GISBORNE TO ROTORUA ON FOOT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 36, 10 February 1917, Page 13

GISBORNE TO ROTORUA ON FOOT.

(By WM. MANSON.)

The beauties of New Zealand scenery f, lave been described in lecture and in r book. Countless -travellers have sounded j New Zealand's praise in all corners of t ■the earth, and Rudyard Kipling has g immortalised it' in the passage, -< Last, t loneliest, loveliest, exquisite, apart." All fl that travellers say is 'true, but men that b follow the beaten , , track and rus'li hither v and thither in motor ears see only the t fringe of New Zealand's beauty; to them the heart of the fcush, the rippling, rush- t ing, roaring waters of the mountain t stream, the great solemn silence of the c calm night in some unexplored fern i glade, and the awe-inspiring swish and i orack of the bush giante in a gale is a a closed book. [ To walk from Gisborne to Rotorua is i a fair journey, but one that will repay ( those who follow the trail. Let us de- ' scribe it. Leaving Gisborne in the early: t morning, we soon pass Putatahi, rich f ■with memories of the ea-rly strife be- c tween the pioneers and the Maori war- I Tiors; where brave men of both races 1 spilled their Wood to settle differences ' that to-day are settled in the office of c some dyspeptic land agent. We climbed ' ] the "Gentle Annie" and passed through I' the smiling country surrounding Wai-rangi-o-kuri. From this point to the s banks of the Rukituri River, forty miles ' further on, the road passes through a succession of sheep farms, where the ' sheep, 'with their "golden" fleeces, hold undisputed sway on the steep hillsides ' and in the narrow valleys. From Wai- j rangi-o-kuri. the main Toad is followed until the "woolshed" ia reached—those who follow the bye-ways must pick the ' trail by landmarks such ac "the track on the north side of the hollow tree," since two days may pass away without , the opportunity of sec-uring information —where we turn to the right and then ' to the left and follow the road to Hang- ! aroa, thirty miles out. ', We climbed and descended, ac the road wound about between the hills, and ! finally reached the Hangaroa Valley, a valley of beauty and reet-dotted with ' green fields among the trees, cooled by j the river and encircled with hills. Across the river the road is cut around the ' face of a hill, and the next ten miles is a steady pull upwards. The tack is \ made light by the bracing air, and our < energy ie rewarded by the panorama i below. True, the hills and gorges are horn of the trees, but thie enables us p ccc clearfy the rugged nature of the country and intensifies the bea/uty of the forty miles of bush to be traversed later. Forty miles out from Gisborne, the road becomes a. bridle track, and those who begrudge tie "backbloeker" good prices for hie wool or mutton or beef, should try to walk along this bridle track after a night of rain. Originally six feet wide, cut along the face of a hill, witih a cheer drop of hundreds- of feet should you slip, the track, as we crossed it, was in many .places completely covered with landslides, and at times, each etep necessitated a dead pull of sis or nine inches to free our feet from the mud. Picture yourself packing the winter supplies over such roads. To the casual traveller, however, this inconvenience is compensated by the cense of freedom and joy ofliv ing. ae -he gazes over the miles of rugged ihill tops. The rough life, and the constant fisfot with Nature in these lonely wilds seems to give men kind hearts. Should we ever grow old, so that some scenes of youth may be forgotten, our memory will always retain a pleasing picture of the hospitality shown us, complete strangers, by tnese men and women who live in "wayback." We forded the Rukituri River on horseback, tlhroug-h the kindness of one of the settlers in lending us horses, and shortly after entered the twenty mile bush leading to Lake Waikaremoana. The track through the bush is rarely used, and in places we lhad to climb over fallen trees, and push aside the undergrowth to get along, but the joy of it! Nature in all her wild beauty, clad in every ehade of grgeen, giant rimus raising their heads above us, around and about us great nikaus and cabbage trees spread their fronds in bold relief against tie darker green of the shrubs For twenty miles we had the hush for company, passing waterfalls, crossing streams now at some fairy shaded bend of the track where two hills join, then standing on the face of a hill lookin* down, down the tree-clad gorges, where monster trees appeared as saplings. Suddenly the track turns sharply to the left ac it rounds a hill, and we almost miss a glimpse of Lake Waikaremoana ten miles away. It is framed between two dead trees, and glitters in the sun haze like a sheet of gold. And so it is—every turn brings forth some new wonder until exclamations fail, and we gaze at Nature's handiwork in silent admiration As w near the lake we pass through a clearing which is completely shut in by hUls except for the entrance and outlet Surely in the ages gone by this has been the bed of a lake, which has broken its walls and emptied itself into Waikaremoana; the thought that it may suddenly fill oppresses, and.we are pleased when we leave it. Shortly afterwards we efirike the bank of a "still river"—«till because of its depth—and a quarter of a mile further on we ccc this huge body of water pouring through a narrow channel and over the rocks as over some ponderous lockgate. Then—the lake—we stepped from the bush to view a paradise. The setting eun streamed its rays across the bosom of the motionless lake, the evening's haze dimmed the outline of the trees, and their blurred reflection in the water gave us the impression of peering into° unfathomable depths. Would that a Scott could see this lake, and give a word picture of its magnificence. We have crossed Taupo, Rotorua, Tarawera, Rotoiti, and others; we have passed Rootira in the distance; but for wild magnificent splendour Waikaremoana excels. We crossed the lake and entered on what proved to be the most exciting part of the.trip. The bush which we were now about to traverae lies at the mouth of the Hopurauhine Stream, and is in the heart of the Urewera Country, the least explored pnrt of New Zealand. We struck the track on the right bank, after dodging into the stream to pass some wild cattle, and were reminded of the passage in the "Lady of the Lake": — " 'Twas oft so steep, the foot was fain Assistance from the band to gain; So tangled oft, that, bursting through. Each hawthorn shed her showers of dew." And so we walked. The track lei into the bush till, doubling hack, we came again on the Hopurauhine Stream five miles from its mouth. Here the track disappeared, and we -were compelled to follow the bed of the stream for a distance of two miles, at times wading waist deep in its rushing waters, swollen by the recent raine. The interest in thisj

pan ot tne journey was well maintained through, the necessity of chafing and dodging the wild cattle which roam by the water. That night our camp was pitched in the bush. Give your romantic fancy fullest play, and still you will fail to picture the scene. Four nuge trees, like giant sentinels, formed a square about our tent, the dying light of day faintly pierced , the dense bush anj kissed the ferns a last good-night; the moon's bright rays touched and increased tiie Hie of the dashing water as it sped on ito way to the lake; then night came, in that solemn, sudden way it hae iv the bush; the camp fire spluttered and burst into name, deepening the darkness and giving birth to thousands of fantastic shadows, which nit thie way and that way a≤ the llames command. In the morning mountain mists envelop the tree-tops in a mantle of grey, and as the track rises higher and higher we experience the penetrating nature of the mist. A portiou of the track, about ten miles from the lake, is dangerous; it lies along the face of a hill composed of soft papa rock, and is not more than twelve inches wide, with a sheer slip of hundreds of feet into a miniature waterfall. By this time, however, the nerves are well braced, and the track is crossed without fear. Soon we reached the Maori village of Wihiti, leaving the track to Maungapohatu, Rua's headquarters, on the right. From the lake to Ruatahuna is twenty miles, all through scenery of the greatest grandeur. From Ruatahuna a motor ■ road runs right through to Rotorua, paesj ing Te Whaiti and Galatea on the way. ' Between Ruatahuna and Te Whaiti the scenery is very pretty and varied, as the road rises from the valley to the hill tops. At these latter places the Maori may be seen in all his native simplicity. We desire to pay him a tribute —we found him most hospitable and courteous and anxious for our welfare along the lonely road. Galatea is the next point on the jou»ney, and the pedestrian would do well to fill the water bottle at the Rangitaiki River as he goes through, since the next twenty miles, across the Kaingaroa Plains and past the Government prison camp, is practically waterless. This part of the road is like the crow's flightstraight—so straight that it seems endr less. There is no ehelter on it, and the only thing to be seen is acres of etuntei ti-tree and small pines marking out & mighty forest for the future. Before striking the Waiotapu-Rotorua Road the traveller will pass some interesting thermal deposits and will also secure a good view of Rainbow Mountain. The scenery on the Rotorua Road is well known, bofl the road itself has a special interest fou those who walk it—we refer to the end" less amusement one gets in clearing thg sand out of the iboots and eyes. -a