ENTERPRISING BOY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20185, 1 March 1940, Page 9

ENTERPRISING BOY

VOYAGE THROUGH CAVES EXHIBITION MODEL The many thousands of visitors who have been through the Waitomo Caves in miniature at the Centennial Exhibition, Wellington, have been especially entranced by the section of the journey that is made by board-walk over a miniature river. This feature of the Waitomo Caves model occupies the latter half of the journey 7 and is particularly attractive beneath the dark ceiling of the caves studded with glow-worms. Officials on duty at the exit from the Waitomo Caves were surprised recently to see a small boy paddling down stream in a boat instead of walking the board planking. It appeared, after cross-questioning, that the young lad had already been through the model of the caves and was disappointed that there were no bbats in which to navigate the river, as in the real caves. So keen was he to complete the journey in the orthodox style, that he made a second visit, but this time he was armed with a collapsible rubber boat about sft. long. He inflated this in the caves and, launching it in a quiet moment, when there were no other visitors about, he successfully navigated the miniature river, which, although only a few inches deep, gave his boat sufficient draft to float.