HAURAKI PENINSULA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20086, 25 October 1928, Page 20

HAURAKI PENINSULA.

ATTRACTIONS FOR TOURISTS.

BUSH AND PLACID WATERS

EXCELLENT MOTOR ROUTES

Ir.Y TELEGRAPH. —OWN COHRESI'ONDF.NT.I THAMES. Wednesday..

Those who know best the wonders of tho wooded hills and the charm of the coastal scenery around (he llauraki peninsula know that few parts of the Dominion offer more scenic attractions. The once densely-wooded goldtiehls ranges are being transformed to pastoral uses, metalled roads are taking the place of old Maori trails and miners' bridle tracks, and city people can now motor in comfort through many parts of this beautiful peninsula. Here the tourist can still find on the central heights native hush in its virgin loveliness, fantastic rock formations, and on all the ridges scenes of surpassing beauty. Ways are being made to the eastern coast of the peninsula,, one of the too-little known camping rounds of the North, where, at Mercury Bay and Kennedy's Bay, Tairua and Whangamata, swordfish and tnako, kingfish and kahawai, offer great sport for the angler. Here rugged cliffs and tree-fringed beaches provide new fields for artist and photographer. Tho completion this year of the Hau raki Bridge has brought Thames within an easy three and a-quarter hours' motoring run from Auckland, over the straight red-metalled roads of the llauraki Plains. In recent years local authorities have made a special effort to cater for visitors to tho Thames coast, and last summer there were camping parties at Thornton's 'Bay, Waiomio, Puru and Tapu from many parts of tho North Island. Provision For Campsrs. The provision of a £3 for £1 maintenance subsidy by the Main Highways Board has enabled the Thames County Council to effect many improvements to its 14-mile stretch of road along tho coast. Corners have been widened, tho Bca has been walled at many points to prevent erosion, and deviation and other metalling work has resulted in.the permanent provision of a first-class highway, on the sides of which tents can be pitched almost at the water's edge in ideally wooded surroundings. Chief among the many scenic attractions of the peninsula, however, is the motor route from Thames to Coromandel and Mercury Bay and back to Thames, which has been compared favourably with the scenic beauty of the world-famous Italian Riviera.

After a run of 28 miles .'.long the Gul? coast, from Thames to Kcrita, the road strikes inland for a long ascent"of hill country, on the topmost heights of which the bush-clad ridges and kauri-covered slopes provide a wondrous and neverending scene of beauty, enhanced by the magnificent panoramic glimpses of the island-studded waters of the gulf thousands of feet below. Deep-Sea Fishing. The old-time mining town of Coromandel, with its restful environment, affords pleasaut accommodation until the journey is continued tc Mercury Bay, now famous for its deep-sea fishing. Tliero aro other attractions here, however, for the family motorist who does not aspire to battle with the swordfish and mako shark. The placid waters of the bay are stocked with almost every known variety of sporting fish which afford excellent sport with a hand-line over the side of a rowing boat, or from launches. The Mercury Bay Svvordfish and Mako Shark Club offers special facilities to all visiting sportsmen and tourists, and is already booking a record visiting list, of overseas anglers for February and March. r On returning to Thames the journey from the bay is made by a new road, via Tapu. Here again the trip through a magnificent stretch of timbered hills propares the traveller for the delightful contrast afforded by the home run along the coast to Thames, which can be varied by a run through (lie Thames Valley to Auckland, via Paeroa, Te Aroba and Morrinsville.

Motoring from Ooromnridel to Thames in the e;»rly-morning freshness of last autumn, (ho Hon. K. S. Williams. Minister of "Public Works, who was making his first lour of the peninsula, said he was sure the people of Auckland did not know of this magnificent scenic trip. "I am certain that ivhen it becomes hotter known," lie added, "it will bo regarded as one of the finest motoring trips in the if not in tho Southern Hemisphere."