FOOTING IT FROM FORTROSE TO OWAKA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2927, 20 April 1910, Page 87

FOOTING IT FROM FORTROSE TO OWAKA.

- By N. S. Gr. (See Illustrated Pages.) All I ask, the Heaven above And the Road below me. —(R.L.S.) Those who knew the charm of the Open Road will find a tramp from Fortrose to Owaka along the coast and through the bush a delightful trip. The exceeding variety of the scenery, the excellence of the roads, and, still more, the unvarying goodwill and hospitality of the people in the back country all combine to make [ the district a veritable paradise for the • tramp on tour. _ I Twelve o’clock on Saturday night, | spirits high, as also the gale, and hopes \ of reaching Fortrose by morning per ; bicycle, such was the start, and the hopes . of the trio of adventurers that set forth S into the night for a good Easter holiday | were fully realised. The wind kept steadily'blowing from the south-west, and j intermittent rain also detracted something j from the joy of the ride. Steady plug- j ,ging saw the miles gradualy diminished; ; supper at the house of a friend encouraged i the travellers; and day dawned on three damp but cheerful wanderers somewhere j in the vicinity of Waimahaka. Eight o’clock saw them at breakfast in Fortrose, and soon the start of the tour proper was an accomplished fact. Provisions were easily obtained, with the sole exception of meat, the local flesher being apparently reluctant to part with the smallest portion of his goodly stock. Verbal pic- ; tures of the horrors of starvation at last ; melted his seemingly stony heart, and a j churlish 31b of steak changed hands. A-way at last. The weather was clearer, j and everything seemed favourable. Keep- | mg the road till after Waipapa Point the ; beach was reached in. the afternoon, and ' an hour or two was spent amongst re- | mains of Maori ovens in the sandhills. A few moa bones, accompanied by small heaps of “crop stones-,” and evidence in the shape of chips of Maori stone-work- ; ing were the only reward of the search, j Right round this coast evidence is not wanting of protracted Maori occupationruins of ovens and shells of the molluscs on which they loved to feed, with fish and seal hones, furnishing abundant proof. Slope Point, remarkable as the most southern portion of the mainland, was climbed just as the light was fading. Sheer bluffs, Tjjith the breakers dashing the spray high over them, rocks sloping inward from the sea, giving weird play to the waves, and the queer natural bridge, with the tide rushing underneath and making hollow sounds like a giant ingurgitating—all made this a most interesting spot. ; From the point a glimpse of the beach i at .sunset, with the lighthouse lust illumi- \ mated by a last ray .of yellow light, | formed a picture not easily forgotten. The coast on from here was all of interest, | a succession of bays and jutting head-1 lands, the rough sea, due to the previous ! night’- storm, enhancing the beauty of; the rockv stretches. On up to the road and a halt was made for tea at a house just before trie Six-mile Estuary. A welcome here and guides for wading the estuary, and the end of the first day seemed at hand.

Two of the party had almost decided on seeking -the shelter of a friendly flaxbush for the night, hut the other favoured pushing on to Brunton's. and has since received the blessing of the remaining two for advocating this course, for nothing •could have exceeded the warmth of the welcome of Mr Brunton, and the wanderers were soon regaled, with coffee and enjoving to the full the cheeriness of a good fire and a yarn over the pipe with the. best of hosts. After 24 hours without sleep, during which 57 miles had been snfelv put behind, civilised beds were a delight indeed—more especially after anticipation of spending the first night in the onen. The dam —constructed by a goldmining company, and now used bv Mr Brunton for beach-sluicinc —was a fine, scene by moonlight, with the bush-clad hills towering above the calm stretch of watPir. A reluctant leavp-tsking after an .excellent breakfast, and the road once more.

The path chosen was alone the Waikawa Beach, then ove r the hill into Waikawa itself, as the tide was too high to permit of getting right round the shoreline. ■Rome part of the morning was snent at the famous Curio Bay. a scientific curiosity not lacking in its anneal even to the uninitiated. The action of the sea has laid bare a stratum of the rock containing fossil trees in a rare state of preservation, on the beach itself the trunks appearing inst as if the trees were recently felled. Here and there a prone trunk gives evidence of the size of the primeval forest thus preserved for +be wondering gaze of modern man. The existence of this denosit on the coast, had been foreshadowed earlier in the trio bv the finding 0/ fine snecimens of fossil timber on. the onen beaches, some of the •nieces being finelv coloured bv weathering, the cracks filled with a clear silicia, giving a-beautiful effect against the deep blue shade that the black of the petrified wood changes to under the action of wind and water. The geologist of the party was here in his element, remaining glued to pieces of rock for indefinite periods, and there is little doubt that he would be there vet but for the unfortunate absence of fresh water, necessitating the postponement of the luncheon adjournment till a few miles farther on. Some difficulty was experienced in finding the bush track over the hill, and it proved a slippery path indeed. Waikawa is in a good situation, and looks to have possibilities. The inlet is navigable, but is not used to anv great extent yet. A hilarious trio spending Easter in the approved fashion extended the hea.rtiest welcome to Waikawa.. and fairly overloaded the wanderers with good cheer. From Waikawa the road runs straight into fine bush, crossing after a few miles the

Niagara, a dark, slow-flowing stream slipping silently between the trees. The valley of this beautiful little river presents a most thriving and prosperous appearance, with homesteads of some pretensions in surprising numbers. The heavily-bushed hills are a fine sight on from here to Chasland/. The road —viewed on the present trip by moonlight - winds up through a email gorge and down again into the Chaslands Valley". This stretch was one of the finest in the whole trip, the moon breaking through a misty sky after some miles traversed in darkness. A rare .sight were the glow worms shining on the. overgrown clay banks, giving visions to the imaginative of wild beasts lurking in the undergrowth, the tropical luxuriance of the tree ferns colouring the picture. A deserted house had been decided on for the end of the day's march, the distance to which had been variously given as four and a-half, five, and seven miles, but has since been unanimously voted by those most interested in the present instance to be more like 17. The " auld hoose " proved a good night's shelter, despite the disaster that had overtaken the " lum '' in its old age. Stray relics of the previous occupants gave some play to the imagination, and peopled the empty rooms with visions of their quondam inmates. One could almost hear the prattle of children's voices as a small shoe was unearthed in a corner. An early start after the morning porridge had been disposed of, salted with the asual discussion as to the desired consistency. This invariably proved a most prolific source of argument, and the words gruel or paste were the signal, even at the most jaded moment, for some semblance of a controversy.

A sight in the early morning was a high peak rising almost sheer from the bed of the valley, wooded for the most part, but breaking out near the summit into bare precipitous faces, like to daunt the heart of the most daring mountaineer. This is a scenic reserve, and the ascent appears more easy from the other side. Chaslands consists of a cheese factory and a board-ing-house, _ and : ts chief export* (on the present trip) were potatoes. Another delightful stretch of bush road is encountered, on leaving here, when wood pigeons were seen in numbers, their wheeling flight over the road a treat to the eye. Halt was made at the Tautuku Stream, another charming, slow-flowing—bush river, and the billy was boiled. Down a bush tramway and the sea was in view again. The Tautuku widens out and enters the sea to the right of a fine stretch of beach, deep water on one side, with the bush almost dipping into the stream—a peaceful spot with a charm of its own. A scheme is on foot for utilising the estuary for sending out timber ; ther'6 is already a jetty, and the plan seems feasible. A well-formed road leaves the beach and led our wanderers up into the bush again, the beach and estuary looking fine from the heights. Details of the district were "leaned from a- Frenchman, peacefully seeing out the twilight of his days on a small section commanding a fine view of the open sea. Taking our travellers for paid-off workers from the Waimahaka extension, he offered little prospect of employment in that locality, but the merest mention of the prosperous appearance of the garden evoked a welcome into what he termed his "mansion." and the offer of some fine grown Hawthorndens, munched while monsieur exhibited his literary treasures. The gem of the collection was a French copy of the -'Memoirs of Naooleon on St. Helena," which was apparently the solace of his iadmiring compatriot's declining xears. The road descends toward the Taukupu River, a bend occasionally showing a fine open seascane, the deep blue contrasting vividlv with the light green of the brighter foliage on the coast. Taukupu looked a desirable haven, but it was decided to -push on after an excellent tea at Mrs Scott's. Another fine estuaxy here —this one navigable at high water, but easily crossed with the tide out. The walk along the beach by moonlight amply justified the plan of "making a few more miles that night. The huge yellow moon rising out of the sea threw the headlands into vivid relief, and the twinkling light of a steamer wes discernible a few miles out to sea. The tramp along this beach remains one of the clearest memories of the trip. The end of a big day saw the trio ensconced in another deserted homestead—oatsheaves formed the most fragrant and comfortable of bunks, —and a igood night was put in, only disturbed in the earlier part by the mutterings of the photographer, who was engaged for some hours (so the others vouch) _in a heated argument with his plate-changing apparatus.

The most glorious morning of the tour saw four miles left behind before breakfast, the latter meal an enthusiastic endeavour to acount for the ■'emainder of the provender. A lucky encounter with one of the inhabitants of the district in company with an owner of a section -near at hand, and a bushman out for a holiday with an axe, gave a guide to the Purakanui. Falls, a fine series of three leaps over clearly-defined ledges of rock, a mass of foliage overhanging the stream. A freshet would perhaps give a better effect to the fall seen from below, but the stream is of no small volume under ordinarv conditions.

From here on the country presented a ; more and more cultivated appearance, and j the last stages of the walk were at hand. Down into the Catlins Valley, and the . railway save an almost unwelcome re- • minder of the return to civilisation. Train . back to Gore, and so to the end of one of j the most enjoyable walking tours ever j undertaken by any of the members of the j party. Throughout the trip surprise was ex- • pressed at the good quality of the land seen, the open hills near the sea and . cleared country all appearing to be rich , dairying land. A somewhat pathetic and not easily explained feature was the nurabar of deserted homesteads, some giving evidence of long and careful tenaritehip. ; The place used for the second night's !

sleep had all the appearance of once being a most comfortable bush farm, the still thriving foxgloves and beautiful clambering honeysuckle giving, even now, some air of homeliness to the ruins. In conclusion, the party can again confidently recommend a tramp following this route to anyone.inclined to this healthy .and charming form of holiday, sure in the belief that it will prove to them, when accomplished, as to the present trio, a delightful memory.