"WONDROUS WAIKATO"

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 123, 25 May 1923, Page 6 (Supplement)

"WONDROUS WAIKATO"

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FROM MOUNTAIN TO SEA. A VARIED AND PICTURESQUE RIVER.

After his rerent vi-ii to the Waikato T'.iver, the lion T. M. Wiit'urd termed it the "Wondrous Waikato." If to call the Waikato « wondrous river is true when speaking of the lo<vcr portion only, how much m<->rp i- the term applicable when -ye consider the whole ot ihe rner from H<- 30111TP to its mouth. There is a fayi'inating romance about t.ie Waikato. It i« a river of varied association-, interesting legends, weird HiL'hta nnd stirtiini; changes. Far up the eastern ?lupp- vi Kuapehi:, TOOOft above the Fea, two streams push out of the glaoior rrowii. Although separated by loss tlian two niilci-s, tlicv are wonderfully diverse in character.' One of them, the Wanjrnehu, is milky white in colour nud strnnjrly inpreg-nat.Rcl with alum, sulphur and iron. The other, ■which is thn source of the Waikato, in cold nnd clear as crystal. Those two rivers, niter descending the steep mountain side in a nueceesion of magnificent cascades, run Bide by side for n distance of nine or -ten miles, when the Wanpaehu turns south and finds its way to the sea a fen- miles below the Wnnganui, -n-hile the Waikato tunu north, and after a lonjr and devious course reaches the ocean south of the After parting company with the Wongaehu the Waikato flow's through a wild and romantic country. l'n.s.-ing the smoking cone of Xgaurulioe and skirting tho rugged mass of Tonyariro, it qrosscs the Rangipo tahlehmd. anfl enters the dense forest at the foot of the Kaimanawa mountains. It is now a rapid mountain torrent, rushing over rooks and boulders in many a foaming cascade, a typicnl trout stream. GainIng volume by many a noisy tributary from the rugged slopes of the mountains, it comes out into the. open and receives the overflow from Roto-aira, a small lake on its left, and passing round the edge of the Pihanga mountain enters Lake Taupo at Tokaanu, famous for ite numerous hot springs and baths. AN INiLAN© SEA. And now we are faMy launched on this magnificent sheet of lvater, the largest lake in New Zealand, Taupo Moana, an inland sea. Twenty-five miles long by sixteen miles wide and twelve hundred feet above sea level, of wonderful purity and immense depth. Three hundred square miles of fresh

•water, a reservoir sufficient to serve all New Zealand for ages to come. A shoTt distance to the -west of Tokaanu is the native village of Waihi with its pretty waterfall, like a veil of gauze, falling over a high cliff and losing itself in spray among the trees half way down. It -was here that in 1846 the high hill at the back, boiled soft by hundreds of steam jets, came down in an avalanche of mud and buried the great Te Heuheu and all his tribe. He seems to have been a man of remarkable physique and prowess, and looked up to by his people as a demigod. The following is a verse from the lament composed by his brother Iwaikau, and is a fine sample of Maori poetry: See o'er the heights of dark Tauhara*s mount The Infant morning wakes. Perhaps mi friend Returns to mc, clothed In that lightsom. cloud! Alas! I toil alone In this lone world. Yes. Thou art gone! Go, thoTrv mighty! go, thou dignified! Go, thou who wert a spreading tree to 6liade Thy people when evil hovered round! And what strange God has caused so dread a death, To thee and thy companions. So thou art fallen, and the earth receives Thee as its prey! liut thy wondrous fame Shall soar on high, resounding o'er the heavens. THE TANIW'HAS OF TiAiCPO. I Keeping to the western shore, we Boon come to the famous Karangahape cliffs; a dizzy precipice over 800 ft high rising sheer from the water, which is 500 ft deep and forming the southern headland to the great Western Bay. It is here the dreaded taniwha "lloromatangi" lives and watches for the unwary I mariner, lashing the lake into foaming j (billows and making short work of the'i carioe. If you look up, at the very top i of the great cliff, you will see two blocks of stone bearing some rude resemblance to animals. These are two sacred dogs turned to stone, and should anyone be bold enough to mock at them or offer them insult, the taniwha rise 3 from his hiding place, lifts a huge rock in hi 3 claw and dashes the illfated canoe to atoms. Some people say this monster inhabits a dark cave on the steep fide of Moto Taika. a small island near the centre of the lake, but I think they are mistaken, or perhaps there are two taniwhas. I tried when I was camping in the neighbourhood to get some description of this monster first hand, trot failed. The nearest approach 1 could get to it was from a Maori who knew another who had seen it. His description was rather vague. It was J very large and dreadful looking and l ■11 red. ° | There is some fine scenery round the »__£_. Bay ' Wl,ieh °P ens out here in I sweep backed by. a high table-1, 8 ** a B -*-**<wi-n-o_ fine water . I _

! fall . Tin l Waihaha is perhaps the j finest. It does not seem so much to fall over as to tear and writhe in agony, leaping and plunging hither and thither, altering its form every second with horrible din of crashing and tearing as though whole forests were being shattered with hurricane force; a j noise which may be heard some | miles away. It comes rushing j through a narrow cleft in the rock disappearing down a steep corkscrewlike crevice, through whch it hisses and boils, emerging below a mass of tortured water, to make the final leap. It is evidently this narrow tortuous channel . which gives the fall its strange character, as the water gets jammed and dashes out in spurts and billows in a most eccentric fashion. NEW ZEALAND'S INLAND SEA. The cliffs arc mostly bare, but at one point we see a high bluff covered from tlie water's edge to the summit, wherever they can find a footing, with I magnificent birch trees. With its hand- i somely marked trunk and cedar-like foil- I age, it seems the very tree to suit the rugged scenery, and we can almost fancy we see the summit crowned with | that "craggy keep"'—■ "Which, like an eagle's nest, I'ercbed on a rock's basaltic crest, And girdled with the shaggy pine, That robes the nigsed Apennlne. Seemed in its awful site and form, A fitting trade for the storm." 1 Lake Taupo is by far the largest lake in New Zealand, receiving the drainage of an extensive watershed. To be oiit on the lake wlien the wind is still, and the clouds are reflected in its shining surface, and the noble forms of the great volcanoes loom through t-Oe haze in the south, is a delightful experience and when tho water is lashed to fury by a N.K. gale, and the waves are dashing in clouds of spray on the frowning cliffs or breaking in thundering billows no the pebblj- beaches, you pity tlie helpless occupants of a canoe caught in the gale, and realise that it does not need a mythical monster, to account for wrecked boats and drowned seamen. There is no doubt about the volcanic origin of Lake Taupo. It presents all tie appearances of a huge crater. Its rocky sides still torn and scarred by earthquake shocks, its shores strewn for scores of miles with pumice. One's thoughts go back to the time when this great "rift" was formed, when explosion after explosion convulsed the air, when clouds of hot pumice obscured the sky, and the island was shaken from end to end. .The Waikato, after gaining volume through the numerous rivers (lowing into Lake Taupo, leaves the lake at Tapu-wae-haruru, a full-fledged river, flowing deep and still for a space, and then commencing its giddy course to th? sea. Hemmed in by steep rocky banks and fern-clad hills it foams and* dashes with many a rapid and whirlpool.

HTJKA FALLS AND ARATIATIA. The Huka Falls, four miles down, is one of the finest sights in the North 1 Island. It is not so much tlie height of the fall nor the volume of water, altnough both are considerable, which makes it unique, but the distance it shoots out from the edge of the rock. The water, pent up in a steep narrow channel for several hundred feet, shoots ont at the end with tremendous impetus, a glittering mass of snow-white foam and gleams of lovely opal, the sombre tints of the rocks and strange forms of the water-worn pumice hills which form its setting, bring out the brilliant colouring in a remarkable manner. Perhaps the finer view is the side one, where the wide curve of the leap is seen to its fullest extent, and the water takes the form of a segment of a huge crystal wheel revolving. Let us now clamber down the rocky wall and make our way carefully along the water's edge until we reach the fall. Here, by making a dash in a cloud of spray from one fallen rock 'to another, it is possible to get right behind the falling water and enter a cave all festooned by ferns and creepers. It is an eerie experience to stand in this cave, lit up, as it is, by the elfish light coming through the water-screen, while your ears are deafened and tlie very rock you stand on trembles with the thunder of the fall. The famous Wairakei stream enters the river near here. It is quite hot when i it reaches the river, and we can enjoy a i good soaking and then let ourselves go I and the current will carry us right into j tlie chilly waters of the Waikato. A j few miles further down another magnifijcent eight awaits us. The Aratiatia ; rapids, where the river falls 150 ft in ■less than half a mile. The formation or the rocky strata here is very peculiar. A series of dykes or ridges of hard rock run at right angles to the river. Tlie water has worn a narrow channel through these in a series of lovely cascades, while between it pauses and eddies in deep wide bays. The track follows the river until you find yourself hemmed in by high rocks and tall manuka; you 'hear the river roaring, but cannot see it, until suddenly, between two high rocks, you catch a glimpse of gleaming water and dashing spray rushing past at ligiuning speed, past dark cliff's and picturesque islands crowned with tall manuka, the pendant branches hoary with trailing moss, while in 'the deep bays the water heaves and eddies, sporting with branches of trees and broken canoes, which are for ever trying to escape and for ever swept back again by the eddying waves. In other places you get a view looking up and see the river dashing through a Toeky gateway and. spreading out into a broad expanse of curling and whirling water and then gathering again for another mighty rush

over fh" rocks at your feet, and everywhere the exquisite colour. It seems the property of water running from deep lakes to take on that wonderful blue. The reflections from the dark grey rocks, the green and gold of the sunlight foliage, and the azure of the sky above combine with the turquoise blue and dazzling foam of the water to make a combination of .brilliant colouring which j is in startling contrast to tho sombre background. FROM EAST TO WEST. The river so far has been taking an | easterly course, but at Ohaki, where the i I Waiotapu stream joins, it turns to the I w _ s ." lfc is sa - (l -y geologists that the ' Waikato at one remote time continued its easterly course, and, finding its wav ■ through the Hot Lake district,' followed i the course of the Tarawcra River to the j Ray of Plenty. A large group of hot ' j springs fringe the river at Ohaki. : j And soon we come to what is certainly j i the most weird, romantic, and beautiful I j snot on the whole river, Orakei Korako. j Whakarewarewa has its geysers and boil-! 'ing mud. Ohinemutu its baths and its | | soda springs. Tikitcre its horrors and its smells, but Orakei Korako has them ail j combined, and, in addition, the pictur- i esque scenery of the river, with its little j wooded islets, its foaming rapids, its j steep, rugged banks, nnd its Alum Cave.! The cave is quite a natural wonder, as i unique as it is beautiful. Hidden from ! sight by tbe vegetation on the river's J bank, its mouth concealed 'by the fronds of tree ferns, it comes as a surprise to ' the visitor. A small lake of hot water, saturated with alum, fills the bottom, the steam condensing on the roof and sides leaves a deposit of pure alum. The eve is charmed with the play of colour, ranging from the dark grey at the entrance through a great variety of brightening tints to the pure white of the rocks at the bottom, and when tbe sun shines through the leaves and lights up the interior with fairy-like tints of gold and green the scene is one of enchanting beauty. Ten miles below Orakei Korako we come to Atiamuri. another wonderful spot. The river here is spanned by a fine bridge, where the coach road to Cambridge crosses. Standing on the bridge, and looking up, we get a view of some more fine rapids, and right in the middle of the foaming water some pointed rocks stand out. These are the fingers of a famous Maori maiden who. to escape the attentions of a distasteful lover, threw herself into the river, and there she lies to this day, changed into stone. Do we not see her fingers sticking out of the water? Tlie river here, after running between high, rocky banks for many miles, comes out into open country. The plain on the south side is strewn with immense boulders, while rising abruptly from the level croimd is the noble form

of a great cone or rock, Pohatu Roa, | 500 ft high. j Tlie country the Waikato now I traverses is wild and barren, until it I reaches the lofty bush-covered range of Maungatautari. round the base of which it foams and dashes, and so on to the Horahora.Falls, now harnessed to supply power for the Waihi gold mines. IN NAVIGABLE WATERS. And then the character of this noble stream changes. What was a great mountain torrent, impossible for tlie ■ boldest canoeist to negotiate, now be- j comes a wide, deep river, till at Cambridge steam and sailing craft come and go unhindered. Yet although the river | has lost its wild, turbulent nature, and no longer boils and surges over rugged rocks, yet, like the winner of a race, whose breast still heaves and whose heart still palpitates from his violent exertion, it still (lows in restless eddies and little whirlpools, making it dangerous for the swimmer to venture far from ' shore. At Ngaruawahia the Waikato is augmented by the waters of the Waipa, a ; river very different in character to the larger stream, for whereas the Waikato falls 1100 ft in its journey from Lake Taupo, the Waipa has so little fall that before tlie übiquitous -willow had choked up the streams barges were taken up past Hangitika. Ngaruawahia is one of the prettiest places on the river. It was here that that famous tohunga Kiki lived. His wizardy was so powerful he dared not go abroad; his shadow withered up anything it fell upon. He had a whare overlooking the two rivers, and if his enemies came down the Waikato in their canoes he opened the door, and. when the canoe passed the occupants would shrivel up and die. If they came down the Waipa he opened the window shutter, and the same thing happened. He became the terror of the neighbourhood until he met his match in Tamare, a rival priest, who cunningly smuggled I some bewitched food into his "whare, and Kiki, partaking of it, died of a bad'pain lin his inside. I And so we must leave this marvellous ! river to run its destined course to its ' ocean parent. Civilisation has so changed the aspect of the surroundings of the ! lower part of it that it is hard to realise what it was like 'before the European's arrival. Yet imagination goes back to that early time when a numerous Maori population peopled the shores and hapus, and fortified pas occupied every vantage point; when native plantations were cultivated with painful toil, and guarded night and day with jealous care: when dusky warriors, intent on some midnight raid or mission of revenge, trod the warpath, or on the river were seen ~reat War canoes, | Tearing through the tortured water. With elated warriors freljrhte-d. I All in quest of vengeful slaughter. I