe climbed the hill overlooking 6tanT ngU " WUere tilP old shelter hut fnern i efeelqUiteaSTVam as ai,v of Uoh l n T, hleh we have Passed en route. us -!: lls ' S P ell oli" at the top, gives 'and 1 ,S explanations, down commenc e to walk and slip l»na w preci P itoUS tra ck to Rotornaand' 'a ■ U ' ire , anot fler guide takes charge, a suwo • 011 launch hurr ies us past tour n l S1 ° n ° f st€amin S cliffs - "Here » feotTr la R- n, , Ctor % iS a ° Cresting *er_ « .■ k -^ v ledge of the TaraXL ptlon comes first bis m * fflu st fcave been actjured latter.

Rere's explanations are brief but informing :"\La-dees and gentle-men. Listen! Bee this! Tara-wera crater— three mile long, quarter mile broad. See these duck? We are now close to a cliff from the base of which gurgles a steaming spring.) "These duck, ladies," continues Here, "they lay hard-boiled egg!" This is Here's exclusive joke. Let nobody rob him of his only funnyism. With launches on Lake Rotomahana and Lake Tarawera, the journey is now exceedingly easy and expeditious. The level of Lake Tarawera dropped 11 feet about a year ago, but nothing was exposed save the whitened tops of trees which flourished on the lake shore before the eruption. Grand views are obtained on the lakes, and there is the unique experience of passing over boiling water. Throughout the rouud trip are evidences of the Governjtnent's fostering care. Not long ago the tourist landing at Wairoa had to face a stiff and lengthy grade before the level of the buried village was reached. Now we ascend an even graded track leading to a new road, where the coaches await us. It is a pity that we cannot spend a whole day in Wairoa. The district is picturesque and of great interest apart from the sad relics of the eruption. We would have liked to linger near the mud-covered ruins, but hurried through because the guide had to keep his time-table, and the coachmen wanted to keep theirs.

It -would be a good plan if tourists acted unanimously, and refused to be rushed past interesting sights which some of them have come from the ends of the earth to see. The few of our party who only cared to glance at the sights accompanied the guide throughout, but we who lingered a. little heard nothing. When we arrived in Rotorua over an hour before dark we regretted that we had not spent that hour of daylight in Wairoa. Though we gave Wairoa hut a passing glance, we saw in the course of a day such a succession of wonderful sights that the trip will provide recollections for a lifetime.