THE KING COUNTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20071, 8 October 1928, Page 6

THE KING COUNTRY.

TOURIST ATTRACTIONS. MANY CHARMING RESORTS. GREAT WAITOMO CAVE'S. THREE WONDERFUL CAVERNS. [by our special commissioner.] No. VIII. The King Country is not usually regarded as a resort tor tourists and yet it possesses many features which should attract visitors from overseas and from other parts of New Zealand, Its natural beauties are in themselves most striking. The wonderful limestone region which stretches from its northern boundary in the Otorohanga district to the head waters of the Wanganui river would in any other country be looked upon as a most charming holiday resort, and would be a profitable ground for artists. It is not really a mountainous country, but it has in Pirongia and Karioi and other peaks climbing grounds that offer some of the most exquisite forests and some of the most picturesque scenery to be found anywhere. Its coastline from Aotea down to Pukearuhe is infinitely varied and offers many noble features, while its fishing waters yet to be fully exploited are remarkable for the thrilling sport they offer. Many Beautiful Rivers. It has many and very beautiful rivers, some of them attractive to the voyager, such as the Wanganui, the Mokau, the Tangarakau, and others, and many offering excellent trout fishing. In all parts there are evidences of old Maori life and the country is rich in legend and tradition. On the eastern side of the Main Trunk line travellers and tourists have areas of practically unknowa country to explore and many fine streams to fish toward the Rangitoto highlands and the western shores of Lake Taupo. But at the present time the most popular tourist centra in the whole of the King Country is Waitomo, where there are to be found three of the most wonderful and interesting caves in the world. Waitomo is quite easy of access. It can be approached from the Main Trunk line either from Hangatiki or from To Kuifci, by car from both places. Waitomo is situated in a charming little valley that winds amid quaintly carved banks and cliffs of laminated limestone. It consists of a store, a post office, a few settlers' homesteads and a fine Government hostel. Ample Hostel Accommodation. The hostel, of course, is for the convenience of visitors. Until a little while ago it consisted of a two-storeyed wooden building quite inadequate for the evergrowing stream of travellers, but there has been just completed a handsome and substantial new building of reinforced concrete with all the modern conveniences and very bright and spacious rooms. Now there is ample and pleasant accommodation for a large number of guests. Tennis courts, bowling greens, and golf links are being provided, so that those people who wish to stay here and see the wonders of the place at their leisure have the assurance that they can do so under very pleasant conditions, and meet, if they wish to do so, a constant stream of people from nearly every civilised country. The caves themselves can be seen with the utmost ease, and explored without any discomfort or exertion. A car takes one up a delightful valley, and one walks' through a lovely little wilderness of native trees and giant ferns by the banks of the Kahikatea Stream, and at the base of a great cliff of crystaline limestore is the entrance of Ruakuri. Ruakuri and Aranui. Here are vast subterranean chambers and lofty passages studded with stalactites and stalagmites of bewildering shape and beauty. The electric lamps show delicate carvings in pure white calcito ornamented by crystals which glitter like innumerable gens. Ruakuri is not a cave, it is a series of caverns all on a gigantic scale. In one part of it is a subterranean stream, that very stream one walked by under the arching ferns. Underground it is only seen for a brief space, but in one place it forms a high waterfall, which thunders invisible behind gleaming walls. No doubt this stream has had its part in the formation of the caves, and it is probable that this waterfall may lead to new subterranean, chambers and new wonders. The entrance to Aranui is in a massive bluff of limestone almost opposite Rua-. kuri. Aranui was discovered only a fewyears ago, and is considered by some people the finest of the three caves. For the size and beauty of its stalactites, and for the loftiness of its underground chambers is indeed unrivalled. Marvellous Formations. It would require the genius of a great writer to describe the marvellous formations found in these spacious underground temples, ami genius would fail to enumerate the innumerable delicate beauties carved by nature in the dark of countless centuries. Some of the stalagmites are like jewel-bedecked Oriental altars, and high above them are lofty roofs of white marble frescoed with delicate carving. Waitomo is quite near the hostel, and is generally seen after dinner. If it were not that its stalactites and stalagmites have been slightly dulled by the passage of air, it would be ono of the most beautiful of all the caves. Ono of the wonders of Waitomo is its underground river, the old entrance of tho cave was by the river of this name, which flows boldly through a cavernour gateway in the cliffs and wanders underground for half a mile or more. The beauty and charm of Waitomo is the cavern of glow worms, which ono visits by boat. The electric lights are shut off and there, high above one, is a roof of gleaming stars. Each star the marvellous Bolet-ophelc.a luminosa with its dangling slender thread of tiny pearls. This is only the briefest description of three wonderful caverns and gives only a portion of their attractions, but the fact that last year 14,000 people visited them, and that the numbers are increasing yearly, indicates their charm.