FAMOUS TRIP REVIEWED

Hokitika Guardian, 4 December 1929, Page 2

FAMOUS TRIP REVIEWED

CRUISES TO WEST COAST SOUNDS.

Members of the older generation will remember the time when the weekly Melbourne steamer en route to Dunedin used to call at Milford Sound. This feature of the then regular trip to New Zealand did as much as anything to make the Dominion’s scenery famous, and others will recall the Christchurch excursions to Milford Sound made by the Waikarc and Rotomahana. The service was discontinued in 1910, since when access to Milford Sound has been possible only by the famous Milford walk. . The trip known as “The finest walk in the world” has been enjoyed hv thousands of tourists, but there must be thousands more who, while anxious to see Milford Sound, arc debarred from doing so by the physical requirements of the walk itself.

Some enterprising residents of Soul bland have decided that Milford Sound shall again he accessible liy sea, and in ease and comlort. r lo this end, they have, secured the wellknown steamer Hinemoa. and have commissioned her for regular sailin'? to Milford and return via the Sounds. The trip takes eight days, and embraces some six hundred miles of cruising amid the wonders of the fiord indented coast of the South Island of New Zealand.

Tim outward trip from Bluff takes a. full day and night, and on arrival at Milford a stop of some days is made in which t[ie tourist is able to see Mitre Peak, Bowen Falls, and other features of Milford. r l ime permits the walk to Sutherland Falls to bo undertaken. At this point the tourist who lias made the track trio to Milford is offered a new way of returning to civilisation by picking up the Hinemoa and returning via the oilier Sounds. It is expected that a great maiiv walking tourists will he glad of this alternative- return trip. The, return to Bluff is made by a six day cruise of fiord land—George Sound, Thompson’s Sound, Doubtful Sound, Break-sea Sound, and then through the historical Acheron passage to Dusky Sound, where forty

hours are spent in what is .considered the most beautiful Sound of all.

The cruise offers something unique to New Zealanders in travel. The Hinemoa is equipped with every comfort and convenience that accompan-

ies a modern ’sea' voyage. ’Tlie first trip will commence on Friday next, and sailing will be made at about twelve-day intervals thereafter, until the end of April.