RUBAL RAMBLES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2647, 7 December 1904, Page 79

RUBAL RAMBLES.

A TRIP UP THE POURAKINO RIVER. By E. B.

'(See Illustrations elsewhere in this issue.) The weather being fine and calm, one or ♦two enthusiasts in scenic beauty decided to snake -a picnic trip up the Pourakino River". As we- wanted to get some views of the locality, we nun ted round for someone who nvas afcle to go with us, and who owned a Eventually we dropped across one of our local *'* cameraists," who had business of his -own in .the locality, and he agreed to go with us, accepting our boat for- his-con-Tveyanoe, m exenange for' which he would neither 'juse or allow to be used his camera {by some one of the party. That matter settled, it only r-cmained for us to make arrangem&nts with the ladies who vrere , going to provide certain comforts for our (physical wellbeing, and to get ready early lenough in the morning. When morning .came, .it looked cloudy and threatening, Ibut who in Southland 'cares for a shower? CJertanly we dd not — at anyrate, we had for a trip, and a trip w© •went. Leaving Riverton Bridge kt 8 a.m., near -the top of an -inflowing tide, we" pulled cheerily away, passing under the new railway bridge, where the men thereon • employed smiled a knowing smile of salutation as we passed under them, no doubt- thinking we were, to say the least, a bit crazy to venture" out on the water with such lower.ing clouds -and watery sky. Passing an old wooden punt moored in midstream, we soon ronnded what N is known as "The Peg," a beacon put up to define the channel at "high water,, and into the straight, leading to .the Narrows'. "'"We now! had -a head wind and a drifting, sleety rain. The ladies mating light of this shower, we of the "sterner *sex declared that we rather «njoyod it, »nd"so we pulled with a wilir Reaching the ire -got inshore cut of the wind, Jind the water became more calm. Then -the sun «ms out, .and we were genuinely iappy. ' As we passed through the Narrows we were struck, by — The JSlany and Taried ints of the Manuka Scrub — growing along the river banks, relieved in many places by the dark green cf the fcr-oadleaf "trees and the pafcche3 of bright yellow goose, which- wj:s in full bloom. Running into -the open bay beyond we again encountered 'a head wind, but the day being .now decidedly *brigKter, we bore round past TWatsoriV'and -up the left-hand side of the :bay," thus' r practically- escaping the wind, •while -at the same time following the channel. Nothing of special note -arrests the attention ' for some distance, the ground being poor - and swampy. Here " and there are the remains of some old garden fence long since allowed to get into disrepair ; then the gaunt ;briek chimneys of some old house, evidently the remains of a settler's home that has .known what fire can do unless iept well in hanclj then here "and there an old firewood jetty running far out into the stream, now reduced to rows of mere ■blackened " pegs, but which were once a scene of "life and activity when Riverton :was a booming township, and before the xailway arrived to alter the trend of business. Now we turn to the right, and in a short time we pass a post almost submerged, at a point where the bsy narrows into what is the river proper. The inquisitive- one of the party of course wants to know what the peg is for, and is told that this post is, and has i'or many y-cais been, known as — Harrington's Mistake, — and that it derived its name in the following manner. In the good old days the district boasted of not a few splendid oarsmen, and one of them, named Harrington, . was matched to row a race against an opponent from other parts. The race was to be from ihe upper waters of the Pourakino to the Riverton Bridge, and to be puiled at high water. The day of tlie match arrived,^ and so did the men, each with a big following of supporters. A start was made by the competitors, and all went well till a point was reached where the river opens out into tho first bay. when Harrington's boat struck the j303*j 303 * above referred to, and which was at the time completely submerged. It ripped the bottom of the boat opeai, and the o: rsrnan was obliged to immediately pull s shore to save the' boat sinking under him. He had a good chance of winning the race up to that time, but of course his accident left him oomDletely oat .of tho Tunning; hence

the name the post bears to this daj- — Harj rington's Mistake. From this point for I f.cveial miles we have a high bank on our ' right, with here and there flax bushes and tussock to relieve its bareness, and innumerable rabbit holes in the yellow clay, that look like burnt holes in a blanket. On our left stretches away a piece c'f swampy land of hundreds of acres in exj tent, backed by a hill running up to the Longwcod railway station ; and behind that -again a woody, hill rising several hundred, feet that has not had, its original beauty defiled by the sawmilier fe-lling the finest, bimbar and destroying tlie rest. Now - ay& pass several old derelict punts, lying — Waterlogged on the Mudflats,— " their timbers decayed and gone, and the remains all. covered with slime and unclean-i-ness, bu£ -which irirthe years that have gone have fulfilled their part by bearing many loads of firewood, sawn timber, and : probably wool, from the- upper waters of j the stream to Riverton for shipment before , roads, and bridges facilitated the carting of such produce. Then we pass the mouth of a deep winding stream, in the entrance of which is moored another jmnt loading with firewood, This .locality is known as Pankhurst landing, afte 1 * the owner of the punt and the land on the river bank. Ax this point the river bears away to the right again, and j almost at once we find we have both wind ! and tide with us ; but we have no sail, so we extemporise one out of a lady's mackintosh, running an oar through both sleeves, then standing the oar on end and holding it upright ; one of th& ladies in the stern of the boat takes hold of the skirts of the mackintosh, and. holding it out, we have a useful sail. The wind fills it. and with mirth and fun, away we go, without effort, at the rate of knots. We do not lower our makeshift sail till we reach the- Wild Bush road bridge, immediately upon passing which, a high abrupt bank on our left -cuts us off from all wind, and we have therefore -to take to the oars again. Another quarter of a mile and we reach — rThe Beginning of the Virgin Bush, — which eornes down to the river on -our-left. _ and a little later, on, rounding a eharp bend in the river, we have a dense birch bush on both sides, with flax and rushes, on the , water edge. At the far end of' this reach of the river is a willow plantation, the wil- , lows at the present time-— being thicfely i covered with yellow catkins. On reaching ! these, we disturb a family of wild ducks, j that evidently have their nesting place near i by. A few chains, and we came to Mo ;- c and Sons' timber landing, on which is stacked some thousands of feet of sawn timber ready to be punted to Riverton. This landing is connected with their two fine mills about seven miles in the bush by a tramline, on which they run a. locomotive. They employ close upon 30 men, and are fast eating thp timber from a lar?3 Eawmiil area — timber that can never be replaced Within iuuli.ag distance of the landing is Messrs Traill and Smytliies's sawnull and landing stage, the timber being run dewn to the water's edga norn the mill on trolleys put on a large punt, and brought to Riverton by a smaH'steam tug. The ooitag-e homes of two of the firm — viz.. Messrs -Thomas ar.d Frank Traill — are well situated on the top of the adjacent river banks, within epoakir.g distance of each ortner, and coirtns.andinsr a ca.pital view of tLs river in both directions. We round the i bend and pull away for the- Omut, a ir.ile ' away, ths magnificent biroh b«b on either hand, which at this time of the day is rvaxming wifch our fro.th.ered friends ; flax and ferns irmurner.ablo all along both banks, and many of the hig;h birch trees covered thickly with native jnietletoe, which, in January beeonTes a blaao of red colour when it comas into bloom. Just before re£:chintr the Omut, we cohkj to what has been christened —The Devil's Pass— thj river making a wide detour and comLnig back to almost the same "pomt — so near. in. fact, that a cshannel bearing this name has hsen cut throu.rh. leaving an island nearly half a milo round it ; this island is densely wooded, and has flax along at the water's ! f-dge. Passing through the Paso we get into that part of the river that on our ' h^sr visit was somewhat unsafe for boats ' owing to tho number of snags ond logs in the water. We therefore proceed cautiously \ up to the old picnic ground, and go ashore, ha-ving been in the boat one hour and : three-quarters. After a fc-v xnini'tes ashore, we again takp to the boat, and with the guidance of Mr Beer, whom we find here, we proceed to tho top end of tbe navigable part of the river, which Is nearly two miles farther on. Reaching the far end in due oourse. a number of photographic records [ ari> taken, Mr Beer jomarking 1 that ours i is tbe first boat, excrnt hi.s own, and we I the- first picnic par'y, that had* ever reached so far up the river. Be ha; named the locality '"T\vo-n:ile Bend." We return to the okl picnic ground and boil the billy, : after which our photographic friend is j obliged to leave us, and only returns when 4_ ihe tide is fully out and we have to start j for Lome. We spend the day in admiiing ' thi> beaty of the -scenery, tlie reflections on | the water, in hunting" for and securing . many ferns and other tiensuros. and plying • Mr Beer with numerous questions as to the locality and its — Possibilities a=; a Pleasure Resort. — Fiom him vre obtain the following pari tioulars : — Last fer-sion, Parliament voted £60 to be spent by the Tourist Department in snagging the Pouvakino River above j where tlie Omut Stream empties into it, so j as to permit of pleasure boats being rowed ' up ibs water in perf<jet safety at all times of the tide. It was estimated that fully bvo miles of th-e river could be thus cleared In due time tenders were called for the snagging by the Riverton Borough Council, "whom the Tourist Department had asked to

carry out the work. Mr H. S. Eser, of Riverton, vras tb-o successful tenderer, and put the work in hand wibhout delay. His work is now completed, and only awaits its passing by the council. It does him ciedit. for he hhoa o cleared the river in all places for over two miles to a width of alout 25 ft, aud in many places the full width of the stream. He has also placed "guide pegs along the channel, so that the | ■veriest tyro at boating need have no diffi- I ct-lty in negotiaitirig tho stream. There w between three 'and four males of this river low available "foT boating that -runs through practically virgin .birch bush. In many places the branches interlace overhead, making almost twilight in tho mid-die of the day. Eerns, 'creepers, and undergrowth abound along the banks. In most places the around io dry. and wall adapted for picnicking — wood and sticks for boiling the billy baing it. abundance. There is Htlb or no rfsk'of setting fire to the bu&h. Trout abound in the waters, but it is doubtful if they could bf> successfully antrlpd for owmt; to the timbor in Lho water. The locality on , a bright day is a perfect paradke for photographers, -whether amateur or professional. Splendid reflections and &OBnes are to be had in abundance, and it only requires to be meTe widely known tc become extensively patronised during the summer months by those who have a few days to spare. Boats can, at all times, be had for hire at Riverton, and it is anticipated that before the Nmv Year there will be one' or more oil launches Tunning to and from the Omut.