HOLIDAY=MAKERS PARADISE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1246, 30 September 1911, Page 14

HOLIDAY=MAKERS PARADISE.

MAULBOIiOTJGII SOUNDS. A DELIGHTFUL RESORT. From tho restlessness of Cook Strait lo tho quiet of Tory Channel is a swift and sudden transition. Tho steamer sweeps at full-speed through the entrance where a swirl of eddying water marks tlio meeting oT tho noisy and the quiet waters. Away to tho left tho vessel swerves sharply ami speeds through this splendid deep-water channel, which leads to Queen Charlotte Sound, or, as it was formerly called, Cook' 3 Cove. Tast To Awaite whaling station, uiul tho oldest settlement in the South Island, wo, who belong to this modern time, are carried. It seouis a'long while, to .look back lo tlio day when (hat cluster of little houses first began to group themselves in the bay which snuggles 111 the shelter of Arapawa Island, and is called Te Awaite. 11l 1527 Captain Guard, in his brig Harriet, was driven by bad weather into Tory Channel, and, being struck by the convenience and goad shelter afforded by the place for whaling purposes, staj-cd there, and esiablished "Tar 'White." Soon it became a large and rather rough place. There was a huge hotel and a large' and mixed population. One of the most remarkable men associated with Captain Guard and with Te Awaite was Mr, Jimmy Jnckson. At that time the whales came fearlessly through Tory Channel, and travelled upSound, feeding on the whale-feed which abounded aud still abounds there, aJid tho whalers pursued and sometimes killed as far up as Picton, and even The Grove. But it was not always safe to go 90 far, becauso of tho uncertain temper of the Maoris, who dwelt in numbers all through Queen Charlotte Sound. Jimmy Jackson on more .than one occasion, by his daring, camo into unpleasantly close touch with the cannibal tendencies of tho Natives, and only oscapod with his beat's ci'oh j becauso 110 had "a way with him" with tho Maoris. Over tho same waters that the modern passenger steamer sails, war-canoes raced and whalers tugged at weary oars, towing tho dead monsters 20 miles or more to Te Awaite. And it wasn't so very long ago, cither. A son of Mr. Jimmy Jackson, Mr. Tom Jackson, is still whaling at JCaikoura, and a grandson of Mr. Workman, who kept the big hotel at Te Awaite, now keeps tho Commercial Hotel at Kuikoura. So that the;change from semi-savagery to present civilisation has been made in a little over one generation. In the Sounds, Tho best, view of Queen Charlotte Sound is had when tho steamer turns from Tory Channel into tho sound. Then can be seen the wide straight entrance stretching away to the north-ivcst with Blumino and Long Islands to divide tho way and ssnd tho steamers skirting close

past Ship Cove, Eesolution Bay, and tho mouth of Endeavour Inlot, all names of i historic meaning. But,the Picton-bound . steamer heads up-Sound towards a scene • of hills and water that is something to ■ dream of all cne's life. Liko the wings of [a stago scene, sloping hill-spurs run uown ' I to tho tide, one beyond the other with blue-iuisly bays between, tho whole fading I away into tho golden distanco far off at tho head of tho sound. The hills have lost much of their 'fore-time forests, yet tile green of the grass mingled with patches of scrub and leru strikes a quiet note in the colour scheme of which tho high-lights are the various cloud and skjeffects and tho keynote tho ever-chang-ing colours of tho imprisoned sea. Polorus Jack is faithful on his boat between the French l'ass and tho ' Chetwodes, but he is not the only sea-police-man. Hero in Queen Charlotte, very, very often just as the vessel turns from ] Tory Channel, a black tin and plunging body appears, followed by another and another until a school of about ten "blackiish"—known to science as Tursiops tho Cowfish—are racing with the steamer and playing pranks as they race. The vessel is travelling at thirteen knots an hour, aud Tursiops can leave her as though sho stood still. Eight alongside, with wide eyes staring, he sprints apparently without any effort at all. But soon the school, finding the game slow, 6peod up and disappear ahead of the steamer. J'icton is eighteen miles from tho cntranco to Tory Channel; and stands in Waitohi Bay, which runs almost duo north and south, with I'icton at tho south end looking the sun in the eye. Hero tho hills still carry some pretty nativo bush, and Mabel Island in tho fairway is a low islet covered in green frondage. And from this town radiate all the waterways which lead to tho far distant bays and harbours of both Queen Charlotte and Pclorus Sounds. Launches line tho waterside; there is always one, and often half a dozen, coming and going. One of the most frequented routes is that to Torea, less than an hour's run across the Sound. Thence a cart-track leads across a low saddlo lo the Portage, which is on ICencpuru Sound, one of the many beautiful arms of the wide-reaching l'olorus Sound. Tho l'ortago is less'than a mile across, and it is not owing (o the lack of enterprise on tho part of the Sounds-dwellers that a cutting or tunnel has not been made (o connect ' direct by water between Pelorns and < Picton. Nature aud the laws of tides I have combined to make the scheme diffi- < cult without the aid of locks. It is tho i

story of the Panama Canal reduced to pocket size; the difference in the tido levels on each shoro would cause a torrent to race back and forth through tho narrow cut. Only at slack-water 1 could tlio passago bo made, and it is better to walk three-quarters of a milo than wait eix hours. Pslorus and its Bays. By Torea and Tho Portage is the popular way to Pelorus Sound. Rut there is another attractive route, by steamer to

The Grove, and thence by coach to Mohnkipawa ami llavDlock, both places of historic interest as mining camps. Tho trip to Tho Grove, about seven miles, is very beautiful. Tho village is at the extreme head of Queen Charlotto Sound. The water begins to shoal, the hills aro less steep, and with wider valleys and flats. At tho head, tho land rises very gradually from the beach, and in tbo fourmile drive to Mohakipawa, which is in Pelorus Sound, there is littlo rise in elevation. A slightly valley, all under agriculture or green with grass, is followed by tho road, nnd the same hillspurs run down as do in tho Sound. It seems as at one time this was tho connecting arm which held the waterway open between the two inland seas, and very possibly a better way to mako n. canal would bo by this natural depression, instead of by tunnelling, which would provent any but launches using it, or by hewing a cutting with sides a hundred feet high. The day for tho canal is not yet here, however. Without doubt Pelorus Sound can stand in open comparison with any scenery in the world, as indeed can Queen Charlotte, but while Queen Charlotte looks what it (liiihtless is, ft lovely land-locked arm of tho sea, sometimes softly beautiful, sometimes stern and grand. Pelorus, with its easily-rising hills and wide and wandering waters; is like a vast inland sea. At Uavelock, or at The Portage, a launch can ;be hired for somo days, in which to explpre " this wonderfully-inviting place, andifrom either point of departure tho ways meet at Hikapu Reach, which is a narrow water-lano between high ranges. Many a snug cove and dreamy bay is passed. There are farm-liomesteads at tho ifqot|of tho ranges where tho sea laps on Me Laches, .and J-TConforful softness in •(lie hazy beyond words. There is Mahau Sound, with its grass-grown hills and patches of forest reserves; Nydia Bay, in which are anchored timber-scows awaiting a load from the mill, is explored and. left behind; Yucyca Bay and Fairy Bay; then come tho wide reaches and the calm expanses of Crail Bay and Maniaroa and Beatrix Bays. Th« World's End. Each one is as lonely or moro beautiful than its fellows, but the most magnificent' views of all aro in Tawhitinui Reach which leads to Tennyson Inlet and The World's End. In the lastnamed, a narrow way leads into a veritable maze of bays, heavily bushed hills, and placid water, and only an experienced navigator can readily find his way out'again. llera is the pcaco of mind and calmness of outlook tho city toiler desires; here, in this land-locked haven, where each bay is a brighter jewel than the one before and a sun pours down his gold to make the setting for this crown of scenic beauty. This is the climax towards which tho seeker after quiet places has been carried from tho time he passed from Cook Strait into Tory Channel. There is nothing left' that is better, but by this time the quietness of these waters has entered the stranger's soul and he is content lo itoat, seated in the bows of the launch, where tho "puff-pull" of tho energetic engino does not' shake tho film of the moving picture, and let the world go by, and he will never quito forget the Sounds. Tho fascination they cxercise is very real. When Hie spring comes with clear days nnd sends tho Wellington man n-trainping by Cook Strait beaches or over tho heights above the restless city, ho will see the snow-draped peaks of Marlborough clear-cut against the sky. And to him they are fingers that beckon, for he knows that not far from them lio tho Sounds that ho has

learned to love anil long for. When ho rocs again, it may slrike him how little they have changed in all the months that' have seen him struggling and winning or losing in the game of life. They tiro inimitable, the hills and the sea and tho sky. If ho is a fisherman he will forgot all else in tho sport of sea-fishing; if he is a student of Nature and a lover of nil animal and bird-life he will forgot his meals in searching for the habitat of creatures, and in watching, spellbound, their unsophisticated ways. Awl whatever ho bo he will bathe in water and ill smishiuo and absorb now life thereby

until, brimming over with replenished vitality, ho returns to the city across tho Straits, the sometimes quid', but mostly restless Straits. Rearing Wellington a keen wind will mako him realise that ho is hack from the land o' dreams. Tho wind is tho whip that sends him iuto the oollar to pull the time-machine round again, round to t'he time when he will answer the beckoning of tho long, whilo lingers that call to tho quiet water of the Marlborough Sounds. For none wild gi there ever forget.