MACKENZIE COUNTRY

Otago Witness, Issue 2571, 24 June 1903, Page 31

MACKENZIE COUNTRY

Jure 22— Ths Mackenzie Country to mnny carries the imprpssion of o rough, rugged, inountainous country, carrying a few merino sheep, a big proportion of which are lost through the depredations of the destructive sheop-killirg parrot, the kea. Ot'ieis think^ of it a? Mount Cook, with a big storey waste of a fiat near its base and a sheet or two of water in it, fed b? fiozen rivers termed glaciers. And the sifgestio.i of the possibility of h.-ing there vould r.o doubt sor.d a chilUn S shudder throush them, and as hkelv as not, were one of th© ic=;dcnt squatters to oTer to sail his possession, the suggestion would meet with tho response that he wouldn't l.ye m .such a place if the whole show wore given h.m as a rewind for co doing, unconscious that such would include florks totaling up to a quarter of a million of sheep, of an annua 1 exr,oitin<r value at tha )uo=e.it tune of con'tthing like £50,000. I d'-i'bt, howler, >f in any other part of the land tliero is a keeper qu.'-st for btalions by tl,r,<.p \s' o aie a htt'e in the know; and well n.:r!it it be =o. And evidently nobody has a hcttei l'J'a oi the \alue of the.i land than (Lose hod.i a «.uch Tjrnnd assets, as is evidenced by ihe r»i)>tclful dcc'ining of substantial offers for sc Lial of the Mackenzie equattei-3' propntics. Tou.i^t 5 . — The popularity of the district'r scemc attractions is -ilso becoming greater jear'y. Sir.cc the Government Tourist Department has acquirpd possession of the hotel at Pukapi they are making such alterations as are necessruy to bring the honso up to that etandard requisite for the comfort, ard taato of the tr.iSic, and al a o pushing on the completion of the lakeside deviat.ons of the Pukani-Hermitage road — a decided shorten, ing of the route — a3 well r.3 conveiting one oi

Hie dreariest parts of tha road to just the reverse. The new road traverses the most beautiful shore line of the Pukapi waters. This •wayside hostelry is now in the capable hands of Mr and Mrs D. Ross, who have so popularly managed the Hermitage of late years. Those •wishing a, few days' rest and quiet can depend npon securing it here, or it Tekaqo. Coming nearer home, where better could a tired citizen secure the desired relaxation from pent-up office work and town worries than by spending a few days in that pretty Bittle hamlet, Burke'a Pass, where Host Donald's hospitality has become proverbial? This true mountain resort is within convenient leacb. of all. It is an hour and a-half'3 drive from Pairlie — a. mere pleasure spin after the arrival of the Tima-ru train of an evening or of a morning. Once known, this will become a favourite Saturday evening resort, and the ■wonder is that its many attractive qualities have remained co long unknown and lost to those in quest of a few days' change in the country.