COLD TRAVELLING

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 31, 5 August 1930, Page 11

COLD TRAVELLING

TONGARIRO VISITORS

STUCK IN SNOW DRIFTS

; A party of Wellington motorists who left the city last week for a brief midwinter visit to the Tongariro National Park had all the snow, all the cold, and as many really wintry motoring experiences as they require for a year or two, but, said one of them to a "Post" reporter to-day, it was sonicthing to look back upon. It was rather a pity, however, that they had not been able to get more reliable information from the Automobile Club as to the state of the road. Having in mind'tho reports of extremely severe weather in the middle of the Island, and the holding-up of train traffic by a blizzard early in the week, lie rang up the Automobile .Club to ask whether the roads were in driving condition. Ho was assured that everything was well, and accordingly set off, to find that everything was not nearly as well as it might have been. Had: they had knowledge of tho actual conditions the party would certainly have gone by train, even though the cutting out of tho daylight limited meant that they would' have ai-rived at National, Park Station at about 11 o'clock at night.

The going was good until shortly after leaving Taihape, ajid there they ran into snow, which held for practically the whole of the remainder of the .journey, in parts up to three feet deep. The worst lengths, however/had been cleared of much of the snow by prison labour, but driving was a dangerous business, owing to the risk of skidding, particularly on the bends. ' Tho snowcovered trees and icicle-draped rocks along the roadway were a beautiful sight, when there was time to appreci- j ate them. Conditions about Erua, where tho main prison camp is situated, were particularly severe, and the road there would have been quite impossible but for the good work done in the, bitter icold by tho men from the camp.' The cold, even in a closed car, was most intense, but they got through at last —including a couple of hours' driving in the dark, anything but a cOmfortablo experience—and then, within fifty yards of the Chateau, ran bang into a heavy drift, and were stuck hard and fast. A gang of men from' the Chateau dug them out in quick time, and they garaged the car as soon as they could. A WONDERFUL SIGHT. Tho plains about the Chateau, ho continued, were heavily covered with snow, and the mountains, particularly Tongari.ro, were a picture. By great good luck the weather changed to days of cloudless skies, and winter sports were in full swing. Most magnificent were the sunsets, which changed the snowcovered mountains to brilliant red, almost crimson, glowing peaks. No picture in true colouring of Ngaruhoe so lit up would have been believed. While at the Chateau they heard of a party of motorists who were properly caught by, the blizzard, earlier in the week, and narrowly missed being frozen to death. The party, of three ladies and an elderly gentleman, ran into a deep drift near Waimarino. The man set out to find assistance, and in a few minutes found himself up to his neck in a still heavier drift. He managed to struggle back to tho car, and there the four stayed until found by the superintendent of the prison camp some hours later. They were taken to the prison camp and given hot baths and food, but were so cramped and cold when .found, it was stated, that ,-pro.bably another half-hour's exposure would have meant a tragedy. During the heaviest of cold weather the water pipes at the Chateau froze, and the supply failed, but the staff tackled the job, and tho inconvenience was overcome. The return trip to Wellington was much easier, as a great part of the snow had melted, but any motorists who were thinking of going through should be very wary on the bends, and particularly at points where the snow was sheltered from the sun, and still lay deep. The timber mills about Erua had closed down completely, but would no doubt be working again in a few days.