A Trip Up the Oaonui Stream.

Opunake Times, Volume V, Issue 211, 11 September 1896, Page 2

A Trip Up the Oaonui Stream.

Messrs Brame and Dowson returned on Tuesday from a trip to the head of the Oaonui stream, occupying nine days. Notwithstanding the somewhat inclement time of the year they en- . joyed their outiog very much. Mr Brame is convinced that the ascent of Mount Egmont between the Waitotaroa and Taungatara streams is impossible to any but the most experienced mountaineers. The whole side of the mountain is riven into deep fissures, and the ascent barred by high precipices and loose slides of steep sand and stones. Mr Brame is of opinion that the heavy floods experienced from time to time in the Oaonui stream are caused by the avalanches of snow and debris which, becoming detached from the mountain, fall into the converging sides of the immense Oaonui gorge, and completely block it up, until the pressure of snow and ""water becomes so great that the barrier bursts, and the Hood carries down the accumulated sand and boulders. Small avalanches and shingle slides are of frequent occurrence, and the noisft" made by them may be heard for a long distance. Mr Brame says the country beyond the Forest Reserve, line rapidly becomes more stony and broken.

The mamaku, kohekohe, and other trees give place to cyathea cuuniughamii, mountain totara, horopito (variety colorata), and tawai, all becoming more stuuted-»in growth and fewer in number as the ground becomes more stony and tbe soil disappears. Everything in the ravines is damp and moss grown. It is possible that in the future the terraces at the immediate foot of the mountain might become a favorite resort for people suffering from complaints that require bracing mountain air, otherwise this part of the " garden of New Zealand " is worthless. There are no traces of recent thermal action to be seen, although in one place the hard sand gives out a heat that is very comfortable for camping on, but the sand is so strongly impregnated with sulphur as to be unpleasant when a fire is lighted on it. Some of the small streams also seem to contain considerable sulphur and iron. It is not unlikely that as the country becomes opened up valuable mineral springs may be found, there being a similarity between parts of the base of the mountain and certain localities about Rotorua. A commonsidea that the quality of the land improves as one leaves the Wiremu Road and approaches the mountain ia quite erroneous so far as this side is concerned; on tho contrary, it becomes more stony and wet.