OVER THE HILLS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 108, 2 November 1907, Page 9

OVER THE HILLS.

A DAY'S WALK. (By "Rambler.") To the average- citizen Wellington's hills are anathema. Cribbed, cabined, and confined by circumstances to the lower levels, he reviles the natural barriers that conspire to raise his rent. If in quest of suburban tranquillity, ho should elect to go furhtcr afield, you will find him raging impotenfcly as he toils up the steep ascent to some dizzy height, where the beneficent builder has found him a home. In such a frame of mind, as we have seen him, the normally peaceful 1 and contented citizen would gladly play the anarchist with Nature, and annihilate the despotic crown of hills, if he could, with a single bomb Let him, however, venture forth some fine Sunday morning, and strike out over the hills. Things will then assume quite another aspect. It was just such a Sabbath day s journey that "Rambler" made with three friends. Accoutred in light marching gear, and equipped with provision sufficient unto the day; the party followed the range from Kelburne along the "watershed" of A the new Karon reservoir, with its unfinished dam below, until Fitchett's farm was reached on the brow of the hill a.bove Mitchell town. A black bull with n truculent eye threatened to bar further progress, but a rceonnoitro suggested a flank movement of discretion, and safety was gained by the interposition of several fences. A hiijfc was called on the- crest of 4 he next slope. From this coign of vantage the whole panorama of Wellington Harbour confronted the eye. In the brilliant sunshine of the morning the welter of wild hills, clasping the placid waters lost the look of prison walls that almost overwhelms the denizens of the streets. Uigh lights bathed the projecting ridges, but the ground gullies and hollow* seemed like dimples in the shade. The verdant npland of Karori shone like an oasis in the wilderness. The Hutt valley lay like a map, with the windings of the river distinctly visible. In the background towered the blue Tararuas, still tipped with snow. Across the harbour the steamers, like toy boats, moved almost imperceptibly on the apex of a wrinkled wake. The city itself was a mass of red and grey roofs, out of which stood conspicuous the larger buildings. Over Island Bay a slatyhulled Tyser liner could be seen steering south. Still following the ridge, and still ascending, tho pavty entered the more desolate confusion of hill and dale on either side of Mount Hawkins. Bleached skeletons of trees indicated all that remained of the glory of the virgin bush. What compensation are a few sheep browsing on scanty herbage for this irreparable loss? Still, the bare and barren hills have a: grim and rugged grandeur, a certain bold beauty of outline even in their desolation. ~ Mount Hawkins is simply tho culminating summit, of a long ridge. The view embraces the whole of the rocky peninsula, which it dominates. Wellington Harbour, ths Straits, and ' the mountainous country of Marlborough as far as tho seaward Kaikouras south, and westward to .Stephens Island and beyond. Northward is the sea, stretching towards tho Taranaki Bight. Egmont is visible at sunset on clear days, but the haze exhaling from the sea afc noon obscures the horizon. So the party missed the real guerdon of their pilgrimage. From Hawkins's tho ridge declines slightly towards the sea, and ends abruptly in a steep cliff. This the party had some difficulty in descending, os the surface is rotted by the salt winds, and. affords a very insecure footing. Rabbits were there in scores, and one bold adventurer knocked over a fint. black doe with a well-directed stone. In the effort to pick up his booty he slipped and fell about twenty feet, landing in the screes, which 'cut his hands severely. With this and a few bruises he was lucky to escape. Reaching" the beach, the travellers boiled the billy with driftwood", and made short work of the contents of sundry havorsacks. The coast in each direction, with its precipitous cliffs and ugly reefs, iiuist bo a standing terror to mariners and a bitter disappointment to the immigrant whoso first view of Xew "Zealand at close quarters is from the steamer entering Welling,ton Harbour The Terawhiti rip was plainly distinguished out to sea. Tho homeward route took the party along tho South Karori stream, which has to be forded scores of times to avoid ai-duous detours. Many trout were seen on the way, but only one fisherman, for tho fish were mostly very small. Rabbits were still fairly numerous, but decreased further inland. At the junction to two streams the party divided to reconnoitre, one member keeping to the lower levels by the water, and the rest going over the hill. They, reunited on the South Kar»ri-road.' and. after a long tramp, reached home at dark.