WONDERFUL ICE CAVES. MAGNIFICENT SCENERY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 31, 6 February 1908, Page 4

WONDERFUL ICE CAVES. MAGNIFICENT SCENERY.

[BY TELEGBAfH. — PBESB ASSOCIATION.] CHEISTCHURCH, sth February It has been left to the Rev. C. H. Moreland, headmaster of Christ's ColJege, to make public through the medium of a Press interviewer a district which for the magnificence of its scenery is probably unequalled in this island, but. which has so .far apparently escaped tho notice of the Tourist Department and th 3 general public. r Some time ago Mr. Moreland had a con- „ "versafion with a surveyor who told him of the existence of certain very wonderful ice caves which he had seen in the vicinity of the aspiring range to ths north of Lake Wanaka. As a member of a riding party Mr. Moreland recently made a trip from Faulie to Pembroke, travelling via the Lindis Pass and Morven Hills, and from Pembroke the party struck out for North-west Otago. They made for a- dilapidated " shelter which was used many years ago by shepherds situated on the south bapk of the Matukituki River ab. out thirty miles fr,om Pembroke. There is a good .driving track for the first fctyelve miles ■J from Pembroke. Thehutissome twelve or fifteen miles on, and the track is ftn old dray track formerly used in connection with sawmills, but now piaptically disused except by one settler."An old abandoned homestead about four miles further on has the makings of a very good hut," said Mr. Morev" iand, "and I understand that the owner .would dispose of it to thq Tourist Departmj3nT> on conditions. The scenery everywhere is very striking. Tho glaciers you see while going along the east branch of the river make a splendid scene, and their number alone W^kes them striking. "The finding of the Ice Caves," Mr. Moreland continued, "involved a pretty hard day. -We wer© fortunate in getting hold of the only settler that is up ,- there-, Mr.- Matepherson, who, though he Sad never been to the Caves, thought he fcnew where they were, and offered to 1 go with us. First of all we had a four- *. Hour ride up the west branch of the ? Maiukituki, and that brought us to \ "the, beginning of the bush. There was * '-no track, but Mr. Macphereon, who is V. n. splendid bushman, took us through. * iWe had' to crpro two pretty steep * gullies, and after* two houra' travelling Z Ye- emerged on a moraine below a V, glacier. This brought us to the Ice - Caves, which are a wonderful sight. r tThere is an upper glacier at a height 1 of about 8000 feet, and from it there '► 'descends a tremendous waterfall, which ' must splash down several thousand feet. The water strikes another ' glacier at < the base, bores into it, and tumbles £ righfc {hiough it. Where ;the water ►« >emerges there is a splendid ice cave of Z I>lmge .dimensions and sparkling beauty. J From the same glacier there is a smaller £ -torrent ' rushing down, and it" 'passes t , -under t\»a perfect archways, the -ice^ 717 1 forming two carriage road 3 side by sid& t over 'the water. The lower spurs of P „fche jnountaiu are bush clad, and then £ " s ih£ njpuntaijh goes up sheei tq the •C s glaciei»j which make" a precipitous fc "crown. From every point these big 2- waterfalls wero tumbling down. At one £ point we counted fifteen large water- * .falls, and we. were. told;, that at flood £ l ,time as many as forty ■have- been cbuntv Jed-'-irom -Mr^ Macpherain*. hdone. "''As £ .far as mountain sce^ry, goes I don't % having seen fcafore Jinything 0 -»o imposing, except perhaps the Cirqii6 % Tda Gavani in the Pyrenees." * \ Sir. Moreland is quite satisfied thafe 'b >if these places were opened up they J4 would he visited by large numbers of i* peoDl«C 'Ii th,ere was aa-aibcoimmodation, " mis» '-hesbr-- 1 he sit&.pf tH& .iom^stead " anar^^racfc "cut tbjpn|R,..tfei». 'bush • the £ yegiotf'wcrnld be quite accessible.