ON ROADS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 138, 13 June 1934, Page 18

ON ROADS.

AND OTHER THINGS TOO. " Maroera," Waimana, Bay of Plenly. Dear Peter Pan, — I would like to tell you about a little car trip an uncle took a cousin and I for while I was staying in Gisborne. We went to a place called Te Reinga, which is about 26 miles from Wairoa. We did have such fun. The road is not a very interesting one, as the scenery is so plain and little varied, but it had its points of interests all the same. I do love roads, don't you? There arc all sorts of roads — busy roads that sound with the murmur of engines all the way. I think I like these least; other roads that are only interesting because they take you somewhere; lonely roads that seem to have just the right number of houses set back from them, and where most of the houses have a garden and stand on slopes where the garden colour scheme is such a pleasure to the traveller's sight. Then there are the sort of roads that seem to take you further and further away from civilisation (there are not many of these left now), where wild things flee and dart and water rumbles and splashes in far-away ravines. And, oh, there are many, many more, but all the time I am drawing myself further away from the road to Wairoa. One steep incline on the way was a hill—Gentle Annie —and from this we obtained a marvellous view of the wide Poverty Bay flats. You could see the blue curve of the bay and the white cliffs that stand out at Young Nick's Head. At another place, miles further towards our destination, there was a whole face of a hill slipped away. This was done during the bad Wairoa earthquake, and they said a big boulder came down among the landslide. With one shake it landed in the centre of the road, but with another it bounced out, and the heave was so sudden it left a huge hole in the road. Our cousin had a photo of the rock. A boy was on horseback beside it, and the top of his head was only level with the top of the boulder!

We did see a lot of goats, mostly white ones, but some which were black and white. We were very pleased when we arrived at our destination—a sheep farm. The surroundings were unfamiliar to both Joan and I, but we were not long in becoming acquainted with things. Out in a shed were four little hound pups. They all walked one after another, with their big ears wagging, and they did look so comical.

This station was called Pohatu-roa, which means long rock, and it is so named from a wide belt of rock which runs around the top of the ranges opposite the homestead. This rock follows the hills most of the distance towards Wairoa, where it gradually becomes narrower, but where it runs the opposite way for miles it grows wider and keeps a fairly even width all round. I think it is altogether 20 miles long—the formation is really very unusual. One night we drove into Wairoa to the pictures. Seventy-six miles to pictures! What will some of our city Budgctites say? I had never been so far to pictures myself before. On the way we crossed over a bridge, and when we showed the car lights on to it you could see a lot of names written all over the railing. Among them, standing out quite ■ distinctly, was my father's. It had been up there since he was a boy, and I can remember how he has told us the story of putting it there. We drove round some streets in Wairoa, and it was lovely to see the lights reflecting in bright pools on the surface of the deep, tranquil river. There are a lot of cabbage trees standing along the river's edge. Their leaves were clacking in the night wind as we passed over the. big bridge. This is all I have time to tell you about our trip, which was quite an adventure for both of us. Yours sincerely, Bathia Luttrell.