OUT OF DOORS

Southland Times, Issue 19658, 7 October 1922, Page 9 (Supplement)

OUT OF DOORS

A WONDERFUL TRIP. STILL AT MANAPOURI. (By “Moya”) Thanks to the skill of the driver and to the pulling powers of the big Essex car, the party reached the accommodation house at Manapouri an hour ahead of schedule, and were given a cordial reception by Mr R. Murrell and his wife. They were informed that news of their coming had preceded them, as a telephone call had come from Mossburn to the effect that a big car passed that settlement in a cloud of dust, and a while later The Key had excitedly informed them that a car had “whizzed past, travelling like the wind.” The hour till dusk were occupied with re filling the petrol tank, renewing a deflated tube, and talcing a closer look at the lake and at- the Waiau outlet. Mr Murrell has placed in front of hrs house a plantation of young birch trees, 1 which are thriving, and the short track down to the lakeside winds through a similar plantation of “rikkers.” The lake shore at this place is covered by large smooth . water-worn boulders, which bring back to mind the glacial nature of much of the country. The region, from the viewpoint of the geologist, is very interesting, for it is believed to be the oldest in New Zealand. The formation is mostly of the quartenary period, but on the near side 1 of the lake, and visible out on the left during the latter stage of the journey, was the Freestone Hill, a cone composed of a mixture of limestone and sandstone in which are embedded many fossil remains, and which is stated to be an upheaval of Tertiary strata which orginally lay far below. Belonging to an earlier geological period, this must have been forced up by some giant movement of the earth’s crust, and it is also stated that several of the isI lands in the lake are composed of the same ; substance, forming peaks., probably, along an upraised belt. But to the sight-seer these speculations, I although interesting, were quite insignificant compared with what he could see with his own eyes. There, standing as it were in solitary state, was the Monument, a high peak with almost perpendicular forest-clad sides, and apparently well away from the water. Indeed, it appeared as if this landmark had been raised like a big monument, as its name implies, in a basin surrounded by the high hills. But they were to learn on the morrow, when voyaging on the water, that this monument had a less precipitous slope when seen from another angle, and its base was washed by another arm of lhe lake. They learned, in fad, that the lake, they saw on first sight, wa slittlc more than one of the numerous coves on the lake, called Surprise Cove. The lake itself covers an area of 50 square miles. After a good meal the party were early to bed, but before retiring they gazed their fill on the beautiful moonlight effects upon shimmering water, sombre bush and gleaming mountain snows. The night was clear and calm, a fitting* encl to a perfect day, but later on it started ta rain, and right through the morning a misty drizzle persisted. However, towards ten o’clock the weather partially cleared, and two of the visitors, donning oilskins and sou’-westers kindly lent by tiie Murrell family, and with gum knee-boots as an added preventative against getting wet, went out under the guidance of Stanley Murrell to see what was to be seen in the bush across the Waiau. One of the several remarkable sights of the place is Titiroa, called “old Titiroa,” which is a mountain of approximately oval shape, lying to the south-west of the lake. Although only one mountain it is so huge that it completely hides the Hunter range from sight. The Hunters run up from tbc northernmost end of Monowai, and arc so densely clad with native vegetation that they have been aptly described as a natural garden. This range has been the destination of several botanical parties who have scarcely ever failed to find rare samples of hitherto unknown native flora. But Titiroa, whose precipitous sides slope up in terraces to the topmost peak nearly six thousand feet high, is covered with a magnificent forest for four thousand feet. Its name may be variously translated to mean “a shining place,” a possible reference to its gleaming snows, "a long wedge,” or "a high perpendicular place.” Any one of these interpretations of the melodious Maori name is feasible as a description of a particular aspect of the mountain, which certainly is precipitous and high, and with its cap of snow away up above the forest hues looked particularly beautiful. This was enhanced on the misty morning by occasional breaks in the thin clouds, revealing fairy glimpses of the peak of the mountain, the snows glittering in the sunshine while the world below was still misty and damp. After a while the weather showed signs of clearing. The Scotch mist broke more and more frequently till by noon the day, though dull, had ceased to be rainy. But the weather was a mere incidental to the sights the two gum-boot-clad wanderers in the bush were seeing, and the tales they were told by their guide. Down through the manuka and the upstanding young birch trees they to the Waiau, and they came out on the bed of the river scarcely a hundred yards from the outlet, the narrow expanse where the lake stops and the great river begins. But there was no turbulent, boiling flood, as one might expect of a vast body oi water pouring out of the huge reservoir. No. The river was perhaps lour chains wide, and it flowed with that, peculiar motion that is associated with great depth. The near bank sloped down gradually, and was covered by huge smooth-worn boulders. The three got out a row-boat to go across, and then the great clearness of the water was noticed. The big stones could be seen quite clearly on the bottom at a depth far greater than the oar’s length, for this when put down seemed to go scarcely halfway to the bottom. However, as the depth increased the bottom soon faded away, and across on the other side, where the bank went practically straight up for a couple of hundred feet, the “townies” thought their lungs would burst through trying to walk up the side, piffling themselves up by roots and trees, and trying to keep up with the guide, who seemed to be walking on air. However, they hung o» to his heels, as the saying goes, and were not a little surprised and pleased when they reached the top to find that he was puffing almost, if not quite, as much as themselves. Now, at last, they were actually in the National Park. They had left their slickers hanging by the boat, and now went on along one of the many deer-tracks. They were told that deer were to be found regularly right down to the river, and pigs were very numerous. The bush was open thereabouts, with swampy patches, and it, , was easy to see that it was an abode of | deer. The damage these creatures do to | the bush was pointed out not once, but a ! dozen times during the next quarter of a mile, for there were many “rikkers” evi- ( dently pushed down and stripped of their : foliage, others were broken and bent, and 1 all their leaves were gone. The bark on 1 many slightly larger trees, perhaps six inches in diameter, was scattered and marked, the long scratches evidently having cut deeply into the wood. The party came to a fork in the trail, marked by the jaw-

bone of a boar with tusks appended, hung upon a tree. A little later the, guide swept 1 a bush aside and showed them the head of a stag that, had been left where the beast was shot as being of no value, /knother fork in the trail, and the party came out into a natural clearing covered with bracken. The whole place was literally ploughed up by pigs digging for the fernroots. The holes made by the tusks of the |>orkcrs were in some cases feet deep. As the amateur explorers went on these traces of pigs were to be seen on all sides— in fact, they were even more plentiful than the deer-signs. The guide came to a tree that had been prepared with big spike-nails as a look-out. He walked up the tree to have a look round, and said he could sec something in the next clearing. It was almost hidden, he said, so all went along carefully, and found proofs of the presence, within the past few minutes, of a yearling, although all that could be seen was the marks and all to be heard was a faint cracking that died away. Much of the Bush they were traversing, although high above the river, was very swampy underfoot, proving that drainage was not altogether perfect, owing probably to the nature of the sub-soil, which was of a clay nature, apparently mixed with sandstone or some other gritty substance. However, there were no adventures, save, the unfortunate one by which a too eager step left a knee-boot sticking in the turgid swamp, and its owner had to flounder about in the slimy mud until he could retrieve it. The swamp vegetation up there seemed to

. be of the same nature as those of the I lower levels but in the moist, Itchencovered shade of the tall timber there w.is a great deal of the beautiful coral moss, growing vigorously. Back to the boat and aero-- the river, the next inspection was down-stream a little to where the Home Creek, after wandering along for about ten miles, flows into the big river. At its mouth this i- only a small brook, with its waters \ery clear and very cold, burbling over a gravel bed, and it was said that great numbers of trout went up to spawn on the shallow gravelbanks further up. Of course, the first eager inquiry was “Arc there salmon in it too?” but there was no finality in the answer, merely that salmon were common enough in the Waiau and would probably be some of them in the creek since its waters were so suitable. While on the subject of fish, it might be as well to mention a discussion held that evening on the question of whitebait. Tho whitebait were all over the river during fhe morning, the little transparent fi.-h with the black thread down the middle darting away from all the shallows at the approach of the boat. There was a whitebait net hung up on the scrub near the nater, hut the members of the Murrell household evidently did not consider them the expensive delicacy they are in town. It wa- stated that whenever anybody had nothing better to do, and felt inclined to fill in time, lv> netted some whitebait for the fowla. (To be continued),