A RUN ROUND THE WEST COAST.

Otago Witness, Issue 3614, 19 June 1923, Page 61

A RUN ROUND THE WEST COAST.

BLENHEIM TO CHRISTCHURCH AND DUNEDIN No. 6.

By

T. H. Thompson.

The return journey home, per United Service motor coach, at its commencement was not particularly interesting. Passing through what is called Riverlands, across tussocky flats, with a fair amount of raupo sprinkled therein, high, yellow, grass-covered mountains to right, we cross the Aw-atere river, over which is a long, double-decked bridge—one deck for railway and the other for vehicular traffic. We see a good many sheep and cattle as we go. The first tou-nsliips are Seddon and Ward—feeble reminders of the rnen whose name they bear. Seddon lias a large hotel, N.Z. Farmers’ Co-op. Store, garage, post-office, railway station, and about 20 or more houses. Thence we pass through undulating, grassed country and notice a lovely winding valley traversed by a willow-bordered creek. Here and there are rich, green patches—■ potatoes, oats, barley, wheat and rape. We pass Lake Grassmere, devoid of water, and Lake Elderwater, a small lake ot irregular contour, yellow, narrow, and raupo-bordered. Later we reach Ward and see a small railway station, accommodation house, and half a dozen railwaycottages. On again, over a tussocky-, stony flat, then over hill and along a white, gravelled road we see Wharanui in the distance, red roofs amid green foliage, the green and blue waters of the sea beyond. This makes a very welcome break. Reaching it we note principally a fine two-storeyed residence in nice gardens backed by a cone-sliaped hill. There is a telephone office here. Our next stop is Hikurangi, where we dine at an accommodation house and change coaches. Here is also a post-office, etc. Thereafter we hug the coast and pass high, rugged, bush-clad hills. (This bush is mostly ngiau and other trees with foliage like broadleaf. I have never seen so much Ngiau, and it is not pretty). We then get round through flat country, passing some Manuka and later crossing the Clarence and Hapuka, both dirty rivers. There are some fine homesteads to be seen on the way and one small settlement with a post-office and a few houses. W e pass the Hapuka and Kaikoura dairy factories and are glad to make a finish for the day at KAIKOURA Here, in the warm sunshine, we find a fine harbour, or big open bay with two smaller indentations, the picturesque Ivaikoura. at back. These were, at the time, covered in mist, but they make very fine photographs and are said to be a sight worth seeing. The climate is lovely and claimed to be warm all the year round, although lying below snow-clad ranges. Land here, is said to be among the best in New- Zealand, fetching as much as £125 an acre. It is rich dairying country. The town bends round the bays for a couple of miles and is undoubtedly a splendid health-giving, sea-side resort.* It should be a great place in time, but at present needs more attractions for the stray visitor who is not going in for the strenuous life—i.e., mountaineering, pighunting, deer-stalking, or whale fishing. I would sooner loaf about Taieri Mouth, though it cannot boast the climate here. That Kaikoura has ambitions is seen by the two tip-top hotels on the sea-front, and it must be well patronised to keep them going. There are two other hotels, one near the wharf, where a. steamer of fair size, but not so up-to-date, is loading wool. Among the various shops, I noticed that ‘he N.Z. Farmers’ Co-op. was again represented by a fine store. Dalgetvs also liave a branch there. Kaikoura also has a newspaper and public library. We put in a pleasant evening strolling around till twilight ended, and finishing at our hotel with a classical vocal and instrumental concert, which one, Jimmy the whistler, occasionally interrupted byasking for bits from La Poupce and Las Cloches de Corneviele —which he pronounced as spelt. However, Jimmy was as full of appreciation as the rest of the audience of 30 and regretted that he hadn’t his piccolo in his pocket to lend a hand. A most noticeable thing about Kaikoura was the soldiers’ memorial, an obelisk, in the centre of a semicircular garden, enclosed by a white fence, each flower-bed being labelled with an appropriate name —Anzac. Jutland, Palestine, Armentieres, Messines, etc. KAIKOURA TO CHRISTCHURCH . A little while after leaving Kaikoura, we ran along the coast for a while, passing high, mountainous country with thick bush in parts. We cut through some road tunnels, saw something unusual in pa.pa, or pipe clay cuttings, climbed a high saddle, got down again, and soon were in the most- magnificent, undulating, farming country, beyond Parnassus, that one could wish to see. I doubt if you will see any better elsewhere in New Zealand. In Cheviot, we found a nice little town robbed of nearly every chimney by the recent earthquake. Here, we had lunch at an accommodation house, and the proprietor informed me that the expense of rebuilding chimneys at 25s a- day, was going to cause some growling. He reckoned a whole chimney worth £4O, and said some would have to be rebuilt entirely. Later on we saw a church with a tarpaulin across part of the roof and more chimneys down. (There has been a series of slight shocks since the first big one which, said a young man at Cheviot Post Office, made his fellow-officials look foolish at each other, and frightened some young ladies at a boarding-house, but did no damage). Later, we passed Domett, and I was surprised to find a young, educated fellow-passenger, who knew not his poem “Randolph and Amohia,” and said it would not interest the inhabitants of the locality very much fcjome distance on,

we crossed the Hurunui (thus passing, says a guide-book, from Nelson to Canterbury). We struck a very pretty valley later on, which was one of the pictures on the road. There are a number of splendid homesteads on the way, and I began to recollect a series of Bulletin stories called “The Squatter Kings of Canterbury,” a.nd the district helped to explain the title. One of these was Sir Charles Campbell. Someone spoke of “Ready Money Robinson,” a former squatter there, so-called because he paid cash for everything—which must have been an unusual proceeding at one time—and his horse cemetery, which he said was near the homestead and contained monuments, setting out the records of racers who were buried on the station. At Waipara. we pulled up at a good hotel, later passed Amberley, and later Kaiapoi, which seemed the nicest little town I saw since leaving Nelson—a live little centre, judging from the number of business premises and people about. We had a very expert driver on the latter part of the journey—a young Queenslander, who could skid within an inch of the post-office box and snatch a mail-bag with unequalled dexterity. That night I put in at the Industrial Exhibition, which was a splendid display of New Zealand manufactures, and so crowded that it took us all our time to get through. Now, just a few words about Christchurch and Dunedin to finish. Christchurch, being on a fiat, is naturally expansive. 1 had an 18-mile spin round part of it. Its flatness is monotonous, but the Cashmere Hills relieve it, and the beautiful banks of the shallow little Avon seem everywhere about the heart of it. I am not going to attempt to describe the city, except to make comparisons, and say tliat where 30 years ago it looked like a big farmers’ town, it now is a solid, wellbuilt, and very prosperous city, and has never ceased growing. Its two Cathedrals, the Anglican with the tail spire, and the Roman Catholic, a splendid piece of architecture in Romanesque style, are its best landmarks, and the locality round the square in the centre of the town is very solid looking. Business premises, wholesale and retail, spread widely, and there is nothing of the “one street first and the rest nowhere’ about it. Some of the suburbs are splendid, some picturesque, and its tram service is very good. In its big retail drapery houses it takes a lead, think, in New Zealand. To compare it with Dunedin is not possible on account of the difference between extremely flat and an undulating location, the one allowing for breadth, the other making for diversity. In my mind’s eye, when travelling, Dunedin is always the most beautiful of the New Zealand cities, taking all its surroundings into consideration, but. though it owns some of. the finest buildings in the Dominion, in the railway station. Law Courts, Technical and High Schools, the Roman Catholic and Anglican Cathedrals, Knox College, the Convent, the homes at Anderson’s Bay—not to speak of its fine suburban areas — to geton a par with Christchurch a good bit of it needs stretching and elevating one storey. In other "respects Dunedin can give it points. Comparing Otago with a lot of the country traversed on this trip, there is nothing at all to complain about. We have some excellent country, though we could do with more, and although the Central is barren and rugged, it has a superb holiday climate. I saw no great river valleys iike those of the Clutha and Manuheriltia, while in our lakes we have magnificent assets, but we could, I think, push along a bit faster, or perhaps the last generation w-as too satisfied with mining and not looking far enough ahead. We must certainly feel the loss of the mining industry, and as we neither possess the broad acres of Canterbury, nor those of Southland, we must irrigate largely and .turn our- wates power to account if Dunedin is not to be allowed to lag behind.