AN AUSTRALIAN TRIP

Matamata Record, Volume XX, Issue 2014, 6 March 1939, Page 7

AN AUSTRALIAN TRIP

SYDNEY TO MELBOURNE

Temperature of 114 Degrees Okoroire Lady’s Experiences Miss Madge Carruth, of Okoroire, who returned recently after a holiday in Sydney and Melbourne, writes chattily on her experiences and gives ' a vivid account of the heat wave and the fires which devastated portions of Victoria a few weeks ago:—

“ Though I went over a complete stranger I made friends easily. The fact that I was a New Zealander seemed to please the Australian people, and I can quite honestly say that I have been completely spoilt. “ Sydney is a tremendous place after our little New Zealand towns. I stayed at Kings Cross, which is approximately one mile from the heart of Sydney. It is a city of flats and is a very Bohemian place. Within a radius of one mile there is a population of 50,000. Jenolan Caves “ The day after I arrived in Sydney I left on a three-day tour across: the Blue Mountains to Jenolan Caves. It took nine hours to reach the caves, but during this time I was shown all beauty spots and places of interest. The Blue Mountains were disappointing. For miles and miles one saw nothing but the old familiar gum trees. “At Jenolan one passes' through the grand arch before reaching the caves house. The grand arch is 470 feet long and 80 feet high. Rocks and boulders have been levelled to form the roadway, but otherwise the great cavern has been maintained in its natural state. Jenolan has a romantic beauty, and the innumerable charming walks contribute in a large measure to the enjoyment of visitors. The Jenolan reserve, of six square miles, is a sanctuary for birds and animals. Rock wallabies, opposums, magpies, kookaburras and lyre birds were often to be seen. There are ten caves at Jenolan, and these are all very wonderful. It took us two hours to go through the Orient cave, and during that time we climbed 1600 steps. The caves are all electrically illuminated, and this shows their beauty up to advantage. The guide said that he often took as many as

1600 people through the Orient cave a day, so it just shows the popularity of Jenolan.

Heat Stops Motor-cars

u Heat of such intensity that it brought motor-cars to a halt was one of my most-outstanding experiences in Australia. Most people could travel only for an hour and would have to stop for half an hour. The reason was that in the modern car the petrol pump is too close to the exhaust pipe,

and when the pump became overheated the heat of the diaphragm caused .a vapour lock. I saw cars of the. most-expensive type held up for this reason in the Blue Mountains.

“ During my visit to Australia it surprised me how little the people there know about New Zealand. One girl who was conversing with me about our .country actually asked me how much bigger than Sydney Auckland was. When I explained to her that the whole of the population of New Zealand was only equal to that of Sydney alone she nearly collapsed. Some people think that we live with the Maoris. Others have the idea that New Zealand is so small that we know every person who lives in it. New Zealand Unknown

“ In the six weeks that I was in Australia I hardly heard or saw a thing about New Zealand. When I did hear anything our country was always referred to as Maoriland or Mainland.

“ One Sunday afternoon I visited La Perouse, the aboriginal settlement. It was an interesting place, where I was shown how to throw boomerangs.

“ Taranga Zoological Park is a wonderful place, and I could have spent days there. To see little koala bears sitting in the forks of trees chewing gum leaves was one of the things at the zoo that I was particularly interested in. “ The Aquarium, which is in the Zoological Gardens, is also well worth a visit. Two live sharks are to be seen there, as well as fish from every country. “ One week-end friends took me for a drive inland to Mossvale. We left Sydney on the Saturday and travelled down the Hume highway to Mittagong. On our return trip to Sydney we travelled via the Princes highway and arrived at Kangaroo Valley for breakfast. Afterwards we swam in the valley river for four hours. The temperatui’e at the place was 116 degrees in the shade and 130 degrees in the sun. The heat was terrific, and the only way to keep cool was to get into the water.

Everything Melts “ After our long swum we began to feel hungry, so back we went to the little tearoom for lunch. But everything in the place seemed hot. I orf dered cold meat, but when it arrived it was quite warm. The plates were hot, and so was the water. The lady , brought us some butter out of the ice chest, but immediately it was put on the table it turned to melted butter. And when we got up from the table we discovered that we had left a pool of perspiration on' the floor.' “ After this we started off by car en route for Sydney. While we were travelling the heat was terrific. The wind was so hot that it was impossible for us to have the car windows open, so we just had to suffer. On our way back we stopped at Sublime

Point and Bulli Pass. From these two vantage points magnificent panorama of ocean, mountain and forest extend, and on a clear day the coastline is discernible for 30 miles.

“ One day I went to the races at Randwick. It was fun to see all the “bookies,” and I enjoyed my day there very much.

“The parade of Boy Scouts from different countries was a marvellous sight. There were 2500 Scouts, and I was among the 60,000 people who watched the parade. New Zealand Scouts “ Great interest was taken when our New Zealand boys marched by, and I was quite proud to think that they came from my home country.

“ Chinese meals are very popular in Sydney, so I tried these too. One day I ate fried noodles and fresh prawns, or, in Chinese, chau-yee-pin-min.

“The Sydney Harbour Bridge is wonderful, but one gets very tired of hearing about it. Everybody in Sydney says * And what do you think of our harbour and our bridge ? ’

“ Friday the 13 th was the day that I chose to fly from Sydney to Melbourne. It sounds a very unlucky day, but then I am not superstitious. I left Mascot Aerodrpme, where Kingsford Smith landed, at 2.30 p.m. by the Douglas aeroplane. There were 16 passengers. The plane is the second largest in Australia. We flew at a height of 5000 feet till we reached Canberra, and after that we rose to 9000 feet. The day I flew was the day that all the terrible bush .fires w ere raging. From Canberra on I saw nothing but smoke, and the heat in the plane was 100 degrees all the way. • Except for two passengers everyone was sick, me included. We ’were due to Melbourne at 4.30 p.m., but we did not arrive till 7 p.m. Luckily I did not know, at the time, when we wei'e due, otherwise I would Lave been alarmed. The day we arrived in Melbourne the temperature was at 114 degrees and was a record up to that time. The next day the temperature dropped to 60 degrees. It was so cold that all the women wore fur coats and winter costumes.

A Beautiful City

“ Melbourne is a very beautiful city, and apart from the climate I enjoyed my stay there very much. One day Melbourne friends took me for a drive to Ballarat, a distance of 100 miles. The lake there is beautiful, and the Botanical Gardens are very fine too.

“ The beaches at Melbourne are very poor, and one has to travel miles to see any surf. I swam at StKilda and Brighton, but did not think much of these beaches. Perhaps Bondi, Manly and Coogee beaches at Sydney spoilt me. Actually I saw Melbourne at its worst. There had been a drought there for three years. Then the terrific bush fires that had been raging had burnt out all the beauty spots. Desolate Countryside . : 7 7 “ I was taken for a drive up the Dandenong and Black Spur Ranges from Melbourne. This is where all the bush fires had been raging. The scene was one of indescribable desolation. The blackened countryside stretched for miles and miles on each side, and the earth was covered with the charred remains of forest and homes. I passed by Narbethong, where dozens of people were burned to death. The whole township was burnt down, and the only things left standing were the schbol hud’ the hotel.'On the way to the ranges I passed Lillydale, and saw Madame Melba’s old home. During the fires Australia seemed to be covered with a haze that gave the sun a smoky appearance. “ Myers, the largest shop in Melbourne, has a staff of 7000, and the building covers a floor space equal to seven miles. It is a marvellous shop, and takes days to look through.

“ Everywhere I went in Australia I struck record temperatures, so that I know now what heat is. Heat Records Broken “ In the three weeks I stayed in Sydney the temperature was from 90 to 100 degrees, and was the warmest weather for eight -years. Up at Jenolan Caves, for the few days I was there the temperature was 108 degrees and was the hottest for 50 years. The day I visited Kangaroo Valley the temperature was 116 degrees in the shade, “ To pay Is B£d to go to a big cabaret called “ Palais De Danse ” at St. ICilda amused me very much. I don’t know what the halfpenny was for. Admission for men was 2s 8"d.

“I returned to Wellington from Melbourne by the s.s. Maunganui. The sea trip took nine days and was interesting. We cruised into Milford Sounds. A number of passengers disembarked at the sounds to walk across the track. Later they joined the boat at Dunedin. After we left Milford Sounds we spent a day at Bluff, one day at Dunedin and two days at Lyttelton before returning to Wellington. “ I was sorry to leave Australia, but now that I am back in New Zealand I realise what a beautiful country we have. And as for Okoroire, well, I am quite certain that I never saw anything as beautiful in all my travels.”. ;:, w BT/