HOLIDAY EXCURSION

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 109, 1 February 1941, Page 16

HOLIDAY EXCURSION

Written for the Page by Gloria (15), Wellington. r AST week we weir to our uncle's place at Akatarawa. On the way up we turned off the main road and rode up a bumpy little track until rounding the corner we came in sight of a sturdy grey wooden building. It was a blockhouse, used in the dais when the white people experienced raids from rhe Maoris. Solidlv built, of totara. (lie walls consisted of two layers of wood, the space in between being tilled with gravel and small stones so that no bullet could penetrate. After looking round the lower pari, we mounted the staircase to the upper story, and as 1 looked our of the many loopholes I could easily imagine the settlers anxiously watching for the sight of a dark head or a spear. When we arrived at the farm, we left our luggage there and went down to the Karapoti River. The part where we were was very pretty with creamy-white toi-toi lining the water's edge. ' Ou one si( R‘ ' vere trPes N l(i feriis, and on the opposite side thick green grass studded with pink and purple clover. After swimming and splashing in the water, we explored under rocks and poked into boles, looking for eels. We found one, but after we had enticed hittr out from under a stone with pieces of meat, he easily evaded our liligers.