PLEASED WITH TARANAKI

Taranaki Daily News, 29 December 1934, Page 4

PLEASED WITH TARANAKI

TOURISTS FROM ORONSAY ENTHUSIASM OVER THE TRIP. THE NEED FOR MORE PUBLICITY. Taranaki with its many attractions for tourists should certainly be advertised to a much greater extent than it is. That was the opinion volunteered by an enthusiastic member of the party of six tourists from the holiday liner Oronsay as they were joining the train at Inglewood yesterday after a few hours spent at New Plymouth and the district. The opinion, given spontaneously, was enthusiastically endorsed by every member of the party, which comprised Mr. and Mrs. J. Storey, Lisipore, New South Wales, Misses A. and F. Russell, South Brisbane, Capt. P. Clemens, Plymouth, England, and Mr. C. Olson, Sydney. They, were the only members of the 850 passengers on the Oronsay, mostly Australian holiday-makers, making a brief visit to New Zealand, who included Taranaki In their itinerary. It was only a chance that they came to Taranaki. Like the majority of the tourist?, their intention was to visit Rotorua, and they were very disappointed when they found that owing to all the accommodation being taken they could not include Rotorua in their itinerary. Their idea then was to travel to Wellington by me Main Trunk railway, stopping at Hamilton and Marton so as to make the trip in daylight. On board the ship, however, they found it was possible to book a trip to include Waitomo Caves and a visit to New Plymouth and Mount Egmont, and they did not regret the decision. Rotorua and the hot springs seemed to be the great attraction for all the tourists, blit they did not regret missing the hot springs. In fact they considered they had gained greatly by the change of itinerary, having seen the best of New Zealand, and that the others would be the disappointed ones jn having missed it. They travelled by train from Auckland to Hamilton on Wednesday, and it was refreshing to hear the New Zealand Railway service praised, for the Australian visitors remarked that the Australian railway service could with advantage take a lead from New Zealand in the way of providing such comfortable lounge seats. ENRAPTURED WITH CAVES. On Thursday the visitors came from Hamilton to New Plymouth by Gibson’s bus, seeing the Waitomo Caves en route. There was only time to visit the Wai> tomo Cave, the visitors being enraptured with the glow-worms, which' they regarded as a marvellous sight. They were very proud of their Jenolan Caves, they said, but they had nothing to compare with the glow-worm cave, which would always be a memory to them.

Yesterday morning was spent in • motor tour of New Plymouth and its environs, Pukekura Park being regarded as the outstanding attraction. A motor run to the North Egmont hostel for luncheon followed, and the party was then motored to Inglewood, where it joined the afternoon express for Wanganui. To-day the visitors will motor to : Wellington to join the Oronsay. Pukekura Park, the visitors said, was a wonderful place. Captain Clemens said he had not seen any park he liked better, though h® had seen many botanical gardens. Ha could not remember the native name of Pukekura Park, which he found very difficult to pronounce, but as the New Plymouth Park its beauty wpuld always remain in his memory. He considered Mew Plymouth was fortunate in having a man- like Mr. T. Horton in charge of the park. The women, too, were very enthusiastic- over'the park-

The drive through .the Egmont National Park reserve to the North Egmont hostel made a strong . appeal, though all were disappointed that Mount Egmont peak did not deign to show itself but remained hidden all day in clouds. However, they were still hopeful that the peak, of which they had heard so much, would be visible before they left Wanganui this morning. Captain Clemens remarked that the scenery of the country districts they had passed through was typical pf the best English country scenery, with .its small holdings, and many of the farms having hedges on the road frontages, in striking contrast to the large holdings in Australia. One fault they had to find was the difficulty of pronouncing the Maori place names. IMPRESSED WITH PORT. Mr. J. Storey, who resides at Lismore, on the Richmond River on the north coast of New South Wales, is connected ' with the North Coast Shipping Company which has its headquarters at Sydney but serves all the rivers between Sydney and the Queensland border. He was naturally interested in shipping and. immediately on his arrival paid a visit to the port of New Plymouth. Though he had not previously visited New Plymouth lie had heard about the town and its har-. bour from a former New Plymouth resident who was employed by his company. This man was a great ''barracker" for the district and its achievement in building a fine harbour. Mr. Storey, who saw two overseas ships at th© wharf, one loading dairy produce and mutton, was impressed with the magnitude of the undertaking, the success that had been achieved and the potentialities of the district. In the evening he visited an old New Plymouth resident, who, when in Australia some years ago, was a friend of his father. Mr. C. Olson, who is associated with farming on the Victoria border of South Wales, was greatly struck with the apparent contrast in farming methods of the country that he had passed through compared with in owxt district. He had been for eight on the plains and had not. seen a hill during the whole of that time, so that it could be imagined th© scenery passed through on the trip had intrigue® h>m. He was delighted with the trip as it had enabled him to secure glimpses of dairying and sheep farming conditions in New Zealand as well as giving him experience Of hill country, apart from the scenery, which imP ress ed all the members of th© party. Half an hour had been spent on the way inspecting the new dairy factory at Otorohanga. Mr. Olson was pleased with the greenness of the pastures, though no had been informed that the country at present was drier than usual at this time of the year. On first arriving m New Zealand the party could not understand why the sand on the beaches was so dark, in contrast to the whiteness of Australian sands.