The Open Road is calling

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3846, 16 December 1936, Page 26 (Supplement)

The Open Road is calling

OUT TO AROHENA. A pleasant and interesting day trip is via Korakonui to Ngaroma and o.i through Arohena to come home via the Owairaka Valley and Parawera. It is strange that this round trip i'. not much more popular than it really is. There are quite a number of road; from Arohena that afford interesting experiences, to provide variation m the foregoing round-trip. Somebody has suggested that visitors to Arapuni hydro-electric work-, could, after inspecting the works, proceed down the Waiteti Road to Maungatautari and Leamington, thence home; but the connection between Arapuni and Maungatautari is

• understood to be unsuitable. Bette:' to cross the Waikato River and go down to Horahora, and either recross to Maungatautari or proceed down the eastern side to Cambridge. Some very interesting trips can be made into Roto-o-rangi and Puahue districts. For instance, drive out to Parawera. then turn left into the Elli - cot Block' and out at Puahue, then towards Cambridge, and right turn to Kairangi Block (the Waikato Land .Settlement Society’s sewn area); or, alternately, straight through Hairini and Chamberlain’s Road to Roto-o-rangi, and back via the main highway, or via Pukerimu, Kaipaki and Ohaupo.

If views are desired en route to j Hamilton, a deviation can be made | at Rukuhia cheese factory, T>y going | a few chains along the road to the i Narrows, then turning left, and keeping practically parallel with the i Great South Road to rejoin that thorI oughfare quite close to the Waikato j Hospital. PLENTY. OF SCOPE. The Paterangi and Ngahinapouri districts also provide many alternative routes between Te Awamutu and Raglan, which latter place can be ’.■eached in a little over la hours without undue haste.

Kawhia, too, is comfortably within 1:) hours of Te Awamutu. Thus there is plenty of scope for the motorist who desires to know the different districts that make Te Awamutu their shopping and commercial centre and at the same time to enjoy pleasant and interesting views. BUSH, MOUNTAIN AND BEACH. The run to Kawhia is one of the most attractive routes in this locality. From Te Awamutu there is the choice of two alternatives —through Mangapiko and Pirongia or through I-okuru and direct into the Ngutunui Valley. Both roads are well surfaced. Actually, then, the Kawhia road begins at the Ngutunui where the climb < ver the Pirongia divide commences. For a picnic day a good plan is to do the round trip to Ngutunui—out through Pokuru and back through Pirongia. In the Ngutunui Valley are scores of picnic grounds amidst most magnificent bush. Or, the hill road can be traversed with picnic grounds at every quarter-mile and at the top of the range a most extensive panorama presents itself of the Waikato and King Country districts. On the other side of the divide is another equally extensive panorama of the rugged West Coast. The descent of the ranges on the ether side of Te Rau-a-moa brings the traveller to Oparau—a fertile valley—and thence to Kawhia, eight miles further on, the road skirts the harbour. At Kawhia there is a camp site and a holiday with all the attractions of the seaside.