THE WAITAKEREI FALLS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7270, 7 March 1885, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE WAITAKEREI FALLS.

[by josiah martin, f. c.s.J

These picturesque cascades are much, more frequently visited than the Nihotopu Cataracts, and are the goal of many a pleasant excursion or picnic party from Auckland during the season.

From Henderson Station the road across the Waitakerei Range has a gentle ascent for about four miles of open country, until Stoney Creek Bridge, near Mr. Boxter's farm and orchard, is reached. Beyond this place, the road is unsuitable for vehicles, and this spot is a favourite camping ground for parties who have driven out from town. The ascent of the range is very steep and broken, and four miles of good hilly country must be traversed before reaching the Waitakerei waters. Several magnificent prospects are to be obtained before the summit is reached, and the line of the ocean is seen above the trees on the west.

Entering the clearing, until lately known as Cantwell's, now the property of Mr. N. G. Lennox, and passing behind the house, we find a track which follows the course of the river. This path is rather sofb in wet weather, but is dry in summer. Following this for about a mile, we hear the roar of the falls, and find a path leading to the top of the upper fall. From this point the view down the gorge is truly magnificent. Having reached thia point without difficulty, the visitors are all very anxious to get clown to tbe bottom and see the great cascade. Some foolishly attempt the nearest track, but the descent ia dangerous in the extreme. The easiest, and only safe path, is to be found by retracing the steps, about a hundred yards up the hill, and by a well marked track to the right, take a wider circuit, and arrive at the bed of the stream, or, avoiding the river, keep to the bush until the lower fall is reached. The scene is wild and beautiful. In a wide triple current, the waters break over a nearly perpendicular wall of black basaltic rock, where the three defined streams are torn apart into a hundred separate threads. The glorious wealth of foliage, so characteristic of this scenery, gives an additional charm to the landscape. Ascending the track, the view from the top of thia fall is very beautiful, and standing on the rock in mid stream, the view up the river is remarkably fine, tall tree fern, from either bank, inclining forward, and touching their feathery plumes aloft. Working up the stream for about two hundred yards, a turn in the gorge brings us in view of the most delightful of all our picturesque waterfalls, the great Waitakerei, embowered in a lovely glen of gigantic tree ferns. This noble fall forms a resplendent sheet of water, about three hundred and fifty feet in height and fifty feet in width. A fairy veil of pale blue gauze, the river bed broken by numerous large boulders and ledges of rock into forming rapids, decorated with a luxurious profusion of ferns and clusters of white everlasting, forms an appropriate foreground, and the great kauri and forest trees above the fall, dwarfed into shrubs by the distance, complete this charming picture. This great forest is doomed to destruction. Before the rapid advance of axe and fire its treasures are fast disappearing. The so-called " maroh of civilisation" will clear the bush and leave a wilderness of blackened stumps to mark the site of our enchanted ground. Reserved in its virgin beauty, this bush would, as a health resort, be a delightful acquisition to oar citizens ; and as a neverfailing attraction for thousands of visitors it would be a source of wealth to the whole community. The estate should never have been sub-divided and sold to private owners, but it is not yet too late to save it from destruction. If our city authorities are too supine to move in the matter, the resolute action of a few determined men could settle the question. The assistance of the Government would be doubtless granted if an association or syndicate could but decide upon the best mode of acquiring and nd« ministering the estate,