MOUNT COOK.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13011, 13 January 1908, Page 9

MOUNT COOK.

. 4 "- A LADY'S IMPRESSIONS.

. Christchurch lady who returned ' «H»m Mourn- Cook on Saturday, in con--•Wrsatioa with a representative ot "iho was asked whether sho had •_uoTcd her trip. ''Enjoy iti"" she Svd'in future intend gout*; down loi "«BK>nth each summer. We had oniy o ur room at the hotel lor oue "lredK DUt v,e sta ->' o<l lor tu re«. an - 1 :*Li&gons to come away. We rode out Since to the -Uali-o lirun hut, and laired there as long as we could each fs£e- but, of course, aa the hut is SsSber stna-il wo had to make way for T_heT viaitors; otherwise we would h«ve _»ved longer. the meals at thes© huts _% simply wonderful, and are ail cook--1 Li bribe four guides, who really should be called "i'ooh bahs," for the t'oilow- .-' w are some of the jobs they do, and *'_» *ell, iv addition to their actual ''- Riding work. Firstly, of course, t'he ' -flvking; then they have to carry on ' t t, e j r backs the belongings of their charges, and now and tuen they have 'to carry them, too, lor ladies unaccustomed to walking sometimes get blistered feet ami break down, through uot ijroriding themselves with proper tpot«. Besides this, thoy havo to shoe - {ha pack horses, repair boots, chop -,-ood, take snapshots of people who tfjsh to pose, go bito flooded rivers on ktreeback to find fords for tourists, talk -ecology ** tnß geologists, botany to the ■ botanists, aud so on. They work from -?. dayligbi to dark—Sundays, too, very ? Jten i a° d » n s P ite °* e vel TthihE soe«n *-to be Cheerful all the tiiile, although ~'\. I believe tho Government don't pay '£ thm very much. Graham, tho head "cuide, stands 6ft 3in in his stockings, ■»nd is a wonder; he has to work just tho rest, and in addition organises -revert expedition and deddes whether " the weather conditions are favourable, ; ' and bo ou—in fact, ho is responsible "for the lives of tho visitors, and no '." tourist Under his charge haa ever come ' to i?rief vet. - The Hermitage Hotel itself is rather a rambling old place, but is spotlessly clean.-the McDonald family—fathei, mother, two girls, ahd one son—run the whole place by themselves, and they hare no sinecure. They aro all up at 5 every niorhing, and thoy work like slaves until 9 or 10 at night. With forty people to look after you can sco what a timo they had. 1 often went out myself and rolled butter and did other little things for them because I felt so Borrv for them, : they are just being worked to death. ■ The bedrooms are spotlessly clean, although they do all their own washing, besides baking their own bread, killing their own meat, sledging their own firewood in from the bush, milking, and to ou. How the McDonalds keep ■on doing it all tho summer I don't know, and they never once said a word about joining the Domestic Workers' Union. Can I give you any hinte for ladies who think of going up to Mount Cook? Well, firstly, of course, comes tho important question of the comsee, tho glare of the snowis father" bad for sunburn unless you ' take caro, The best thing is to take nn a pot ol haieline and sorflO blue nun's veiling, and then it is all right. As far as dress is concerned, I think yon should havo sent round a lady reporter; however, I wote a short skirt, with puttees, and hobnailed boots, and « blouse that the Bun won't burn through. Lastly, and this w the most important thing of all, people going' nn must engage th_f rotjni at least - three or four weeks beforehand, as the hotel is small." •'____-