COACHING DAYS RECALLED THROUGH VISIT TO MUSEUM

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26915, 29 October 1948, Page 4

COACHING DAYS RECALLED THROUGH VISIT TO MUSEUM

An interesting comparison between modes of travel was given to, the Alexandra representatives who* flew to Dunedin yesterday when • they visited the Early Settlers’ Association museum and saw one of the early coaches operated by Cobb and Co., over the ground which they had covered in a matter of minutes. Three days of arduous travel was the lot of passengers who wished to use the coacn service to the Dunstan in the early days, and the fare for the journey was £5. The first advertisement to appear for this service was published in 1862 and read: FOR THE DUNSTAN Through in Three Days A large five-horse coach will positively leave Cobb and Co.'s office at 6 a.m. on Saturday morning. November 22, carrying passengers and swags. Cole, Hoyt and Co.. - Proprietors.

Passengers who set out on these trips were indeed sturdy of heart, for the recorded hazards on the road ranged from an infuriated cow who had been eating tutu, through snow, broken axles, floods and high winds to frostbite and fist fights. The winds which were met at times on the mountain roads were so severe that it was necessary on one occasion to remove the tops from the coaches in order to permit the service to be continued without danger of the vehicles capping. , The coach fares on the Dunstan road in 1863 were £1 to West Taieri, £1 10s to Lee Stream, £2 5s to Deep Stream. £3 to Halfway, £3 10s to Upper Taieri, £4 10s to McPherson’s, and £5 for the full trip to Shennan’s or Dunstan Naturally enough, such a rigorous task demanded men of staunch character to carry it out and an early writer commented that the coach driver of “ the olden days was usually a fine, burly man, fearless and dauntless, caring not for danger, be it floods, bushrangers or intricate roads hewn out of the forest, beset with boulders or tree stumps; the greater the danger, the better he seemed to like it.” Traces of the old coach roads are still to be found in various parts of Central Otago. The line of the road on the far side of the Cromwell Gorge can still be seen in places, while old residents can point out the coaching route over the mountains from Beaumont. It is doubtful whether any of the travellers who made the journey into Central Otago then would recognise the country over which the air travellers of to-day fly. But the representatives of the Central Otago communities who have come to the city by plane during the past week have emphasised that, in their opinion, the successors to the coaches must have wings.