ACROSS COUNTRY TO TAUPO

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15048, 18 July 1912, Page 4

ACROSS COUNTRY TO TAUPO

' BY TRA^itS. . , A ninety-mile ride. [by OUR TAfitABUOTI" CORRESPONDENT.] ■ r ' 'V' V; A week or ' two ago a party of six young /men, including :&Ir. Austin Garr, of Auckland, hired .horses and engird a Maori guide ;to .pilot themitto Lake : Taupo ?om Poro-o-taraO, a distance pf. about;9o mile?; by a route unknown .to the .tourist, unmentioned in guide-books, and unt-raversed by anyone except.a- .very -occasional' Maori. : ..One of, the < party - ,told m« the tale of -their fexperifincea' nomewhat i as : follows : — We could .have got to ■; Lake Taupo, .said he,":■/■ ,by .several ' easy, - routes, and «ija|fi«d • our deeir©.-to -.fisK in that lordly .sheet of. water, hut then -we.should . not .have,appeased -our longing to, seo a part of the country which is , practically run-' known, • So off we set on a. leose .cavalcade from Poi'o-o-tarao, our dusky rangatira leading the way, and the pack-horses (laden with tents, provisions, and fishing tackle) *■ bringing up the rear. Our rou£o ffirst lay through the valley* of the Ohinemoa, the upper portions of which were once covered : wtih heavy bush, but which .is-nW being olfifti'ed by - the settler. Th« growth of - the :autumn-sown grass already te%iti£» :to the productive qualities of this rich papa -land." The lower parts of ♦ the vajley, stretching flown. to the : conoMenfio -of i-the WMmiha. ,«ud;Sjttgaj*M© Rivers, :,aro pf ithe - same :4orijnation,„b.ut covered with ;pumice, .at vary-. •ing depths. f It'is .uncultivated,; and -grows ' stunted"tea-tree and fcrp. ; . CrpsMijg • the above rivers whew they i join,.. we: bore eastwards up the - Waimiha Valley for four miles, till we reached the Walmifia "Falls. These are rather a fine sight, the whole volume of water flinging ■itftelf on Jo a large boulder, and then fall- , ing into a deep, silent pool. The formation is here entirely of pumice— i water-carried from the higher levels—and, grows tussocks and small tea-tree on - the right side of the valley, but on the left carries a . fine timber bush. Up to this point the .stream is well stocked with trout, and provides some excellent filling. ; Our track wound upwards from here, ..through scrub And between sandstone rocks, _ till the river was lost to view, and then .it, climbed -a steep ridge, covered with fern and tutu ; thence, after a slight •depi>e|sfci:6n .to a still; higher range, until it -entered 'heavy 'bush. Here we .baited and gazed with pleasure round a magnificent weep. of. country. / . >

I The Jirst :Salt. ■ The track now passed into, and ran for a few jailes along, a dißus'ed : tramline, ; once serving to carry logs -to the Manga- ' peehi tiflaber mill. ;.This led Ua to Te Aroa, ; a bushmatt'ii camp at the -end ..of the pre-: sent Mangapeehi -timber tramline. ' We held ;•<», ;»nd five s miles further made our first halting place for the night. . A de- / sertod Maori ■ whare having come opportunely into sight, we occupied it, and so were < (saved the trouble of pitching a tent. We had, iso-far, made 18 miles. We. rose next morning refreshed, and found that we had struck the head waiters; of the Waipapa River, which joins the : Waikato; We ' followed up th© Waipapa. • for. several miles, and it was most interest: ing. ; We* felt we were really mounting to • , the .roof of the island. \ .rocks . JiEmg] the river bed showed that it was formerly 1 a lava stream, and where the deeper cut--tings]had been made the strata were of -different colours, and the water ran between them as clear as crystal. Before long We reached .a / spot to which three gullies,. laden with heavy bush, converged. : Thiee creelce met here, and formed the beginning .of the Waipapa River. Following one Of tljese, we found, on a rise, a i fti.it. .of. some considerable extent, covered with "fem and tutu, and. there we surprised groups .of wild' horses ' one after ; another. They were not the weedy beasts one finds in the neighbourhood of Maori pas. They were in fine condition, and it was a sight to- see them toes up their heads, fling out . their long tails, : and sweep off at full gallop for the sheltering bush. Another mile through bush ana then a clear space higher up, from which we look back on the tussocky plateau we had . left, and see it ringed around by limitless bush. ' . Rich Land and Poo; Land. Our course now .took us northwards, and we. paesed through alternate fern and bush, the prevailing trees in tho latter being immense riraus, growing on a rich loam. It was. a pleasure to think that at 1 some future date this part of the country should' be highly productive, Soon we found ourselves on a.'higher fern peak, about :2000ft v above sea-lsvel, ami- our guide pointing northwards, showed us the MauaagaAautari ■Range, and the 'well known Maraitai Block. Here again we started a mob of wild .horses, v who tore _ with ' breakneck speed down the slope, till "they were lost in the forest. Next wo came to a pumice jjlain, growing a species of tussock, wretcnedly po6ra striking contrast to the rich land just passed, To th© east there seemed endless barren country, broken here and itbere in the valleys by high peaks of sandi atone, on the summit of which grew lichen ,and fern. Having-ridden eastward for ithree hours, we suddenly descended into ;an exquisite wooded valley, from the sides •of -winch, at intervals, bold sandstone cliffs projected. Along -the base of these winds a river two chains wide; which our guide informed ne is the Mangakino.' This beautiful valley, with its stretches .of green bank, is like a ]>eep into, fairy-, land. .Here was another old Maori whare, : also untenanted, and in this we made ready for lunch. A Perfect Trout Stream.

While the billy boiled, some of our, t prarty got out their rods, whipped one or •two pools, -and in a few minutes landed ,a nice Six-pound trout. Letting the horses: .drink their fill, we leisurely followed the river bed for iialf-a-milc, close in under ithc banks, and saw dozens of fish, varying from two to eight pounds in weight. • This lovely Mangakino, which has its source in dense bush and flows into the • Waikato River, is .a perfect trout stream, and when better known will give much sport to.anglers.. It is only one day's ride from Waimiha station. Crossing the river at a shallow part' wo left' the wooded valley and entered desolate poor country similar to what we had traversed before reaching the Mangakino. .'We rode, 'through this for three hours, after which we came to some , poplar trees and a deserted pa erected by the Maoris for defeuco against the English at the time of the war. We found out later that no fight actually, took place there. (Poplar trees have al-' ways found favour with the Maoris for stockades, as their bright coloured leaves , make them conspicuous for many miles.)' In the distance we saw another row of the same sOi't of trees, and another, old pa, where our troops fought a running skir- '■ mish against Te Kooti.'s. men, the natives making"only a slight resistance. The End of the Second Day.

Poor soil, barren country; here and there j a chasm as if the earth yawned with weariness, occasionally a creek serving to drain the dreary hillside.. Towards dusk wecrossed a stream ruimmg in a -ravine with high precipitous banks. This, unlike the Mangakino, has a stony bed. This stream separates the poor land from the bush. I have seen the same thing in the NorthAuckland -districts, wljcre a creek marks the limit of a lava flow and -separates poor pipeclay from rich • volcanic loam. Wo tlien passed :through this bush ,and opened; out Once more on fern land, only to descend; and - cross the stream again at a point farther up- Following its banks we saw flocks of wild duck, (several of them being of the blue mountain species. The latter; are very rare. They are ; marvellously tame, for though we pasts not more than half a chain from them "they do not -fly, but sijiuwk c\fc us. oflensivfely. On. arriving at an old -Maori ; meetinghouse called Kakaho we decide -to caxap for the night, artd sleep in an adjacent -whare. One cannot help remarking en the entire absence -of natives here, although there are tiear signs of their in occupa-

—— , —■ — ■■ ■ ■ ": ■ t J,ion in former .-.ljimas.- '<>. Did they moK® J nearer, to • pakeha settlement as the Main; Trunk \ line advanced, giving _up : their; old hunting, fishing,| and cultivating Jjabite in; favour ,of the less strenuous pursuit yQtj collecting timber royalties ? ' I cannot ,sayv.; The whare in which we slept contained a complete outfit of "Maori home-cocking utensils, and we made good use of then}In one corner was a well-preserved patufaJ, on;-which the Maoris place any food •: or goods a. which . rats are likely to ; attack.. . (This its, a kind ox . rough bench, the upper , surface being - rounded and ■ the lower one ( flat and* resting on four stoat legs , over which it projects .on < ; side-") , ?y a found also a kind of primitive grinding stone some eighteen inches by four inches, £lie middle of. it being /hollowed from long : ■ use. . ' ' _ ■ '. ■ ■ 1 A Maori Meetinghouse.. i ' Rising early we had a good look over the • old meetinghouse, where we saw some ex-. cellent .specimens of Maori carvings, ; coloured here and there with rod and ! white pigments. In the ( eaves of the house i are numbers of ''' kouras," .the. implement ohco used for breaking up the ground in preparation for ; kumara crops. In the interior of ; this old . house is a passage > «i2C. feet wide down the middle of the building,' bordered on ;■ each side by a plank ; some; nine inches high, and.:aloi|g bath sides between this and the walls are old flax Bleeping mats laid on a hard bed of fern/ Doubtless portions of this old structure, which is now in a perfect state of preservation, will ,be found in some of the museums of the Dominion, and looking painfully out of keeping with their :eurroundings. •It is a pity there ,is not some system of tapu amongst us that Would c ensure this curious ancient relic being kept intact on its ■ present site. . ' The Journey's End. Riding from this > spot for. a ; distance of 15 miles, through -persistently waste land of poor quality, we got at last a glimpse of the lakeour goal-— descended until we ; came to the Waihato • Falls. This river, { which we followed for a mile, led up; out, i into a large flat bordering Lake Taupo, and we soon came upon an Englishman's i fishing camp. On Taupo',the fishing ground in the vicinity of a camp is looked upon as a sacred possession, and no fisherman likes to «ee ; his waters fished by others. As' we halted at -the Englishman's camp and he came out to. greet us we noted that he had a very perturbed look, evidently thinking from our gear on the packhorses that we intended camping in his neighlwurhood. However, when we asked what com-" munication;there w,tji between this weutern part of the lake and Taupo township his countenance,cleared, and .with the prospect of :getting rid of us he became ' friendly and conversational. * He informed us incidentally that there were no trout near his camp, although our quick-eyed Maori noticed a heap of them a little distance up .the bank. ; Our . English, friend's cordiality reached its height when he informed us that a launch which he had hired to bring him to camp would be returning to Taupo in an hour's time. We mad© arrangements ;ac cordingly to transfer all our stuff to the. boat,and dismissed our guide. He got another Maori to help - him back with the horses, but on account of flooded rivers was blocked on his return. I doubt if he is [ back yet. , '» ? v. Reviewing the whole country which we passed through I think it is a fair estimate to say that of the ninety miles traversed there are not more than: twenty mileg of ideally good land. But, much of the poor , country if plougbable can eventually be made good. As a tourist and sport resort the route has .possibilities, but not having traversed j th© ..alternative ones I do ; not know how it compares with the latter.