A TRIP TO THE TABLELAND.

Colonist, Volume LVII, Issue 13774, 11 May 1915, Page 2

A TRIP TO THE TABLELAND.

(By "Weka.") The Tableland is situated behind Mount Arthur, at an altitude of 4000 ft, and is one of the oldest goldfields in the Dominion. The party consisted of four, viz., John, Charlie, Fred and Sam. A start,' was made from Motuoka. at dawn per' motor to Pokororo bridge, where we' were mot by James Heath with two } packhorses.. By" 8 o'clock we were off) up the beautiful Graham Valley, and the end of 3"miles brought us to" the foot of the Flora Saddle. The n6xt 5 miles to the top is fairly steep, and a severe lung and leg tester to the' denizen of the plains. Some awkward.' limestone bluffs have to bo negotiated, and a misplaced foot mean's a hurried trip to the Graham River, 300 ft below. At some of the corners glorious views are to bo had of the Tasman and Moutere orchard districts, with Blind Bay and surrounding hills "in the background. The first halt was made at Flora camp, about a mile over the saddle, where wo made the inevitable billy of tea. If any of your readers are fanciful about their brand of tea; let them do this three-hour walk and they will drink any old brand, and declare it the "best ever." Unfortunately one of the packhorses decided to take a roll here, and, notwithstanding some strong language, succeeded in flattening our largest billy, containing the leaven for our camj> oven bread. After a short spell, a start was made down the other, side of the mountain, and one found it easy to imagine that the surroundings were part of a large pai*k in the Old Country. Steep bushclad hills on the left, and on the right, away down in the rock-strewn river, the sun glinted on an ever-changing iscene. Sometimes it would be a patch of astelias on the opposite bank amongst the rocks, the pale- green shading away up the opposite side, t^ the darker tones of the bush. Again it would be some shady, sombre nook overlaid with ferns. And the everchanging scenario was accompanied by a chorus of native birds, and the rattling applause of tlie river as it strikes from rock to rock on its downward course. After a 5 mile' descent the track rises gradually for about 3 miles to what is known as "The vOpening." This is where the continuous bush ends at the snow-line, and the Tableland proper is reached. There is still mossfestooned bush in the gullies, but tho long succession of low-lying hills are covered with tussock. Many beautiful gentians were still in flower, and the ground was nearly covered with celmi-f-ias, whose beautiful dais\ blooms were; culy withered stems. In the spring time these and other flowers make the place a carpet of flowers. Another 3 miles of dragging tired feet, and we arrived at the hut on Balloon Hill at about 5 p.m. We were soon occupying the bunks that are fitted up. At daybreak we were up and bustling about in the clear frosty air. As the sun got up, a slight fog disappeared, and the glorious rarefied air was almost intoxicating. We were too stiff after our tramp to go about much, and contented ourselves with "panning off" for gold in some of the adjacent creeks. It was here that an inquisitive wood hen came close up and upset John's mug containing his "colours" from the gold dish. John, is an old Jigger who has worked on the ground intermittently for about 30 years, and he.knows the name of e;-cry gully. These are called by the names of the first prospectors that worked their.. Hero is "Billy Newton," where John's mate secured an 18dwt specimen. Over there is "Cundy's," whore thousands of pounds' worth of gold has been taken out. Just beyond is the "Mataki"—heavy gold 'there. "Code's Creek," "Hodge's" and "Heath's" are only a few of the many rich gutters that have been worked in this district. All the low bills themselves are gold-bearing, and there is in many places only a f{-ot of soil on the bedrock. In fact, gold was actually shaken from the grass roots on several claims. A marvellous amount of work has been done. Races have been cut, and creeks dammed for box-sluicing. Huge boulders are piled up here and there, and shafts have been sunk on quartz reefs. Prospecting holes full of icy peaty water form traps amongst the tussock. These come as an unpleasant surprise to the careless walker. Remains of old huts are still to be Be-on — some of logs, others of brush, but all crumbling to decay. The great drawback to profitable mining is the small water supply. The nearest supply is from Lake Peel, a beautiful sheet of water covering about 13 acres. A race lias been constructed to within half a mile of this source, but it is evident that tho money began to run out before the water. Anyhow, there are several fortunes awaiting the capitalist who spends about a thousand pounds to complete die job. The old dijigera■usually lived on the field from November to April, but several have repeatedly put in the winter, and have reaped the advantage of the increased supply of water. Even now the packer's charge is 2d per lb on a good track, but in the old days men have been known to swag in ft hundred of flour, through the bush, and do it am regularly as a packhorse does now. Steep hills wore climbed by these meiij with their burden, that would severely try the citizen of today with no load to carry. The weka is plentiful in this locality. John's terrier (by name Smoker) waged a continual war on these birds, and on our different tramps two or three generally found their way into the billy at night. Fred excelled as a cook in this' direction. When the birds were not too fat the leg portion had p. combined flavour of .duck and sucking pig. Tho oil is a valuable by-product. After it has been skimmod, it is necessary to boil it slowly in a frying pan to get the water out. This enables the oil to be kept for an indefinite period, and takes away the offensive smell that otherwise develops. Manifold are its uses in the way of curing sores, rheumatism, etc., and, according to John, the old diggers xised it instead of butter for cake-making. Fred quoted an instance of its having turned grey hair black, but there was a chorus of coughs, with requests for

the salt. An excellent feature of the trip was the camp oven bread of John's making. Slices of it a full inch in thickness vanished like magic at meal times. A prodigious appetite develops in tho air cf the Tableland. If any of your city readers are getting pernickety about the home- cookery, let them take a holiday and make this trip. They will feel* tho benefit of it for the remainder of tho year, and will be looking forward to the tour in the following season.

We saw a rare sight one evening ss wo were returning home from "Billy Newton's" Out on'the1 sky-line, about a thousand yards away was a herd of deer composed of two stags and. six does. The stags were fighting, and the stronger of the two pn^d the other over tho edge of-.tlio hill. The wind was, not fnvouroblr for tlioir .getting our whereabouts, and presently, tho -ix doos came o-alloning down to within GO yards of us, with his majesty himhtring after thorn. On scomg us they doubled back quickly, hut t!>e stag, a

magnificent ten-pointer, stood .on a knoll and had a good look at us before joining his harem. Ho was about 80 yards off, and looked as if posed for a Landseer masterpiece.

We1 had perfect weather during the trip, with tho exception of a slight fog occasionally. A isevon hour walk back 'with swags ended a "holiday that will bo long remembered for its pleasant associations by tlioso who nuido the trip.