LONELY TRACKS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 29, 3 February 1934, Page 7

LONELY TRACKS.

SOUTH ISLAND TOUR.

LADY VISITORS DELIGHTED.

PRAISE AND A WARNING.

Nearly six. weeks spent in the less accessible ,parts of tho South Island, mostly in walking along tracks and roads still' unbeaten by tourists, and camping ,in , huts in mountain valleys, have convinced Miss Pamela Bourne, a young traveller from South Africa, that the soi/thern part of New Zealand is a wonderful country for those who have eyes to see beauty in its wiklness. Her mother, Lady Bourne, who has shared most of her adventures in Southland and Central Otago, has fallen in love with the mountains and forest lands of tho South Island.

Hiss Bourne had her first taste of the South Island at Picton, from which point she travelled down the West Coast to the Haast Pass, mostly on foot, but sometimes on horseback and sometimes by car. She rode part of the way through tho. pass, but considered the road too dangerous to take the horses far. Sending the guide back, she continued on foot until she met her mother near Lake Hawea.

Lady Bourne had travelled down the cast coast of the island by train, and had gone to the Pembroke district to meet her daughter. She walked from Pembroke until she met Miss Bourne on h dusty, lonely road on the wide Hawe.„ flat. Both were tired and wind-blown, and the road back to Pembroke was long and pebbly, but they found much to taik about after several weeks' separation. "Walking in Central Otago is too hot and dry," said Miss Bourne, "but I can tell you we were glad tc Si.e t .cli other again." "SS o Much to See." "We would have liked to stay six months in that wonderful country," said Lady bourne. "There is so much to do and see in the wild, uncivilised part.} of

this island, that anyone with eyes to see could revel in the life for months on end. 1 " Tho travellers stayed at Hawea for a few days, and visited a sheep station, where tliey found much to interest them. But they did not 1-iko Queenstown, their next port of call.

"Wc hated Queenstown," said Miss Bourne. "It is becoming as unbearable as a Swiss lake resort. New Zealanders should beware, and take a lesson from what lias happened to all the best parts of Switzerland. I cannot understand why you try to flood the country with tourists, because as soon as your l>eautifnl resorts become overridden with rich Americans and others they will automatically and surely lose their charm. The very natives seem to change their outlook when they come to depend on tourists for their living. Th'cy become and cheeky."

''We gave the Mayor of Queenstown such a drubbing," added Lady Bourne, "but we did not know he was the Mayor until afterwards. But he took it in very good part."

On the other Land, the danger of swarms of tourists could perhaps be exaggerated, she continued. There was nothing exciting enough for them in New Zealand. This country would never attract those in search of sensation, because there was nothing stupendous in its scenery or "record-breaking" in its attractions. There was, on the other hand, something rarer, something which coiild only be described as faery. Local Ignorance. Both visitors criticised what they called the New Zealander's ignorance of his own country. It was very difficult to secure information about the less-widely-known parts of the Dominion— local knowledge was very restricted. Miss Bourne had been told that she could not explore much of the Ilaast Pass district, but she had found it possible to do much more than she had expected.

Miss Bourne said that elie was afraid that the real New Zealand was fast disappearing. She said that someone who really knew the country and its people should write a book about it before the opportunity was gone. The South Island was rather like pre-war England. • The people here were more settled than they were in Europe to-day, but this contentment and stability were bound to go. Thus it was a great pity that a writer could not be found to crystallise all that was distinctive in New Zealand and New Zealand life.