"MYSTERY HIKES."

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 177, 28 July 1932, Page 10

"MYSTERY HIKES."

INAUGURATION IN AUCKLAND.

RAILWAYS' INTENTION.

TRAMPING CLUBS' CO-OPERATION.

'■ "Mystery hiking" toure, popular in Britain and Australia, will be introduced in.Auckland by the Railway. Department in the near future. Those who decide to go, explained an official in the Railway Department today, will have no- idea whither they are bound. All they will know is the time they are to leave the city and the time they will get back. They are sure that there will • be a good walk ahead; just as far as they'think they are capable of. They will leave the train somewhere, and will rejoin it somewhere else, and they .will have time to get something to eat. A train with firstclass accommodation will take the party to'a certain station. There the trampers would detrain, and, following careful instructions as to times and route will make their way to a point agreed on, there to rejoin the train. "The main idea of these trips," added the railway official, "is to allow those who want it a chance to see something of the bueh and the country." The Railway Department will consult the representatives of the tramping clubs to gain information regarding the best possible itineraries for a one-day trip and other matters relating to equipment and distances. A railway official said to-day that he thought 50 miles would be as far as it would be possible to go by train, and most of the journeys would be shorter than that. The train would leave about 9.o'clock and return about 6 o'clock or 7 o'clock. It had not been arranged yet how the trampers were to be informed of their destination, but it would be kept from them until the last minute. There would be some who for various upasons would not want to tramp, but who would go just for the day's outing. The Department I would arrange, to take them to a. place where it. was .possible., to -have- a -meal.

"All we want is a fine day," he added, "and I think that the success of the project , is assured." ■• Speaking for the Alpine Sports Club, the directing secretary, Mr. W. Laird Thomson, said that he thought that the scheme was a good one, both from the point of view of the tramping clubs and the Railway Department. A train on a Sunday on the northern line would always be welcomed by trampers. _ It would not be necessary to go 50 miles by train, since, in his opinion, the best country for tramping lay in the Waitakere Ranges, the various parts of which could be reached from the stations-be-tween New Lynn and Woodhill.