OLD MAN WAIKATO

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 220, 17 September 1938, Page 2 (Supplement)

OLD MAN WAIKATO

And the river flows •o full and Ires. riE old Waikato flows on from Taupo—the overflowing of the big lake. Some may aay it starts 'way up on the slopes of Ruapehu. Well, it might, too. But the Waikato we are picturing ia the vast outpouring of Taupo.

The old Waikato flows through hills, in roaring cataracts, past towns, through the turbines of Arapuni, watering farm lands until it empties itaelf over the West Coast sand bars into the Tasman and becomes only a drop in the waters that cover the face of the earth. But before it reaches the ocean the river flows to some purpose and fulfils its mission to the countryside.

Bit with a couple of old Maoris and watch it leave Lake Taupo in a great silent volume, slowly at first, but surely making speed. Under a bridge it flows, the first of hundreds of fine camera save*, then by the Spa, where boiling springs add their quota with a weird touch of the supernatural. Into that rocky gorge above the Huka Falls it roars and foams, then bursts forth as from some giant fltiming, throwing up rainbows and spray to water ferns in

From Taupo To

The Tasman

By H. Baulf

(See pictures on front page). the nearby bush. Mere man stand* spellbound by the grandeur m the river jumps down a full hundred feet. A mile or more of sylvan beauty, then over the seven steps of Aratiatia, where it rips and tears and rolls and leaps, tumbling down that rocky stairway. When the river has fought its way down, a great calm follow#. It streams majestically along through the pumice lands, a broadening water highway, fed by numerous rivulets. At the back of Waiotapu, in those hills bored with steam holes and geysers, Orakei Korako is reached, with its wonderful thermal springs and caves. The mountain# narrow the channel, till the river growls aloud and growl* again, lighting its angry way over the Rainbow Falls.

Old Man Waikato tears through Atianutri, rolling over big boulders, eddying into a quiet pool here and there. In flleir- depths trout swim to and fro. Then away it sweeps under the shadows of Tohuturoa, the rocky monolith of Maori legend. Past the timber mills of Ongaroto—now comes the start of man'« interference with Old Man River. Lake

Arapuni ha« l>een formed by the foiled

flowing of the Waikato, dammed by Man's wall of concrete. Man has harnessed the changeable river and it must work for him and his. The tale of those works has been told and retold, so let. us follow the swirl on beyond the turbines. The writer once went under the river with the engineer Sealer, who was conducting investigations a« to the porosity of the rock for the dam site. A weird experience it was. hearing the growling of the river overhead. We fired a shot that almost blew through the thin roof over us. But that's another story. Through Hora Kora the Waikato swirls under the shades of the foothills of Maungatautari. The fin*t town of real consequence is reached—the lovely old pseudo-English settlement of Cam-

bridge. The river sees much of tilled lands and turns little water wheels for

the farmers until it enters The Nar rows, a few miles above Hamilton.

Fine residences of the Waikato elite, with gardens running down to the water'* edge, produce a new beauty. TJie river's waters are churned by steamers working up and down in their business of fceight-carrying. The placid river saunters past the golf links of St. Andrews and on through the old frontier town of Ngaruawahia, with its Maori homes on the banks. There it is joined by the Waipa. Soon it i* under the sacred mountain of Taupiri, the burial place of Maori Kings. Then it cuts through a cleft in the range.

A new phase of life is met at Huntlv. where coal mines empty out their precious material and barges laden with the "black diamonds" tow behind panting little tugs.

Rangiriri is reached; alongside the river is a graveyard of pakcha and Maori warriors who fell in the wars. Willows fringe N the banks; peeping •through the foliage can be seen farm house* and milking sheds; fussy little boats ehng their..way to pick up cream cans and other mercenary cargo. Mercer with its shipbuilding, yard and timber mills is passed. Tuakau is swept by and the lnist. bridge is seen overhead. Now the Waikato widens out and spreads amid a hundred islets. With a big. graceful sweep it flows round the sand hills and empties into the ocean. And the river flows On to tlin son.