BLUE MOUNTAINS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 221, 18 September 1942, Page 2

BLUE MOUNTAINS

AIRMEN IN NATAL

CRAGS OF THE DRAKENBERG

(By J.C.)

A party of young Fleet Air Arm sub-lieutenants found themselves for some time at Durban, East Africa. One of them has written home to New Zealand describing a wonderful mountain expedition into the interior <>f Natal. where the great craggy wall of the Drakenberg rises. The parly hired a bit; car and they set out. for the blue mountains, which rise like v<iils behind Durban town. The followfrig account is condensed from the New Zealander's letter home.— "We climbed swiftly out of the city view and swooped along ridge-; which fell away to rolling, cultivated valleys on the south and on the north fell steeply, with uncountable gu I leys, into a great rift—the I'mgeni Valley, containing the Zulu reservations. Fifty-six miles of road brought us to i'ictermaritzburg. a moderatesized town. We climbed a scarp to the high plateau which constitutes much of Natal. We had lunch at a hotel situated on a hill from which over long vistas of gently rolling grassy uplands, one could see a long range of blue peaks—ah! Mountain Hotel "Although we lunched at this hotel lin '. v . ' .night as well describe it., as it was tvpical of all three at which Ul ' called. The building was completely modern, in white cement, with large areas of glass and an open design, so that one might hardly say which was loggia and which room We ate by windows from ceiling to floor, on the side facing the far alps Later we learned to call these alps the Berg.

"Another 10 miles we went, then stopped at a small village called Hou ii k Falls; and found that we had by chance come to one of Natal's famous places. Here the I'mgeni River dropped nearly 400 feet into a well-like gorge. Try as I might I could not compass the length of that fall in the camera yiewtinder and had to come away with views of sub-lieutenants clinging to rocks projecting out over most of the 100 leet. and looking into the deep cauldron. Our English friends were impressed.

"'fhen to the hotel for a drink. Soon a mighty conference was in progress. We pulled out our map and said. "See—we thought of going here—' •Well,' said they, 'it's' just like this place; you want to go here— and here. Drive up this road for half an hour then turn off and take the Loteni Road. There's SO miles of it. real rough going, but at the end is a really good hotel, at I'nderberg. and you're in sight of the Berg. Then you can come back by the Bulwer Road, through the L'mkomaas Valley and a big native reserve— with line views all the way.' Generous South Africans "It sounded good, but it was impossible—fuel is rationed here, too. As soon as they realised this, our South African friends got busy. The barkeeper called his wife, told them to bring out all the available coupons. Another said 'I've got some in my car's tank, I'll drain it for you,' and soon came staggering back with a milk churn full of petrol. We poured this in till our car was brim full, then offered the price. He said 'No, you save your money and see the country-—only too glad to help you.' And they were like that, these South Africans, all the week-end. "We drove on. I took a turn at the wheel, and, having been used to the type one coaxes along, scared the lights out of everyone by cornering on mountains at 60 plus, remarking 'You ought to see the Kaikoura.' Now came our turn off, and we were on something like the Rikiorangi (Wellington), minus bush, up and down, gorgeously rutted bald clay. L'p to a pass, and endlessly winding along hillsides; then suddenly we came to the brow. The Drakenberg Walls "On both sides our pass rose to high rounded hills. Ahead lay a tremendous spectacle. A rolling plain, rising as it receded, dotted with isolated flat-topped mountains, cut by terrifying gorges, all in brown, greens and red earth, until in the far distance, 40 miles away, in a sudden change of slope and colour, a deep blue wall of mountains stood—no range of teeth, but a square sheer wall, cut through here and there, and falling away in cascades of pinnacles. A wonderful sight for me, used to standing on peaks; it overcame our Englishmen, used to trim and orderly hedges and fields.

"After a pause we drove down, and became lost in the business of burrowing our way over that vast scene, and for a while were occupied by the details of mountains, valleys, fording rivers, climbs and descents of a mere two or three thousand feet. At times the sentinel peaks passed by above. I noted that these were built of horizontal rock layers, and that where these had survived unworn to a certain height, remnants of a solid granite layer some 500 feet thick gave the peaks a perpendicular mesa top, with fantastic pinnacles and overhangs.

"Late afternoon gave way to twilight. One last view up a broad valley toward our mountains, now fairly hanging over us, and night came on. Our road, fiendish by day, now seemed worse. But at last it cleared the mountains, and after a run over high grasslands, with the outline of our range showing darker over a dark blue night sky, we reached some houses sheltered by pine-tree belts. Underberg.

"Six dusty spectacles were here shown into rooms at the hotel and soon after appeared looking rather more like naval officers. Into the bar, and at once the Underbergians fell upon us. 'We've been crying out for people like you—come around and see us!' and much repetition of 'Have one on me.' Peaks "Hung Overhead" "Next morning out to see the sun come over the Berg. A sudden wall rising in fantastic twisted pinnacles and ridges and great flat tops to a long crest which curved over the horizon north and south, the contours, if you can give these jagged shapes such a name, thrown into relief by the oblique sunlight. Photos right and left, back to the hotel, down to breakfast, into the car and away over the plateau. Peaks which were undistinguished for the hills before now rose up above us. Visible before as grotesque dwarfs at the feet of the main range they now fairly hung overhead. They went up steeply, then vertically. They even blossomed out in great mushroom tops overhanging. The plains grew less and the mountains more, until in a narrow defile at the toes of the range itself we came to the roads and to the hotel. Above this point was a brief last open space, then the scenery shot skyward. "Next day we were back in the town—assets. 108 new photos and wonderful memories."