FROM COAST TO COAST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2719, 25 April 1906, Page 80

FROM COAST TO COAST.

i -I -. By Qdeee ,Felix)w. - k . _ ! Dear Dot" and Little Folk,— lt has fallen - to icy lot iately to undergo, what - some folk • wouia caii adventures, "but what I call airiiiess Vanderings, - and at - being inspired with the "misleading instinct". of a. -wouid-be -scribe, I' thought.it might possibly interest spme of yon' to hear 01 / the series "ot .real and imaginary downfalls I have gone -through dur- • ing my recent tj;xp to ,the' West , Coast. '"Ah.! did I say "trip? £f^io, 1 surely 'meant''^ ; amply* tie piural of thai, wctrd^ior^nipst o£ jnytLoytnfate 'were indeed <LvCa to my "trip- - ping" oiT my ae»^-:borie-shafceT.", First of ail, Jet me give you this "piece of valuable informa- '• tioh: 1 Jiave.sirjce'leaving^Dufaedin speculated ■ 'in answering to the name 'I'femier^,- 1 have 'godo so^fai'as to -re-christe*i - it " "'jDicK '"beddoji, \\by- way of- conferring, au ijoucur on /that"- vron.% 'statesman, 'since it 'is thoroughly, xeliabl©'.^ and erf- forcing " its way into any nation, particu.arly that part -of a nation wiiere 'it wouid seemingly go in; for a soft thing,' such As xnud-lioies, quagmires, water tables,^ et<i., into ,which it ha.s'fxeq^xently lcrced me without even asking my consent. I'd like to know what is more disconcerting ' Than to, find both' shoes, -which you have .taken - extreme pains to pohsh to a state of dazzling brilliancy, suddenjy submerged in a mudhole, while your Tiike i 3 gracefully reclining on the other side of. the Toad, witii the front wheel whizzing round, as much as tp aay, '"Here Tr , am? still 1 alive."' - - -Well, comrades, to resume - the' original subject, I will <■ ask you to form the following impression : - Picture a long, winding* roaa, " whtch undulates as far, as the ,eye can reach, only eventually to 'lows itself ,in that element ' of uncertainty called distance. Again, picture the state of this long road' and the* atate of a sorry wayfarer, 'striving his utmost to 'proyel a heavily-laden bicycle^ which'*se<sni9 bent on! co'miug ..into contact with' ..every . available obstacle, as large boulders, old ,'horseshces, broken bottles., etc. Qh;~faia* [WesV Coa3t roadJ . If that favourite ditty, v\Vhat^ to, she bumps!" had.not beenconjooiij-Uyears^ ago I wonia y-havVy -havV felt absolutely convinced" .that the, man who' wrote it must .have been. inspired by witnessing my poor old jiggej:,' as • it laboured heavily ,over {fiat dreadful high- ' way. Imagine my jfejngs. /comrades, - even, under these disheartening conditions, to "find • myself .hampered 'furthermore by the^ glinting ripples' of -the River; which introduced,' itselt to -my gaze .as .1 vigorously applied^i^y > 'backpedalling brake, which luctily prevented • me "from taking an involuntary header into • the" middle of' it. , Ah, "I -thought' to rayself,' ' t the old song, "One more fiver- to, cross," . wherpupon,' as if {o convert the -.."idea- ;intc" xeaJity,.'l sf«fted',hunimi.ng. the. air, i>s JL sat' on a convenie'rit boulder in' order to "re-" move" jmy shoes' and stockings. I might here jneiltioJl .tl^at I 353. noi'gei in iiie least eicciteif , while fordirg this stream, as there is som«- . thing abcut the 'terdperaiure' of .these backr '". block rivers ■which goes a long way -towards Assisting, one to kcej3 v coo]/ especially whe»cue is" parrying with some slippery bould«rs" in the middle of one; while the pedals of one's bike will insist on penetrating the region of one's short rib, not to mention the possibility of the front wheel coming round and getting into contact with one's nose. Having gon^ through the performance of rubbing my legs ■with a iussoek'to restore- circulation, I forth•with Tesxiined ray course towards Porter's Pass. As perhaps some of my L.F. chum's will know, this is the highest accessible roadway in Few Zealand, being, I believe, close on 4000 ft above, sea-level. This will give you an idea of what grand fun it was pushing a " bike up with one's "house and home" attached to it, , and to rob it of all its redeeming , , features, it cannot even be negotiated on the j other side, the incline" being far too steep t to permit riding with safety, so that it actually I meant pushing one's bike up one side and ! allowing it io pull one down the other. Now, to qUote an oid adage, "misfortunes never I come singly."- I wa s absently dwelling on ■ this proverb, when the elements, which h.act ' ; "been so far tropically" suddenly, and" without any apparent reason were transformed j to the temperature of the frigid zone. As if to i complete my. misfortunes, it startedrto snow' ' ; like fury, aud-in leas than limXit had » painted everything 1 inexactly the same < shade, '„- , including- my "bike, etc So far I had managed'^ to suppress .my bitter -feelings;. having resorted " to that philosophical, niethod, of- looking" for assurances wjlh which "to console myself; but - it seemed as if here my -forbearance had in'deedleached, if not exceeded, its limit. Angrily tlid I gesticxilate, trying to prevent those-blind-ing flakes from gaining access through the ~ 1 neck of my swealar,.at the same time shaking " . my u?t threateningly towards the heavens, - ( v--hilc I muttered some vicious things that one • never reads in books. Oh, my! how my poor j old nose did sting, and my .fingers seemed, I to lose all pense of feeling as 'I walked, slid, - lor staggered in that awful storm. My com- - rides will readily understand my feelings when-. I 3pied the outline cf an o!d hotel looming J cut of the dense fog. This I afterwards dis- , covered was the ruins of an old halfway house- ' called the Castle Hill Hotel. Now, most folk are not given to praying while on a jour-- | Jiey, but somehow or other I was prompted ■ with a feeling of dire gratitude towards Provi-' denes for condescending to allow patt of this - old ruin to remain intact. I dived through the vacancy in the mud wall caused by^ the recent collapse of the chimney/ leaving my boneshaker and personal efiects outside to weather the storm as best- . they might. I soon gleaned from the aspect of this new-found domicile that it afforded^ ample means and space for a, night's lodgings/ so I decided to drop anchor until such time - „ ">s the elements shouid find it convenient to - - be a bit more favourable. {To be continued.) ._ ',