HOLIDAY TOURS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22603, 16 December 1936, Page 14

HOLIDAY TOURS

PREPARATIONS IN HAND motoring conditions CLEARING MAIN ROUTES HEAVY TRAFFIC ANTICIPATED Co-operation with the Main Highways Board has ensured that motorists during the coming holiday season will meet with a minimum of inconvenience from workmen and reconstruction work, states a report issued hv the Automobile Association (Auckland). In expectation of an unprecedented volume of holiday traffic the board will suspend all major reconstruction operations during the peak period from approximately December 21 until January 11, but new graders will be operating in country districts and regular maintenance work will he carried out. Those North Auckland highways which have deteriorated are being restored to normal order, while there should be little cause for complaint on the main routes, except for slightly indifferent surfaces where unfinished works are temporarily suspended, South Island Popular More itineraries for South Island tours have been issued to date than foj the whole of last year, states the tooring manager of the association, Mr. R. E. Champtaloup. Indications are that more leisurely trips will he popular, with longer spells at favoured resorts, while many inquiries have been received regarding country routes which hitherto have been little patronised. The improved central highways i through Taupo or Taumarunui and the National Park to Manawatu have affected the popularity of the main .route to Wellington, via Taranaki. Well-surfaced all-weather roads have done much to reduce Poverty Bay's isolation and Gisborne has consequently become popular as the base for a coastal tour round the East Cape and Cape Runaway to Opotiki. This route, howi ever, is still sometimes a problem, for, magnificent as the scenery is. there are unbridged rivers and a stretch of unmetalled road which may deter the less venturesome motorist, except during fine weather. The CTrewera Country Should bad weather necessitate the abandonment of the coastal route, however, the State highway from Gisborne to Opotiki through the Waioeka Valley is always reliable. In the Bay of Plenty improvement is reported on both the Kaimai and W T aihi-Tauranga roads. Large gangs of workmen have been busy for some months preparing a full width 14-foot roadway through the Urewera Country, and during the holidav period blasting operations, which have delayed traffic for the past ninp months, wi?l be held "p. Officers of the Automobile Association who recently inspected the road from Taihape to Napier and the desert route, on the eastern side of National Park report that reconstruction work and metalling have greatly improved travelling on this road, but caution is still necessary in wet weather

A steady programme of roading improvements has been in hand on tho Coromandel Peninsula, which always has its quota of holiday traffic. A large influx of visitors is expected at Christmas and early in January for the county's diam'ond jubilee celebrations.