ASTROLL WITH "MATILDA."

Manawatu Standard, Volume 9136, Issue 9136, 8 February 1910, Page 5

ASTROLL WITH "MATILDA."

/FROM LUMSDEN TO MILFORD SOUND.

(CONTIHBTJTED.) "Matilda" had many feminine attributes, justifying her name, for though rather an incubus she was highly necessary, being wardrobe and pantry combined. Also, though she weighed nearly 201b, we got so used to her that we felt there was something wanting if we went without her. It w'as at Lumsdcn station that we first became attached to

Matilda, or rather Matilda to. us, for there leaving the railway one afternoon we set out for Mossburn, an easy break-ing-in stage of 12 miles. There is a railway to Mossburn, but it seems to be merely ornamental. It has been in existence over 12 years, and has two regular trains a week, on Mondays and Saturdays, but they don't seem to connect with anything, nor do they seem to have any real need to run, unless for the purpose of giving practice to inexperienced engine-drivers. We were told by the natives that sometimes as many as three "sheep specials' were run in one week. If the Hon. J.A.M. pursues, his utilitarian policy logically, specials are all that Mossburn will have. It strikes the layman that the trains might at least be run so as to fit in with the tourist traffic and save twelve miles of dusty coaching. The road to Te Anau lies along the valleys of the New River and the Mararoa, a rather barren and uninteresting country devoted to sheep, and held in stations varying from .a few thousand acres up to 200,000. Its carrying capacity seems to be about a sheep to ten acres, not reckoning the rabbits. One particularly dreary piece of country after crossing the Mararoa is called the Wilderness. It recalled Moses and the Israelites, and we understood why they " murmured" (a euphemism, surely). Before wo reached Te Anau, which consists of the hotel and about three other houses, it had commenced to rain, and before night there was a steady downpour. It was dispiriting, but when an otherwise honest-seeming medico solemnly assured us that we were lucky in getting such weather, because it would improve the waterfalls on the Milford track, we retired hurt. The next morning at 7 o'clock the little Governmentowned steamer Tawera cast off for the head of the lake. The trip occupies a little over five hours, and can be quite rough enough on occasion. The lower end of the lake is not very interesting, but towards the head the scenery becomes more fjord-like. The precipitous mountains are clothed with dense bush, mostly birch, but splashed here and there with crimson rata-bloom and relieved by eoy little waterfalls. Arrived at the head a walk of about half a mile brings one to Glade House, a comfortablehostelry, run by the Tourist Department. After lunch we decided to push on the ten miles to Pompolono huts. It was still raining, but rain in that region is more common than sunshine. Accordingly, after getting our hut coupons and track tickets, we were ferried across, the Clinton River, and proceeded up the Clinton canon. The. track meanders up this canon between precipitous mountain walls, thousands of feet high; some of the peaks are named, such as Mts. Anau and McKenzie. but many arc not. The medico proved a prophet as regards (hundreds of Shcm poured down on either side, ranging from mere trickles to falls of such magnitude and beauty as the Hirere and the Cascade. The creeks were high, and it was not long before we were wet through, wherever our capes did not cover. We did not employ a guide, but as it so happened we were fortunate enough to have Guide Murrell's company along the track, and as he is almost a native of those parts he is conversant, with the whole story of McKinnon, the intrepid explorer and discoverer of the McKinnon Pass which gave a practicable route to Milford. McKinnon was drowned in Lake Te Anau, and his body was never found. Coming up the lake, an island is pointed out, at the end of which is the Memorial Rock, so called because McKinnon s skill was found near it.' We reached Pompolona to find a roaring fire in the men s hut, and ourselves the only occupants, so that wo soon had our wet gear adrving We found better meals supplfed at the huts than we had expected, although, of course, it is all tinned stuff, for it has to be packed on horseback. The name Pompolona naturally excited our curiosity, and the explanation was that it is derived from Pompolona, the name of a Spanish town, but more directly a name given to a kind of damper fried in fat--the Pompolona scone—which was frequently. lon the menu of a camp at this point. -ine huts are in charge of married couples, and consist of a large living-room, and a bunk-room for women and another for bunk is furnished with a "comfortable mattress, a pillow, and plenty of warm rugs. We were so comfortable at Pompolona that as it was still. raining next morning we decided to wait for a change in the weather, but at lunch time along came a party of six ladies, who expressed their determination of making the Beech Huts, 9 miles on. For the good name of our sex we went on. We got wet through again, of course, but that happened every day we were on that track. The Clinton Canon continues for about three miles on from Pompolona, and then the track zig-zags up McKinnon Pass, a low saddle between Ballora Peak and Mt. Hart. When I say low, I mean comparatively so, as 3400 feet above sealevel would no doubt be considered high in some parts. On the Pass there as a wealth of mountain flora—mountain lilies and daisies being common, though there wero not many in bloom. On a fine day a beautiful view is to be obtained from the Pass. On one hand rises the insurmountable Balloon Peak, on the other Mt. Hart, while the avalanches from Jervois Glacier may be both seen and heard. The traveller may take a bird's-eye view of Clinton Canon, whence he has come, and also of part of the Arthur R. Valley, whence he is going. The descent of the Beech Huts (called also Quinton or Falls Huts) is very rough, jolty walking, a descent of about 2500 feet in four miles, not lending itself to very easy grades. A Judge of the Supreme Court was an inmate of the men's hut that night, and as he also had got wet through he had to go out to tea clothed in his judicial dignity and his pyjamas. This is not at all an unusual thing on the track, any more than a lady sitting down to" meals in a blanket Maori fashion. About a milo and a half from Beech Huts, off the main track, there are the famous Sutherland Falls. The track winds through a veritable fairyland —the trunks of tho. low trees grow in fantastic shapes and are covered with small ferns and moss; the branches are abundantly draped with lichens, while the ground is carpeted with numerous, species of ferns. As we approach the Falls the roar of the water becomes, louder and louder, but it is not until we are very close that we actually see the two uppermost leaps. We push on to tho edge of the bush, and then with back-tilted head gaze spellbound. There are three leaps, in the 1900 feet, the topmost being much the biggest, but by reason of the .perspective it seems the smallest. The water seems to lose cohesion at the top and falls like a powder, breaking apart like thrown handfuls of flour. The roar is deafening, a shower of spray envelops us, and the draught from the bottom is half a gale, rocking the trees in a sort of mad abandon. The scene is intoxicating, one wants to yell and dance a devil dance in keening with the mad energy and music of the Falls. We leave the spot with the scene burnt on our memory and set off on the final 13 miles to Milford. A little way down the track we turn again to catch a final view of the top leaps. The bush on the Milford side of the Pass is on the whole more beautiful than that o" the Tc Annu side, much of it being Jil.-« that on the Falls track. The Arthur 'River.- fed by numerous waterfalls, foams down alongside us in a

series of rapids. At the ferry, the 1 water' is smooth, clear and beautifuly bluev ; Just after the forry we, see the Mackay Falls, which, though not Very high, are ( exceedingly, beautiful, as the blue water, plentifully flecked with white foam r winds down amongst the rocks. Here, too, is the phenomenon of the Bell Rock. About ten yards in towards the Falls is a big rock with nothing in particular to mark it externally. It is, however, a. 6hrine before which the traveller goes on his marrow-bones, preparatory to .crawling under it, when he is surprised to find the rock is hollowed out like a huge boll, so large indeed that two of us sat down and stood up in it, and with the aid of matches could just 6ee the apex some five feet above' us. The explanation is in part simple, for. the rock must at one time have been nearer the Falls, and there stones were swirled round in it until they formed a big pothole; then the rock was turned upside down —but how ?

Further on the Giant's Gate Falls are passed, not very high but very symmetrical, and throwing a considerable volume of blue water. For some miles the track winds along Lako Ada, affording here and there charming glimpses of this lovely sheet of water, which ie a habitat of the Paradise duck.

The track ends at Sandfly Point (which deserves its name), where a telephone affords communication with Sutherland's, some two miles distant, but only to bo reached by launch. After an hour's wait in our wet clothes (there were six ladiee waiting, too) the taciturn old pioneer of Milford Sound made / his appearance. The tourist pays 5s for the privilege of being ferried over that two miles and back, as weli as 10s a. day at the accommodation house. On the way to Sutherland's, and in fact within a mile of the house, we pass the famous Bowen Falls, too much photographed to require description. The view from the house is a magnificent one —quite near at hand are Mitre Peak, Lion Peak, Mt. Pembroke and Barren Peak, fringing the placid water, with Stirling Falls in the near distance.

The next morning was Sunday, dull and misty. About 7 o'clock the ill-fated Waikare crept up in ghostly fashion to her anchorage, but when we passed the passengers had not yet begun to stir. We retraced our steps to Pompolona Huts, 22 miles, rather a heavy day, considering- the rain and tho fact that we> were wet to the hips and also that there was the Pass to surmount from the steep side. Some idea of the steepness may be gathered from the fact that the first mile from Beech Huts took us 45 minutes, and the four miles to the top 2£ hours.

From the top we obtained a view of Clinton Canon, the Clinton River winding down the gorge, bounded by the precipitous mountain side?. It was a fine sight, but we thought with a pang of disappointment of what it must be on a fine day. Balloon Peak and Mt. Hart momentarily unveiled themselves, but the Arthur Valley was shrouded in mist. An easy walk of 10 miles nfexfc morning brought us to Glade House again, where we boarded the s.s. Tawera for Te Anau. We had intended to walk through to the head of Lak« Wakatipu by a new track, which we were assured* at the Tourist Bureaux was all made and quite easy to follow. However, we were strongly advised by a man whohad worked on it not to go without a guide, and as Guide Birley was elsewherewe retraced our steps to the railway. The walk 'back to Lumsden was uneventful, except for the assistance we rendered in extricating a wool waggon which had got stuck. The driver was evidently an. ex-sailorman,, and he expressed the opinion variously, warmly and with much circumlocution, that if the hill had not been there he would not have got stuck. We did not see our way clear to dispute it.