MOTOR TOURISTS

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 12140, 30 December 1933, Page 5

MOTOR TOURISTS

EAST COAST RQAD POPUL4II. : BUSH SCENERY ANl> FISHING.. Tlfdt tile pppujarity. ,of tile Fakt' Coast road from Op.Qtiki to.GiObprpeis rapidly'- increasing,• is ;ibojvjv J . i>Y the ’large number of parties along the route. This applies at present ‘more to the Bay of Plenty side than to the East Coast-. -The favourite camping place is. at Te Kaha; where a very large qumber of trav F oilers from all parts of New Zealand are in temporary residence during the j holiday period. The run qlonig the' Bay °f Plenty for the 67 miles to dniaiti beach, bv Cape Runaway, t is considered qne of the best in New Zealand. , The scenery ife delightful, and with the joiirney heirig such ii short one many motorists either make a day trip or spen'i a brief; time camp. : ing at the various beautifulspotjf.i with excursions into 'the ’adjacent ' bushier sea fishing. At the .top of Hawaii Hill, 550 ft. high, about. 26 j miles , from Opotiki, a remarkable panorama is obtained., The f pad then • continues alongside the Motu river, 2S mile's from Opotiki, where quit© a number turn off and camp ip the dense bush alongside this rugged stream. Between -the .. Alqtq.. fiver bridge and Te Kaha, some 16 ..miles further on, are several streams, but in normal weather .these are not deep and cause .ji<) tp motorists. The recpipmeiided route ends at Or uaiti beach, Cape Runaway. Then a long''clay st-retejj. .and difficult river crossings ai© experienced between the Cape apcl Te . Araroa, and this portion is not .officially advised as yet for the holiday tourist except for experienced drivers. The gap to be metalled is only about- lb miles', but it is very tricky at times. From Capo Runaway runs a mile of cl a iy,. then three miles along the beach in the course of which a 30feet sandhill has to lie surmounted, and. then follows another twelve miles of clay to Hicks Bay. That it is not so bad on occasions, however,,. can,, be seen,..in the .fact ]tl}a£y, a few days .agp, two Gisboriiq lauj.es catne through (from Opotiki to town with not great trouble, procuring help .over only one stream, and that was hot particularly deep.. During the Xmas holidays foil!- cites at least from Gisborne,'** covered the intervening gap, the drivers being Messrs H. Alley. A: D. Chrisp, James Somervell qnd J... Fripr. Two of. the parties struck the beach at half flood tide and had an arduous journey through heavy sand.. The other two got through without any trouble. The ,clay. stretch near Hicks’ Bay was-foundjito be r .badly put up,due to heavyrain a few days preyfottsly. but with the exception of these seclions the remainder of the road from Gisborne to Opotiki was in excellent

order ; Along the East Coast route there are many camping) parties, including a number at- Hicks Bay, Fpr the 110-mile run from .Gisborne,, to Te Araroa the road presents no difficulties. Some trouble, however, is then experienced at 'times, in crossing the Karakatuwhoro river to Hicks Bay, but so far this holiday season- practically no complaints have been received- Campers in the bush at Hick’s Bay, it is reported, were having glorious times daep-sea fishOther more venturesome ones continued the''journey over the day stretch to Oniaiti beach and down the good- road to Opotiki " ' . NOTES. Up till Boxing, Hay the number °f visiting campers in Gisborne constitutedu'd record, aind further parties are still coming Jnib jtpwip ho. fewer , than six, cars proceeding tp. |be Waikanae Beach camp to Thursday. Yesterday’s gale, however, - sau the number greatly' reduced fast night, many removing to the Victoria Domain camp A Wellington contingent of six carloads, headed 1 by Messrs. Gibbons and Hoby, proceeded up the Coast yesterday morning to a camping place at Ananra Bay, ton miles past Tolaga Bay. * * * Lake Waikaremoana, as usual, has attracted a- large number of mptorists, including a big contingent'from Gisborne. In many cases a few days cjre being put in at the lake, thus breaking the journey to Rotorua. # * * Another place which appears to be growing in popularity is Mercy}y , Bay irr the Coromandel peninsula .and amongst the motorists in camu is a party from Gisborne, comprising Di* BQwie and Messrs. L. Miles. AZachariah .and L. Pff'r-ker, who- ; wet.e -reported during the Xnias holiday.? to: be spending an exciting time ih • deep-sea- fishing.