Happy Hours In Wellington’s Glorious Water Playground
(By
E)ORT NICHOLSON has many aspects, a mood for every change of wind or weather. When it is * smooth and placid, with the sun sparkling on the blue water and the lazy shadows of the clouds drifting across it, purple and slow,' bathers troop down to throng the beaches, oarsmen are afloat in their frail skiffs, while children launch light canvas canoes, splash and paddle in the shallows, and romp on the beaches. When the wind is from the north, and the white horses race across the harbour, the wave. are green and boisterous, and only a few hardy swim mers accept their challenge. But such days are fine for the yachtsmen big keelers, with lee scuppers awash, make a quick passage to pleasant picnic havens over at the Eastbourne side, while the little centre-boarders lurching through the big seas heel perilously, close-reefed. It is only when the black, wintry, southerly mood is on the harbour, and driving rain-squalls lash the steel-grey water, while the cold bleak wind drives the spume hissing along the surface, that comparatively few enthusiasts enjoy themselves on the waters of Port Nicholson.
STEVE GERARD)
-iQRT NICHOLSON—a broad Rand beautiful expanse of land-locked water, at the very doors of Wellington. The harbour is an integral and important part of the town. Krom the main streets, down intersecting byways cr through gaps between the tall buildings, may be seen, picturesque and unexpected, the masts and funnels of' steamers at the quays. Much of the business conducted in Wellington city offices is concerned with the sea-borne traffic of the port. So big a part in local life does the harbour play that is it no wonder that Welllngtonlans choose to take their pleasure on it, and have made of Port Nicholson the aquatic playground of Wellington. The discovery of this splendid harbour, Te Whanga Nui a Tara, is attri-. buted to those Polynesian adventurers, Kupe and Ngahue, who put in here in their frail catamarans some forty generations ago. It was they who named Somes Island Matiu, and Ward Island Makoro. Later came the Maori, and established his store-houses and palisades on the crests of the bushcovered hills.
It was only comparatively recently, on November 2, 1773. that Captain Cook anchored at the Heads. He did not enter the harbour. That bold navigator raised the heads on a northward tack from Cloudy Bay. “As we approached the shore we discovered a new inlet I had never observed before. ... At one o’clock we reached the entrance of the inlet, just as the tide of ebb was making out; the wind likewise being against us, we anchored. . . .” wrote the captain. After lying at anchor two hours, he observed the wind changing, and bore away southward under all the sail he could set. Port Nicholson To-day. Much change has taken place in the aspect of the harbour since that day when the brown Maori children, bathing in the shallows at Pito One, descried the strange sails of Cook’s ship .over against the harbour-mouth. The hills are to-day bare of bush, and dotted with the red roofs of pakeha homes.
To-day a tine motor road skirts the shore all the way round, offering the driver a great variety of scenic charm and easy access to the more distant bays. But the still forest-covered hills of the eastern shore, even to-day, enfold quiet picnic-places in sheltered gullies, where, through the branches of indigenous trees, haunt of the sweetvoiced tui, may be caught distant glimpses of the blue sparkling sea. From windswept hilltops there, beloved of the tramper, a glorious view of city and harbour is obtained, while beyond the harbour-mouth, where coastal scows beat in past the dog-toothed, rocks of Barrett’s Reef, across Cook Strait may be descried the snow-capped mountains of the South Island. The sleepy hamlets of Eastbourne, Muritai and the Bays have a quiet charm all their own.
The north corner of the harbour, where Petone beach extends from the swampy mouth, of the Hutt River to the steep hill called Korokoro, is very different. This is a busy and commercial district; tankers from overseas berth at Point Howard wharf to discharge their cargo at the oil-tanks that dominate the sea front at Petone. The long and sandy shore which earned that suburb its Maori name is probably the most popular of all the harbour beaches, for on fine week-ends it is the playground for all that denselypopulated district.
Port Nicholson has one ugly shore—that between Petone and the port. A seven-mile stretch of road on one side closed in by the gaunt hillside, on the other separated from the shore by a railway line and embankment. And unfortunately, this rather depressing highway -is the landward gateway to Wellington. The city is not altogether apathetic, altogether unashamed, that its approaches should be so sombre; and a move has now been made by the Wellington Beautifying Society to improve the appearance of this side of the harbour.
The port of Wellington has all the beauty and romantic appeal of any great seaport where ships from the far corners of the world tie up to load and unload merchandise. Behind the port
is the city, and behind the city the gardens and red-roofed homes of Karori, Brooklyn, Mount Victoria—suburbs whence the residents may from their drawing-room windows look out over Lambton harbour.
East from Wellington the road skirts Mount Victoria and Evans Bay, and runs along a lonely shore of pleasant coves before it reaches the seaward suburb of Seatoun; then to Breaker Bay, following the coast of Cook Strait, past Rongotai aerodrome, by the surfswept beach at Lyall Bay, to the fishing haven of Island Bay. This drive is acknowledged by tourists to be one of the finest in New Zealand, and there is no doubt that Wellington motorists appreciate it
Out in the middle of the harbour are two islands —Somes Island and Ward Island. The letter is of small size, and little attraction; a few scrubby bushes and a handful of sparse grass grows on the eastern side, but for the rest it is barren. To such yachtsmen as care to picnic there it offers limited anchorage in southerly winds only. The other island, Matin of the Maori, is a beautiful and fertile spot. At present it is used as a quarantine station by the Government, but yachtsmen and the general public have, for a long time and with no uncertain voice, demanded the use of it as a picnic and holiday resort, and at last it seems likely that this wish will be granted. Wellington’s Beaches. So much for the aspect of the harbour. It now remains to consider what advantage Wellington people take of this God-given water playground at the city’s very threshold. Bathing is probably the most popular of all aquatic sports. It is certainly the cheapest; the only expenses are the initial outlay on a bathing costume and a towel, and fares to and from the waterside. A glance at any Wellington beach makes it clear that few are too young, and none too old, to dabble in the shallows at least. Of all the world's countries, few, if any, can boast as big a proportion of swimmers in their population as can New Zealand ; here to be unable to swim is the exception, whereas elsewhere it is still the rule—except perhaps in certain islands of the South Seas, whose inhabitants are practically amphibious. The popularity of Wellington’s beaches needs no mention; the strip of sand at Oriental Buy, so handy to the city, and the wider areas at Eastbourne, Worse? Bay aud I’etone, are as crowded in summer as the beaches of Margate or Torquay, or those famous bathing resorts, the Venetian Lido, and Hawaiki in Honolulu. Hafts are moored off the favourite bathing centres, and at Oriental Bay, where hitherto no adequate bathing facilities have been provided, it is planned to erect new, elab-
orate dressing sheds to cater for visitors from the city. For folk who prefer to battle with the giant rollers of the open sea, fine surf-bathing is obtainable at Lyall Bay, which is one of the main New Zealand centres of surf-club organisation. Crowds gather in summer to watch the famous Maranui teams practising lifesaving with reel and line, or launching their surf-boats at hazard of the thundering breakers. It makes a fine sight —the clean paint-work of the boat glistening wetly, the brown limbs of the men tense as they strain at the sweeps,
Ihe bottle-green water curling into white foam under the surf-boat’s bow. The lasses of Lyall Bay gather to gaze in admiration when the teams parade upon the sand.
Facilities for water polo enthusiasts and for high-diving, and salt-water swimming in enclosed baths are provided in Wellington at the Te Aro Municipal Baths, which arc conveniently situated within a minute or two’s walk from Courtenay Place. There are separate baths for men aud women; being out of doors, the sun-bathing there is excellent, and even in winter the baths are patronised freely. This year, however, the use of the baths has been restricted, us they have been undergoing a thorough cleaning and renovation. Mixed bathing has been permitted at the baths for the first time, during these operations.
Next to bathing, yachting is probably the most important and popular
aquatic pastime. Five clubs operate on the harbour. They boast an aggregate of some 1200 to 1300 members, and between 300 and 400 craft. Beside these club members, there are, too, very many casual boat-owners who maintain fishing and pleasure craft, but are not interested in organised sport. The senior yachting centre is, of course, the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club, with headquarters at Wellington Boat Harbour. Here, on’ safe moorings, ride most of the principal deep keelers and cruising craft. Convenient sheds, a beautiful “hard ’ pro-
vided by a. fatherly Harbour Board, and a pleasant club-house render the boat harbour particularly handy for city yachtsmen. There are some tine ships in the club’s fleet, and on regatta days the activity at the boat harbour attracts a considerable crowd of interested onlookers.
Second in importance, the Evans Bay Yacht Club, has also a nice club-house, and convenient facilities for drawing up and beaching vessels. A big membership and a handy situation have brought this club into prominence. Racing in the bay provides conditions differing from those of any other part of the harbour, and the.start and finish are right in front of the clubhouse balcony. The Wellington Harbour Board, which has always smiled upon this tine sport, and shown the greatest consideration to visiting yachtsmen, is co-operating in improving still further the Evans Bay
amenities. This club prides itself on being the only yacht club in New Zealand to produce a regular monthly magazine relating to its activties.
Other keen clubs are the Worser Bay and the Heretaunga Sailing Clubs, the latter being pioneers in centre-board racing and sponsors of that class of boat known as the “Idle Along.” Their base of operations is at Petone. The mouth of the Hutt River at flood tide gives access to a pleasant back-water, the headquarters of the Hutt Valley Motor-Boat Club, a new body with a fleet of about 30 cruising craft. When the channel has been deepened by reclamation work in progress at the river-mouth, this will become an iinimportant haven for deep-water boats. ■ Wellington yachtsmen feel acutely the lack of any cruising grounds nearer than the Marlborough Sounds, whither go most of the larger ships for the summer holidays. There are several pleasant bays across the harbour, but these they have to share with the Hampers, motorists, and other landlubbers; this is the reason for their agitation to obtain leave to land on Somes Island. Apart from this, Port Nicholson has another drawback, though not a serious one; the harbour is subject to sudden and violent squalls, and hard northerly and southerly gales. These, however, are difficulties lightly faced by resolute seamen, with sturdy and seaworthy craft. Yachting is a sport worthy of encouragement, for it fosters efficiency and resource, and the spirit of independence and adventure in the youth of the country. It is a fine out-of-door pastime, that keeps its adherents occupied all the year round, for during the bleak winter months the craft must be overhauled and painted, hauled up on the hard, or slipped at Evans or Balena Bay. Many of the Wellington yachts are amateur built, and the rest are products of New Zealand labour, built, of New Zealand wood. Yachtbuilding and upkeep is quite an industry, and it has frequently been pointed out that the sport itself is of great value to tlie country. And there is probably no better example of man’s conquest over the elements than the sight of a small boat beating to weather against the combined fury of wind and sea.
Close akin to the sailor is the oarsman. Rowing is a favourite sport, aud is making great strides at Wellington. The Petone Rowing Club, on the north shore of the harbour, has a big membership, and usually manages to pro-
duce the most formidable crews, including quite a number of New Zealand champion oarsmen. The Star Boating Club and the Wellington Rowing Club have their premises side-by-sille near the Taranaki Street Wharf. These two clubs are prosperous, and with Petone, stage some keen and interesting rowing regattas. The rough water of the harbour is a great difficulty confronting the rowing fraternity. In northerly weather only Petone can take the water, unless the weather is sufficiently mild for the city clubs to row in the lee of the wharves. In southerly weather the city clubs can put out, but Petone oarsmen must stay ashore. The Wellington Rowing Club has solved this difficulty by erecting a shed over at Kaiwarra, •whence they can put to sea and row in the lee of the hills when the wind is from the north. It is likely that the
Star Club will sooner or later follow this example. There is a further type of aquatic sport, if such you could class it, that enjoys great popularity, although it receives but slight acclamation, and is recognised and represented by no organised body or association, as are the more regular and orthodox sports. Go where you will upon the harbour, and you will find there the followers of the oldest of all sports—that of fishing. It was the first sport practised on Port Nicholson, unless perhaps the early Maori regarded it solely in the light of work. For it was one of his principal sources of food supply, and at it he attained a degree of skill not often equalled by the present-day amateurs who put out on to the harbour in any old craft that will float and anchor for hours at a time off Point Jerningham beacon or Ngahauranga drain-pipe. Fishing is a waterside sport that .claims no few devotees. Although seafishing cannot be considered quite the same organised aud highly-scientiflc pursuit as river-fishing, and even “biggame” angling does not call for the finesse of the dry-fly expert, yet there are very many fishermen who make the most of the facilities provided by the harbour. While the coming and going of big steamers, with engines throbbing aud propellers a-thresh, has to some extent spoiled the local waters for anglers, there is none the less a number of good-eating and sporting fish in the barhour. Kahawai, barracoufa, mackerel, trevalli, butter-fish, herring and flatfish are to be caught without great difficulty. Warehou, schnapper, cod, occasional kingfish, terakihl and guinard are taken in the vicinity of the Heads.
But the actual catch is only half the joy of fishing; this is apparent to anyone who wanders down the wharves in the lunch-hour; how often they will see the salt-water disciples of Isaak Walton sitting with their paraphernalia spread out about them—pocket-knives, hooks and sinkers, shell-fish and chopped-up bait—but how seldom are these men seen to land anything! It is the pleasure of anticipation, sitting patiently in the sunshine, waiting. . . . Hope springs eternal! The wharf fishermen are many, and they vary their sport on Sundays and holidays by going farther afield, to Ngahauranga or Point Howard or Point Jerningham, where, instead of a tarred beam, they can sit on a weed-draggled rock, and instead of dangling their line must fling it far out to sea. Wharf fishermen were greatly disgusted when a Japanese vessel visited the port re-
cently; instead of offering the herrings a morsel of chopped meat on an otherwise undisguised hook—a bait at which the experienced harbour herrings hardly deigned to nibble—the shrewd Japanese flung into the water handfuls of crumbled bread, and when the fish shoaled to eat it, hauled them out in scores in a dip-net, thus catching a sugar-bag full in a relatively short period. Such are the organised and principal water sports. Their adherents, however, are far from being the only folk who derive joy from the proximity of this ocean inlet to their homes. Young men and maidens who ride gracefully swaying on a tilted surf-board, aquaplaning behind a fast speed-boat; the speed-boat flends themselves; the trippers who, from the deck of the ferry steamer Muritai, with its bright lights and blaring band, survey the twinkling lights of the port reflected on the water on the evenings when moonlight excursions are run; the old patient fishermen dangling their lines from the end of a Wellington wharf, all these take pleasure in the harbour. It is a great “asset, perhaps as important socially as it is commercially, and Wellington people are right to be proud of it. So when tourists come in from overseas, and looking at the blue water and the green hills, say, “How like the Golden Gate, aud San Francisco Bay!” let the true Wellingtonian reply to them: “It is like nowhere else in the world; its beauty is all its own; it is Port Nicholson!”
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Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 75, 21 December 1935, Page 21
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2,999Happy Hours In Wellington’s Glorious Water Playground Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 75, 21 December 1935, Page 21
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