DAY AT THE SEASIDE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18607, 15 January 1924, Page 8

DAY AT THE SEASIDE.

CHARM OF WEST COAST.

MINISTER IN THE SURF.

FUTURE TOURIST RESORT. [BT TELEGRAPH.SPECIAL REPORTER.] ' : DiARGAYILLE. Monday. The attraction which the West Coast beaches offer to holiday makers are only gradually being realised by AucklandeTS. In the past access has been difficult and appreciation correspondingly limited. During the recent North Auckland tour of the Hon. J. Q. Coates, Minister for Public Works and Railways, there have been opportunities of discovering just what the West Coast offers. The Ninety Mile Beaei is unique for length but it is not generally known that below Maunganui Bluff, and within easy distance of Dargaville, there is another stretch of 50 miles to Kaipara Heads, of unbroken fine sand.

Whereas the sixty odd miles of the socalled Ninety Mile Beach has a dreary background of shifting sand dunes the section below Maunganui is guarded by, high cliffs, indented occasionally by tiny bays wherein may be found handy camping grounds, or sites for holiday huts. It was to one of these coves, Bayly's coast camp, only eight miles from.Dargaville, that the Ministerial party repaired for the first real day of relaxation after a strenuous tour. At once they were vividly seized with the charm of this western shore. Dargaville had been left sweltering under the oppression of still another of the close days which recently have debilitated the province. On the Coast there was the roar of the breakers, the surge of the surf, and the fresh breath of the west wind op whose spirit Shelley and Conrad have discoursed in verse and prose. The call of the west wind as well a call back to nature, so, with as few clogging coverings as conventions allow, the party advanced on the incoming tide. Attired in army shorts and a thin shirt, gone in the back, the Minister was first in, hauling on a net in the breakers. Half an hour was long enough to secure enough mullet and schnapper tif satisfy appetites Whetted by the salt spray. Merry minutes in the surf in which the children joined with the rest preceded luncheon. Afterwards Mr. Coates shouldered a kerosene tin, and his companion a spade, to unearth the wily but delicious toheroa. , The appreciation of West Coast camper* of _ this delicacy was seconded by the Prince of Wales on his New Zealand tour. Like Oliver Twist he asked for more. The toheroa is , to be found about six inches below the wet sand. When found he must be incarcerated at once for he is wonderfully quick at working his way out of sight if left to his own devices. The seagulls seemed quite aware of what was forward. By the hundred they landed on the beach as the toheroa were shelled. Everywhere the sand was broad-arrowed bv the feet of the gulls and there were shrill and greedy scenes when they were left to the debris. Meanwhile the rest of the party were keenly engaged in clock golf on a smooth "green" of sand, varied by driving on a glistening 50 miles of fairway. One of th»» strange features of this beach is tha occasional outcrop of half-matured kauri lignite. These occur again in strata in the cliffs. Once set afire the lignite will burn for weeks and offers a tolerable fuel for domestic use.

Dargaville is only beginning to realise the wonderful asset it possesses in this beach. A proposal is now afoot to make it a unit in a magnificent' tourist programme. It is intended to improve the access and egress to Bayly's and thus at once the motorist will have at his command a perfect surface for 50 miles. There is also in prospect a round trip occupying a day from Dargaville. It is 16 miles over the sands . from Bayly's to Maunganui Bluff- where the mussels abound. From this point inland ji- is hoped that a road will be shortlyconstructed to Aranga, a distance of one ,and a-half miles, Then the road loads back through Katui, the Waipoua State forest, and Donnelly's crossing* to the Trounson National Park, and thence to Dargaville. Within a comparatively short distance the tourist would thus traverse one of the finest beach highways in the world and penetrate the greatest kauri forest in the world. In audition, wonderful seascapes and forest panorama would meet . the tourist throughout his journey. . 1