AUTUMN RAMBLINGS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12609, 25 June 1904, Page 1 (Supplement)

AUTUMN RAMBLINGS.

No. 11. [BY C. A. YOUNG.] WHAKAREWAREWA TO WAIOTAPU. A torrential downpour "of rain during 24 hours,: which reminded one of the rainfall in the tropics, made the roads like a. sea of mud. : There being no metal available in this district, this is the usual result of heavy, rain on the , pumice and lava, j which is ; the surface soil of this part of the country. While waiting two days for the roads to dry up, I may as well write a few lines on the ,' usefulness of railway and telegraph, as ! experienced by the traveller from the Old : Country. ' : v,- ;.:.::-'■ ; v 'Previous to leaving Cambridge on Easter Monday morning I had despatched a portmanteau, prepaid, addressed j: to myself at the | Geyser Hotel, Whakarewarewa, expecting I would so secure the: comfort of change of clothes'; when I arrived there in the evening of the second day after, but ho, that portmanteau did not arrive at Kotorua until Wednesday—three days to travel from Cambridge to Botorua. An English banker, who, with his wife, sat at the same table in the hotel, hearing of 'experience, related his own. ; He had landed at Wellington' a fortnight before; some of his luggage ;was lost; leaving there, more was left at i Wanganui, as it could not accompany him tip the river to ' Taumaruuui. The whole i was to( have been sent round by steamer :to Onehuaga,' but he and his wife were still waiting it; and as they were proceeding to. Auckland the following day— sail for England three days after—they ■ quite expected to leave their luggage behind them somewhere in the colony. Of course, they had been writing and telegraphing all the time. 1 . ■.''■""■ ; ', -

.Another experience;; which has its (comic aspect for the new chum. He sent a telegram from Mercer at half-past ten a.m., informing a friend, who resided within a stone's throw* of the telegraph office, at Tuakau, that he 'would arrive by the half-past six train in the evening. He did arrive at that time,' to find the friend had gone out for the evening. On inquiry at the telegraph office, he was informed that telegraphic messages were hot delivered at Tuakau. The new chum thought he ought to have been informed of ..this by the clerk at the office handed the telegram in at. Still, he rejoiced he had not paid express (double) (rates.when"' despatching that telegram. ( How the Minister for Railways and Telegraph must smile when he; hears the visitor to New Zealand has suffered in this way. Perhaps there is information in the Postal Guide, or attelegraph offices, warning new chums against -being so silly, but he does not see it. :. .'-; '■■ Friday, April 8, ■ broke clear and ',bright, and I was able to make an early start for Waiotapu, 26 miles. 'This is not - a pretty; part of the journey, and does not impress one much. Still it was interesting as affording another variation of the scenery of this wonderful thermal region. The landscape was rimdtilatory,! and principally covered with tea-tree (scrub. This itself: is pretty, ; and when a strong bright .son: is shining, thepeculiar and agreeable perfume of this shrub pervades the atmosphere. Indeed, this.'tea-, tree is so common throughout; the country that the traveller may journey for days, and see nothing else. > ,It becomes so familiar that one grows to love it like the great and-, grand bush itself., It has its bird life, too, and at '■ intervals on (the way: you will be visited by that delightful little creature,' the ;fantail. This little bird is most '''amusing: with ■.: if 1 - pretty habit of flight. }■'~ At - one moment he is fluttering like a humming bird, catching insects over your hat, or nearly ;between,..';your,* horse's ears, sometimes diversifying ,;; the ti.'jwforhianca by apparently trying to stand upon his tali:in the air,' then darting 'head; downwards at you, and you." feel inclined to shootout your. hand to catch him as you would a. fly ; * the next moment he is perched on a twig of tea-tree with his tail feathers perked up like a lady's halfopened fan, his wings coquettish! v drooping, and his little bead-like eyes laughing at you. The tiny little thing's behaviour "(suggests that he is enjoying a romp with'you. The appearance of the, bird in .the gyrations of ■ his ■' serial ': flight are graceful : and * beautiful : in the " extreme. Everywhere you go this charming little fellow is with (you, 1 , and becomes a welcome V companion in many a lonely day's ride. :, The road leads through a broken; country, now swamp, then hillocks of eternal punv mice, with flax, rushes, and an occasional weeping willow in the hollows, and always the tea-tree elsewhere. In every direction, in the far distance, the view; is bounded by the irregular outline of the mountains, and presently you realise that, although (at an elevation of about 1000 feet, you are traversing a vast plain, which, at some time in the ages, may have -been, a sea, which <in an upheaval broke away for outlet down the Waiotapu Valley. About nine miles out the road bears off to the left to Waimangu, but, as my present objective was the distant ranges of the unknown Urewera country, I passed by this now celebrated geyser till a future visit.

As the day wore on strange wonders revealed themselves —puffs of . steam issuing from the tea-tree scrub in every direction; by the wayside?a little pond, the whole surface merrily boiling; on the road something like a lime-kiln, which,? when you approach it, a printed legend informs you is ".the Porridge Pot." A short ladder enables ycu to get? up and look into this wonder, and there, sure enough, is a bubbling, boiling mass of liquid mud (pumice, I suppose it is). The walls of this natural curious wonder have been formed by the bubbling mud drying and becoming solid. It is about 9ffc high, and 7ft in diameter, and is circular in shape. ( , My poor brumbie was very thirsty, and, seeing a little stream by the wayside, he went to drink. The moment after. his nose touched the water I sat on the road looking at the horse, ; and he staring in fright at the steaming water. The water,was nearly at boiling-point, and; was the ' overflow from numerous outbursts. from the infernal regions around. Instinctively I had held on to I>be reins, otherwise I should have had to walk icnominiously to Waiotapu. Poor brnmbie! He was a learned gee-gee when lie had finished this tour.; This was an easy day's ride, and finished early at the Waiotapu Hotel. The hotel I found comfortable and quiet.? It is suffering at present by reason of the new accommodation hotel recently established by the Government only nine miler distant at Waimangu, but it has a successful future before it, as the natural wonders in the Waiotapu Valley are not nearly exploited, and the extraordinary sights to be seen in. the Maoris' ground immediately adjacent surpass those at Whakarewarewa. Here again I may be permitted to remark that I did not set out to write an account of what I saw in this '■ thermal region, but,, I cannot help remarking that the more 1 saw of this wonderland, the more I became convinced the Government were, in Rofcorua, putting all their eggs into one basket; and in time those eggs will smell bad. . '-' . ... .': :_ : - WAIOTAPU TO GAKATEA. A dense fog lay on- Waiotapu on . the morning of April r 9, and, -thinking I had an easy day's journey (23 miles) before me, I made a leisurely start at nine o'clock. It turned out to be a hot, sweltering day, and was long enough before wo got over the Kaingaroa Plains to Galatea. On leaving Waiotapu the road leads past: and through Crown lands which the Government are fencing for miles. Here is a convict establishment—it 'can hardly be called a prison, there are no walls, and the criminals appear to be merely attached to the place on parole. These men, I was informed, are what are called good-coEcliict men, and are employed in. making toads, fencing, planting nurseries of forest timber, and otherwise improving these lands. The land does not seem suitable for cultivation, being of the eternal pumice; possibly, though, the chemist of the future may discover a top-dressing which will make it fruitful. (Where the tea-tree! and other weeds grow, surely something more profitable can be cultivated , ( ,

I. Ascending some 600 ft or move .by. an | easy gradient, at about five miles distant from the hotel, the road debouches * on', to - the arid iKaingaroa- Plains. 1 On these grow a dwarf; kind of ti scrub, and other weeds, and although no attempt has apparently yet been made to bring any, part of; these plains under cultivation, troops of wild ponies manage to ■ exist upon; them: i but,' except : ; , : these animals, 'no! 1 sign of fur .or" feather was to be seen. Level as a billiard-table, these plains ;"stretch away in all directions for' many miles until the distant, view is met by chains of '; mountains.; No water can lodge on this plateau, and the heaviest fall of ram? soon; percolates through the pumice.* Where roadside ditches had been cut to; drain the road, charred portions of 5 trees could be seen, affording proof of a burnt forest, which ages of volcanic eruptions had covered with pumice and lava dust. I, A curious feature > is ;the subsidence in places of * the surface into valleys— one place. 170 ft (say) wide, 100 ft deep, ; and ; a mile or so long. Whatever rainfall drains .into these disappears at once through the bottom, ■'} and, following la'' channel ■ under- . ground, flows out again at the bottom of i the J: slope >do wn; from ; : the '■■, plains, miles ; away near the river at; Galatea. ; Even the ditches 'the; roadside - presented huge holes, - showing 'where the rainfall i had transuded for itself perpendicular channels into <■' he bowels of the earth. The wonder is what would Become - of, a traction engine ;if it strayed on Lto these plains. '• ; Even the hind feet of my horse,; cantering, fell through. (Horses traversing this stage of the journey: suffer much from thirst. Would \ it be too [much: to ; suggest that - ; a paternal i Government, or parish, council, might catch -the rainfall : into a clay-puddled pond for their relief. > This road is the highway to Galatea, the Whakatane Valley, : and:: the '; Urewera ranges beyond, and the mail cart has to traverse it between Waiotapu and Te Whaiti. ' ' Some five or miles from Galatea the plains end, and looking down the long slope to the river the appearance of Galatea is that of a large estuary the sea when the .tide is out. The ranges of- the Urewera country ascend somewhat precipitously immediately beyond. At the bottom of this long slope the road turns to the right for half a mile, then sharply to ' the left v through ;a - somewhat dangerous gorgethere had been a landslip, from above just before I passed—then follows the direction of the usually dried-up bed of the channel (because the heaviest rainfall quickly drains through the pumice) * into which the rainfall percolates through the '■■ plains above. ;, Clover seed f had been . sown along its course, and grateful ' this (grazing must be to the houses of the stations near. s;

Through the gorge, we arrive at the river Raugitaiki, and turning to the fight": soon: reach Mr." Bird's accommodation-house. iSrr.mbio and his ' master ' looked long and earnestly at tins house, but,! seeing ho visible sign of it. offering- accommodation to man or; beast, with a snort and a sigh, passed on along the road, and Crossed the rivet by the bridge, some distance beyond. ( Fortunately we soon i met a lady, riding with a ; Maori woman attendant, who kindly guided :uk ; back to the house we ; ; had passed. ,':; I .remember,being. much struck with the gentle accent 'and smart 'dress of this lady, so "far from the madding crowd." ,-.She;seem* ed an exotic in that barren country, where apparently nothing fit for food conld grow. Already the sense of solitude had begun to affect m.?, and I was reminded of a remark by the manager of the hotel at Waiotapu, who, when I was leaving, said : " You are now leaving civilisation behind; there is neither whisky nor telegraph at Galatea." ;However, ■ Mr. ; Bird : and his ' people ' made me very comfortable. V" One of the charms of the tour so far was the varied;; scenery. ■ Each day's journey; might have been through 'foreign countries, so different were landscape flora ; but the ''grandest of all was yet to come. The I'aiif;itaiki is fed bv sever, 1 streams flawing down from the Urewera ranges, and affords good sport to, anglers- i Anyone who has followed a fish through the gorge the river runs through hero will, think, admit; this. Indeed, this valley (or estuary, as I have colled it) 1 is a good sportsman's country. In the season.wild duck, quail, and pheasant abound,' and it is just far enough; away from the basv haunt* of men to limit the Humber of, visitors <Jo (.it, .and: (yet;-., near enough to' ba within reach of the : weary city ■ man "v.-ho - requires change and. rest. Mr. Bird's accommodation hous? 1 affords all (h>t is absolutely necessary in the■ way-of oiid, but teh -wise man will bring his own '". medical comforts" with him, :, as (Galatea fis administered on strict prohibition principles. Ample facilities to travel and convey stores so far are afforded by the mail buggy, which conveys the mails between Waiotapu and Te Whaiti at least once '&: week. '