A CYCLING TRIP TO OTIRA GORGE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2292, 3 February 1898, Page 37

A CYCLING TRIP TO OTIRA GORGE.

Tewards the end of 1897, as I was discussing with seme of my friends their various placs for the comiog holiday season, I found thab two of them had no particular arrangements for the first week of the new year, so we afe once agrted to make a tour to the far-famed Otira Gorge on our bikes. Monday, January 3, was the day appointed for starting, bub when the day came round the weafchc-r was so threatening that we did not deem it advisable to 6tarbon the wheels. We did nob like the idea of being beaten, so after a consultation with one of my friends, in which our hope for better prospects on the morrow overcame our despondency of the to-day, we decided to go up by traiu to Kumara. In ths meantime, thab our other ally might not feel slighted, I set oub to our appointed placo of meeting, bub altshouga I arrived there at the tiode agreed upon he ■was not there. I sought him ia vain, and gob back to the s L ation 10 minutes after the traiu had gone. After kitsch I went in search of S., but; whan I cal'ed ab his residence — by name " The Deo of Horrors " — I feund a ticket on tho ck.o- wbich mlirnaled thab he would ba back ia 15 irftnufc-s. I waited for over half au hour, and wsis just about to start for Kumara when he appeared. After rating him for kesping me waiting wa set out together oa our bicycles. No incident worthy of note occurred nnfeil we reached Goldsborough. Here I alighted at a friend's home, leaving ray machine by the roadside ; bui; uyoa coming oub again I had ca«se to rfgrto my uArale^sness, for I found that some ioqiusibive b'>ys had gratified their curiosity by breaking my bs'l. This facb called forth from S. a prophecy something like the following : " They like to break bt>l!s with stoaes cow, bub they'll soon ba breaking atonea with the belt's of a hammer." Of course, no eigu ot boys was fco be ssea anywhere, go we were obliged to ride on, hoping H.'a pvophecy might conaatrue in a mild form. As wo neared Kumara tharaiiibagau to coiaedowo very heavily, and continued so all nighfc. The morning broke foggy and threatening, and I said to my companion, •' There's no use thinking of goirg, for the rivers are sure to bo in f130d." By 11 o'clock the sky bad cleared a goo<i dcii, and gave promise of a spell of Sne weather. Needless to say, this revived our hopes, so after neceiving much advice from one friends in bown — soiae saying we ought to staib, others saying we should r«inaia — we resolved to risk ib. Aboub midday we sob out, and aa we weab along tho sky continued to clear, so we ga.ve ourselves up to enjoyment of tho pleasures of the ride. Wo pasatd through Dtllmcmstovim, which, by the way, was described ns rMsaibliDg » lob of clobhes hung on a line to dry, aud wsro soon aloae with Nature. Eatering the bu.-,h a little distance from the Junction Hotel, everything bhafe showed the works of man exespb the road was shub oub from view. The change from tha open roa-d was very agreeable. As we wenb down the first hill S. CAiae ia for his first misf or! uue. Bngrosve-J in the pleasures oe the ride and in admiration of his steed, v»h>ch received from him the nam3 of "The Iror.cHd," iie steered ?nta a rut", with the ce'.ulfc thab his onward course cizfijjged to a downward one, wliieh in its turn e-tme to a vFolen!; finish as he wenb ppcawlrng oa the ground. I was riding abreast of him a& fcne ism-*, and so that my equilibrium mighb n^t be up?eb by his EQ!3iortuoe he called out as he was falliug, " I*.'.-) all right 1 ." I had my doubts abonb "ib, bufe after examining tha stout " Ironclad" first and himself next the ve'dicb was given in fiw&ur oi what he had said before. Hoon after this we came to a creek whioh was, as all the others we wore to meeb that day, in fljo.i. Neither of us were accustomed to travelling where mountain torrenla flow over the road, hnt we concluded we7 J d never learn youuger, so wa decided to cross. Jnsb as we were preparing fco remove our boots, &c, two men in a spring dray came within sight, so we waited till they came up and asked them to pab U3 over, which they did. As we rode away we bade them •' good-bye," thinking thab such aa we on cur bikes would see no more of them. But we bargained w'tfchoub our ho3b in this matter, for oar wild dash ahead w&s soon brought to an end by another creek, over which they passed before U3. Tbis was rather a shock to ouc feelings, bub we re3olved to retrieve the honour wa had lost, ao we huirieil through the water without much regard to dry feet, wibh the resulb th»b we were soon a considerable disbance ahead. Bub ere long we came bo anothtsr sbream which had overflowed its bank-", so thab the wire bridge placed over it was sfcatiding ia quite a lake of water. Aa we neared it I began to slow dowD, bub S. dashed nobly pasb me into tha water, which was shallow at first, but dsepened gradually until it reached the boarings of his machine. Thus far 8. seemed as though nothing waald prevent him from reaching the bridge in triumph, but suddenly, for some unexplained reason, he came to a ebandsMU, with ths resulb thab he was thrown into ths water ooma five or fix yards from 6ka bridge end. He gathered hitasftlf up and *aid to me " I'm web," and then, as though he thought there was some ch*noe, bafc no use ef me risking myself as he had done, oe added, "Wait, and I'll carry you and your bike over." I let him carry the bike, but preferred to walk round through the bush, and then te jump from log to log until I reached the bridge. Ab the other end of the bridge there was nothing for, ib but to wade through, but as the water

was not e'eep I did nob get very w»t. Soras time after this, as v?e rode do7«"n a hilJ. wa passed three youths at work on (be read, and lyiDg near them was a peaceful-looking dog. However, things are nol alw»» s wlu.t they sesm, as this dog proved at S.'ts expanse, for aa as was passing ib it made a bound at him s.uJ succeeded in brifgiug him to the ground. I doi'i, know what it thought S. wae— perhaps ib shoughb he was lidiug tco fast, and wibhed to hold him back lest he should fly awsy into space — bub my friend looked as though he would like to have a chance of leaviug a good impression of his boot in its ribs. The dog must have discovered what was in his heart, for ib skilfully dcdg-,d oub of his reach. Then the ownei'3 of the bsute added insult to injury by assuring my unhorsed companion thab the dog would nob bite. S. thought otherwise, though he didn't cay much. He soon overtook me again, and we rode on laughing at the way in which the dog had upset him. For some distance we had a pl^a&ai.S ruD, but another creek appeared in the way, and we dismounted at its edge. Ib was divided into two channels!, so S. said he would go in a>id inr* oub the shallowest place a3 he was wsb. I thought ho had had some little experience at that sorb of thing, so I made no objection. We got over bhe firsb sbream all right, then on the bank of stones in the middle of the river b?d, to my wonder and amusement, he began a performance which suggested to one the proverbial hen on hob bricks. After observing him for a few minubes I saw that he was trying to cros3 over to the other side by jumping from boulder to boulder. Presently he turned back, aud I set pub to meeb him. With a face of great solemnity he said that ib was too deep, and so we could nob crosa. Wa believed the saying, " Fortune favours the brave," so we went down the stream till wo came to a fallen tree which fo:med a rude bridge, on which wa resolved to cross. We .carried our machines down, and S. gob upon the log while I handed "The Ironclad" up to him. I then assisted him over, as his " Iron« clad " was heavy and awkward. He then came back and assisted me with mine. This crossing brought to one's mind the story of two goats which met on a narrow ledge, so we didn'b quarrel as we went over. When once more on terra firma bhe question of the way back to the road came up. We soon found a track, bub it led us into a great patch of fallen timber in which bidibiite grew profusely. We deoided this must bo the wrong one, so we turned back. Presently I hit on another which gave more promise of being right. As I went along it, carrying my wheel, I looked to see wfaat S. was doing. I saw that he was in difficulties ainoßg the scrub, bub walked slowly, thinking he would overtake mo. When I reached bhe road I bdgan to ride quietly, bub after riding some distance there w»s no sign of him. Wonderiug what could be keeping him, I gob off and waited. Ab lengbh he came riding up to bell ma tbat a bush had pulled his chain off, snd as he had no tools with him it took him a few minutes to geb ib on again. After riding a short distance we came upon a camping party, nho very kindly asked us to have a cup of tea. Without waiting for a second invitation we i joined them, and very much enjoyed the tea and cake. After thanking these unlooked-for friends wa prepared to push on. The parting I words were, "Well, we won't sea you again,'' I to which ws readily agreed, bub ; The best-laid plans o' mica and men [ Gang af s agley. Wa hive scarcely gone 50 yds when my back tyre punctured. On examining ib I found thab a pia had penetrated ihe cover and both sides of tha &ir tube. lab onco prepared to mend mabters, but found to my horror tbat I had forgobten my> glass paper. S. rode back to a hoose> and was fortunate enough to geb » piece there. Before ho returned the friends just mentioned drova p&sb, and close upon their heeU canae the spring dray which had pub us over the ficsb stream. We lost about half an hour through this misfortune, bub when w,a again started ak>ng bhe road we tried to make up for it, bnb I don't know if we were sueoes^ful. While some * diatauce from Jackson's S. began to think ho would never reach the gorge, bub he kepi manfully on. I asked a man whab distance wo had yet to ran, and was told 14- miles. S. thought that with care his strength mighb hold out. Jusb beyond Jackson's I noticed so-.e-'hiujj ! wrong wibh ray fronb wheel bearings, bub -as ib | was ia+e id tho afternoon we hurried on. Our, i innw man now bfgan bo claim our attention, so we inquired if there was & store in the neighbourhood. We were directed to one, in bo which we wenb in hopes of getting some bnouifes, bub nothing eabable could we get there. The la-dy of the pkea very kindly asked us into tha dwelling house, saying she would make U3 a cup of tea. This invitation we ab ones accepted, and a3 we were vesy hungry we were thankful. During the meal w» wero fiHetrbained by two other guests of oar hostess, v?iio askf;<l v? all iaauner of questions aboub our asstecedeuts, wlrea wq delighted in &n«'veriug in as brief a m-uiner as po^ible. The couveraation waa highly atnusiag-, as was th« result-, for we were fcakeu for journalises, bo'ik fieada, spielers, and dear knows what. When, we resumed our journay wo feib better men, Abtjut five miles h-om tha gorga S. had ano'iitjr eticjuntec vmh a dojj, bub tbis bitae ha managed to scare ib away before i% g6!) a hold of him Perhaps ib saw whab w-«s ia hia heart, too. Near a large number oi' teuta a stream of considerable depth crossed the road, and vre were obliged to carry our bicycles up to a bridge and then down ogiin to tho road. This v;as no fun, na the OisS-'.rice was nob much under a quirber of a roile. Another rua of about 20 minutes brought us to another creek, which was deep and very cold, buo we saw the Otira Hotel in the distance, so we began to wade. We fcol over without accident, and ia a few minutes we stood at tha ford ia fesnt of the hotel. We found th« ford too deep for us to bhiak of crossing by ourselves, go we siAighb the aid of a hor=e from the other aide. la aboub ttree-quartars oi an hour we saw one eo<ni:;g. VYhea he reached our side I aeked the man whab he would charge lo pu« ns over. " Two shillingi e*ch," he replied. I than asked him If he could take onr machines, bub he- wasn't sure ; he had nevar taken such things on that horse. We refused to go on the-30 conditions, as the price was too high iv. the first place aud the risk to the machines too gieat in the second. Now came bhe que3tioa, Whab are we to do ? Bub before we thought much aboub ib I remembered that my fronts wheel needed seeing to, so everything was pub to one side until we sheuld fiad oub what was wrong. We took the wlissl out, and found, thab five broken balls wera the cause of the trouble. S. had some spare oaeG with, hioa, and as there was no other damage we ecoa had tke wheel back in its place. Just- as we replaced ib I looked up, and there, to my fcurpriae, in a great etata of heafc aud excitement, sbaod our sbray man. He had riddoa up from Hokibika thab day, astonishing all the natives along the way with his furious riding. I guessed ab his feelings, and after explaining our situation to him I added by way of en* eouragement, "So we can only go back again." He did not quite appreciate this joke for naor« reasons than one*

(To be conU?iued.)