TREK INTO UREWERA

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17146, 31 December 1929, Page 6

TREK INTO UREWERA

SEARCH FOR STOCK ROUTE PAETY FROM WHAKATANE \ An exploring expedition into the wilds, of the Urewera has just been carried out by Messrs. 0. H. Brebner, Whakatane county engineer, J. H. J. Radford, W. I.| Gardiner, R. Burr, J. Miles and Maxwell. Hewitt. The purpose of the trip was to ascertain whether a stock route was. feasible through the Urewera to shorten! the, distance between the Whakatane district and Gisbornc. Last December a party headed by Mr. Brebner traversed about 20 miles but had to put back on account of the bad weather. This time, however, the party succeeded in getting right through to_ Opounae, their objective. It was a most strenuous journey and demonstrated conclusively that a stock route was not posn sible owing to the precipitous nature of, the country traversed, especially in the latter stages. Extracts from a diary kept' by one of the party give a record of the difficult nature of the trip, which was not carried out without some exciting* experiences. i START OF THE TRIP. On the first stages of the tour the going was remarkably good but the latter stages were rough in the extreme. The party motored to Motahi, in the Urewera. Country, and started on the trek at 7.15 a.m. They took the route followed bythe party l'syst year, which meant crossing and reCrossing what is known as the Waiati stream. Each member of the? party carried a swag containing rugs-and a limited amount of provisions. Two pig dogs were taken. : ''• On the journey Mr, Radford discovered , a unique fungus. It had six double arms \ of a pink color on a single conical stem. -, The hollow centre contained a deposit ™ which had an obnoxious smell which apparently attracted flies. It was the intention to bring the fungus to Whakatane. 'but it had to be abandoned owing to its penetrating odor. Later the dogs bailed up a young wild bull and shortly an old bull put in an appearance. The majority of the party then promptly climbed trees.

MR. BREBNER'S ADVENTURES. As the bull showed no inclination to leave the spot it was decided to shoot it. Mr. Brebner made down stream and was climbing the bank to get above when to their mutual surprise he came face to face with the bull. It was v a tenae moment, and Mr. Brebner joined, the others up the trees. Mr. Gardiner struck at the bull with a slasher. This infuriated the animal and it rushed m%dly about. Just then a branch of the tree broke and Mr. Brebner fell to the ground. " The bull rushed at him but Mr. Brebner stayed his progress with a revolver shot and two more shots put the animal out of misery. Wild cattle and pigs.were seen ahead of the party all the time and it was difficult to keep the dogs from breaking away. Shortly after 4.30 p.m. heavy rain* again fell and a search was made for a suitable camp site. Everyone was drenched to the.skin and.conditions were distinctly miserable. A shelter waa built but it leaked barfly. Plenty of wood was available and a good fire made conditions a little more cheei-ful. Most of the party were too tired to partake of much tea and were soon asleep in spite of' the hard and wet ground. The expedition was beyond the furthest point of last year's tour. Rain was still falling, next morning, but the trek was continued, and it was decided to take the ridges, thus avoiding wading through creeks. The weather soon .became line. The going was very /rough sjM>" but all the members of the party stood ~-. up to it well. ■ V Heavy rain began to fall about midday, and the party stopped for lunch. They were well Into virgin country, • After following up the main ridge for a considerable distance they left it, hoping to get down into the Waioeka watershed, but they missed the "divide.'' The going was very hard, and when they reached the lower level of the gully the travellers,were nearly exhausted. It fy&& necessary to cut a passage through supplejacks most of the way. That night the party slept the sleep of pure ex* haustion. ANOTHER HARD DAY. The morning broke clear and fine aild the trek was resumed. There Was Uo{ much joking now. The going was verjr difficult, but by 11 a.m. the. party had . reached an altitude of 2060 ft, ajid still more climbing was ahead. By noon :i flat stretch ot country was reached, aha the dogs came in contact with a big boar. One of the dogs was badly ripped, and it was a hard job to kill the boar without finishing off a dog. , The country was still rising, and the atmosphere was now very rare and chilly. Wild pork was cooked for lunch, and the party was ready for the trail ' again. At 2.30 p.m. the altitude reached was 2590 ft. Visibility was bad, and the party lost themselves on a large wooded plateau for some time. It took them 3£ hours to come down 700 ft on a very steep face, which was negotiated with extreme difficulty. The dogs had a hard time, especially the injured one. Camp had to be made on the steep face', for the night. Rain fell and a most un-" comfortable night was spent. . The trek was resumed next morning at 6 o'clock. On the whole the going was good compared with that experienced the day before. At 1.30 p.m. a clearing came into view and shortly afterwards three houses —civibsation at last, and none of the party was sorry. They were j informed that tneir objective, Opounae,fejjji was two miles further on. The settlers (F treated the visitors hospitably, and the latter then pushed on to Opounae. A telegram was sent to Whakatane, and motor cars met the travellers later and brought them home.