ON LAKE WAIKAREMOANA.

Hot Lakes Chronicle, Volume 4, Issue 199, 23 September 1896, Page 2

ON LAKE WAIKAREMOANA.

By Tuhoe.

From To tjmuroa tlio trail to Waikaremoana ascends the hillside to the old settlement of Te Mimi on the range above. This pkco now boasts of but one inhabitant. From hero we descend to the lluatahuna stream and continue up this until reaching Pout-ore whence the trail angles up the steep ascent of the main backbone of the Huiurau Range. Throughout this dense forest are seen a great variety of our most beautiful ferns, including* the todea superba,- the very queen of Fern Land, as also the koareare, ncinei, with other singular shrubs. The view from the summit of Huiarau is magnificent. Lake Waikaremoana and the whole of the lower country lies far beneath, and we can see Gape Kidnappers far to the south, and the Mahia lies low down in the golden haze line. This noble view from the summit is well worth the climb thereto. The descent to the lake is somewhat rough as the trail leads down the channel of the Wai-horoi-bika, a typical mountain stream, in which there are many cliffs, boulders and falls to negotiate. A most charming view of the Whanganui arm of the lake is obtained from the spur just, before reaching the lake. It is a most delightful experience to boat round the Waikaremoana Lake. The scenery is grand beyond description, the Wairau branch being especially picturesque. The lake has so many arms, inlets, points, bays and islands, that the aspect is continually changing, while the great forest ranges sloping steeply to t-hu water's edge, the liugo Panekiri Bluffs

rising sheer up for 800 feet above the lake, fhe forest covered islets—all tend to form a most grand and picturesque scene. To be in camp on Wairau-moana and view the sunrise thereon is an experience not easily forgotten. As the sun gains power the white mists rise from the waters and melt away up the gulches, the sun slams upon the snowy peaks above and Hashes down upon the placid hike; the- wooded islets are reflected in the clear water in the most beautiful manner. Here is the ideal haunt for the genus " camper," for the shore line has so many lovely little bays and inlets that one is constantly tempted to camp therein. A truly primitive scene is here—for no smoke arises around the lone Sea of the Rippling Waters; no camp of pakeha or Maori breaks the enclosing forest line, no sound comes across the shining waters. Yet here was the home of the Ancient People. Hero dwelt the old-time people known as the Multitude of Te Tauira, in the time of Maahu and Hau and Tama and many another old-time hero of Tuhoc Land. Hero also are the legends of a still older people, Te Tini-o-Mani, who flourished at a time when the pods lived on earth and the Multitude of Kauae-ta-heke wore destroyed by Haere the Rainbow god, the divine son of Houmea and Tautuporangi and to whom Houmea said. " Go forth and avenge the death of your parent, but be cautious, lest you trample upon the sacred alio which destroys man, lest you perish by the reli." And Kupe of the many lands is hero, at least his canoe is, with the paddlers still seated therein, waiting probably for that stabwart old JrSerserker to return from his wondrous voyapc to the Land of Tara and the Sacred Sea. of Raukawa. But those old guiders of Polynesia have abandons ud'se seas and the fine ship of the pakeha. has taken the place thereof. Possibly the bravo old voyasrers have crossed the Great Ocean of Kiwa and found the Life-giving Waters in the Concealed Land of Tane. And so on, every bay and point and ancient pa having a tale to tell of war and savage deeds, of strange creatures by forest and by lake, of god-like beings of the long-ago. When rendered accessible by roads this lake of Waikare will certainly be a favorite! resort, inasmuch as the superb scenerv is not to be surpassed. While the artist, botanist, geologist and ethnologist will hero find a new and most interesting field for research. Waikare-iti Lake lies probably 500 feet higher than Waikaremoana and can bo reached by a two hours' walk from the Whanganui-o-Parua arm of the latter. This beautiful sheet of water is entirely surrounded by dense forest, the trees actually drooping into the lake waters. There are six picturesque little wooded islets on the la! e which <rive it a most charming appearand', lint no sign of occupation, ancient or modern, is here seen and a great silence hangs over the Isles of tlie Oppressed. For here it was that the Ruapani people fled, when driven from Wai aremoana by their enemies of Tuhoeand Nga-Potil'i— the Children of the Mist—wan milled down from their snow-covered mountains of Tuhoo Land to avenge ti assacro of Tikitiki. There are many places of special interest here, as the falls of Mokau and Aniwaniwa, (lie singular outlet of the lake at Te Whangaroiriangft, the subterranean river, the forts of the ancient people, with the many caves and singular chasms which abound on the cliff-lined coast of the Star Lake. The surrounding country is rugged in the extreme and covered with a dense growth of forest. The land is poor with the exception of the eastern side of Waikaremoana. If it were possible to set aside tin's district as a forest reserve, liberate some deer and stock the Streams with fish, it would undoubtedly become one of the foremost resorts of the Colony. Should however the forest be destroyed, the great charm of the scenery will be a tiling of the pathetic past. The.road now being formed from old Fort Galatea, to Oncpoto on the further or eastern side of Waikaro-moana, will pass through the heart of Tuhoo Land, over the great Iluiarau Range and probbly between the two lakes. Tin's will open up a most, picturesque route by which tourists will be enabled to view the great forest j'anges of Tuhoe Land, the grand scenery of HuiaraU and Waikare-moana and thence pass on to Te Wairba and Napier on the Fast Coast, a fitting ending to the Lake Trip.