NEW PLEASURE ROUTE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21881, 17 August 1934, Page 15

NEW PLEASURE ROUTE

THROUGH SYLVAN GLADES TE ANAU TO MILFORD Some 55 miles of the 74 miles of road between the hotel at Te Anau and the head of Milford Sound has been formed, and the Public Works Department is pushing forward the remainder of the work.

The first stream to be crossed on the road, the Upukerora, was the first in the Southern Hemisphere in which salmon were acclimatised. Thence the way leads through still, dark mountain forests, past still, deep waters, where mountain and forest are seen mirrored again. For miles the road will run through the heart of the forest, with precipitous mountains rising sheer above the tall beeches. Then will come a sylvan glade, resembling, in its peacefulness and orderliness, an English park. "Sometimes climbing, sometimes descending, but never steeply," says the Southland Times, "one follows the course of the green river, until after the 45-mile peg one begins to approach Lake Gunn. Here the forest becomes still more fascinating, for the stately beech trees, with their delicate green foliage and their moss-clad trunks, look like a scene from fairyland. There is something elfin-like in the very atmosphere. The heaviest heart must grow light amid such surroundings. "Thence past Lake Gunn, where blue mountain duck sweep away into startled flight at the approach of the motor-car, and where the splash of Atlantic salmon rising to the unwary fly sounds loud in the stillness, past the west side of Lake Fergus, and up to the Fergus Saddle, the road ribbon climbs. At 1740 ft. the Hollyford River is overlooked. From the Key Summit, 3046 ft. reached by an easy climb from the saddle, the panorama is awe-inspir-ing. From along the ridge a little there are beheld Lakes Gunn, Fergus, Howden, AlcKellar, Marian and Alarianctte, while down the Hollyford River are Mount Christina, 8210 ft., and other peaks which rise to 6000 ft. and 7000 ft."