TO BLENHEIM BY BIKE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2473, 7 March 1893, Page 4

TO BLENHEIM BY BIKE.

( Concluded.) F. had a letter of introduction from a friend of his to the B.N.Z. manager at Reefton, and this gentleman, whose name —but not whoso courtesy—l have forgotten, showed us through the assaying rooms in connection with the bank. He told us that he did the assaying for nearly every mining company on that side of the Alps. The assaying process is too long to explain here, even if I remembered it all. We were then shown—and allowed to handle—gold bars of various sizes, the largest being worth £2OOO sterling; smaller ones £IOOO and £SOO each. We took the road about 5 o’clock next morning, and 22 miles of good travelling, though a good deal broken by watercourses, the treacherous Larry’s Creek among the number, brought us to the luangahua Junction Hotel, kept by Mr Lloyd, brother of Mr 11. Lloyd, oi Temuka. This gentleman was very pleased to see us, coming, as we did, from Souln Canterbury, and knowing his relatives there. Five miles before reaching Mr Lloyd’s we had to cross the luangahua river by means of a boat. The coach and other wheeled traffic are ferried across on a largo punt attached to a wire rope suspended from bank to bank. After breakfast we pushed on again, soon coming to the junction of the Bull or and luangahua rivers. The road branches oil in two directions at this spot —one road turning so the left, down the Buller to Westport ; the other recrossing the luangahua, and striking up-country along the right bank of the Buller towards Lyell. Not having time to visit Westport, we regretfully turned our heads northwards, and a ride ride of some hours through really fine scenery brought us to Lyell. This is a place about as large as T’inwald, and is the centre of some quartzmining country. A few minutes’ rest here and we were off again, although rain was falling, and soon poured down. The road climbed round a hillside, still skirting the Buller river, and the glimpses we got every now and then through the bush of the water below showed it to be of the most beautiful dark-blue color, and of great depth. Affer soaking us through properly, the rain cleared off, and tiie road, though terribly rough for some miles, began to improve, and our as yet most unpleasant afternoon’s labor ended at dusk at Fern Flat, making 57 miles for the day, over very up-and-down road. After tea we went out to see the dredge at work, but the darkness prevented us from seeing very much of her. This dredge is used to clean out the bed of the river for gold. About 40 ounces of gold per”week is the average take. Huge trees have often to be moved before' the dredging can be gone on with, and the swiftness of the stream necessitates the dredge being moored with a thick wire rope to both banks. There are several gold-dredges at work on the West Coast. Some are paying. The Greymouth people invested their spare cash, however, in one which proved a “ white elephant.” We saw it lying in the lagoon by the side of the tram-line from Kumara. It has never paid, as far as we could hear, and is now only fit apparently to be broken up for old iron. We made an early start from Fern Flat on the Wednesday morning, still following up the Buller river, which had dwindled to a small stream when we left it late in the afternoon. The rain troubled us again, and we were uncomfortably damp when we arrived at the foot of the Hope. Saddle, after several miles’ ploughing through mud. Disregarding this inconvenience, and finding the road drier, wo braced ourselves up with a cup of tea and faced the two-mile climb up the Hope Saddle sturdily. The grade was the easiest we had yet had, and the descent down the Clarke river valley magnificent. We couldn’t travel down hi if as fast as we wished, however, as F.’s bike handle was again showing signs of weakness, and preventing him from using the break to any purpose. We enjoyed especially that part of the road where there was curve after curve, of almost a semicircle in some places. When going at good speed it is necessary to lean over sideways to negotiate the curve properly, and the swooping sensation one feels is delightful. This afternoon we first came across the quail, which are so numerous in Nelson. Whoever was riding ahead would scare up numbers from tire road, and they would whirr-r-r off into the bush, and sit on a stump and survey us at a more respectful distance. Some miles through bush brought us out on to the Motupiko river, a tributary of the Motueka, and a grand road down the valley enabled us to « put it on ” so as to reach the Motueka Valley by dark. The hills were now much nearer, being wore like the eastern side of the Southern Alps. Another early start was made, as we wished to cross the Spooner range and reach Belgrove, 10 miles away, to catch the first train to Nelson. Rain came on again before we were far down the mountain side, and the clouds shut out | most of what must be a really lovely view 0 f the Nelson harbour and Tasman Bay generally. Whoa we got to Belgrove we were so wet that wo determined not to risk catching cold on tins train, and pushed on to Nelson by road. is the present terminus of a railroad from Nelson. A tunnel is cut, or being out, through Spoon 3i‘ range, and the railway will then be carried much further inland, even if it is not connected with the West Boast line to ti me. The country, between Belgrove and Nelson is mostly fiat, there bein <r no hills of consequence till a mile or so*from the town, so that we were able to travel at very fair pace, though no so quickly as to fail to notice the hop gardens and orchards by the way. There were no large stretches of corn land, though tho soil looked good, and fitted for growing cereals. What crops we noticed were nothing .oVl.ru, not bad. The country is benju/ied sides by hills, so that tho cuitiv'.'ded jjrea is restricted. We were very well pleased with ourselves when we made Nelson by j2 ''’clock, for we had climbed a mountain rarme allu travelled altogether 35 miles, several miles through drenching rain. Nelson is prettily Situated on the end of Tasman Buy. The site of J‘>wn itself is flat, but it is encircled tla-ce sides by hills, with very little native on them. The harbor is three-quarters of a mile from the town, with which it is connected by a tram line. It is for the most part shallow, the receding tide leaving wide spaces of mud visible. Nelson, in my opinion, will never be any groat size, it lias not enough agricultural land behind it. Its harbor trade is small, being confined to small coasters, and a steamer of a thousand tons is a rara avia. We climbed a hill close to the town on the morning before wo left and had a fine view of the place. What good buildings there are in Nelson stand in prominent situations. The Cathedral is on a small liill and is quite imposing—a Triton among the minnows. The Government buildings are also large, but do not show up so much, as they are on tho fiat. Directly we arrived in Nelson we sought out Mr J. C. Mercer’s shop lie is the Now Zealand agent for the Humber machines, and relegated the bikes to him, or rather tq his wife, as he

follows another vocation besides that of machinist, mending bikes after working hours. Ho made a really good job of F’s handle that night, proving himself to be as capable a machinist as he (doubtless) is a bricklayer. His wife seems to know as much about the business as he does, and we almost expected to see her commence work on the refractory machine. They live in an atmosphere of “ bicycle,” their little daughter proving to us her ability to ride the wheel, and iVlrs Mercer talking of soon following suit and mounting a machine now on the way out from England. On Friday afternoon we bid farewell to our Nelson friends and 21 miles of splendid road, including the Whangamoa Saddle, a three-mile climb, saw us at Oliver’s accommodation house, where we passed the night. Wo were again in bush country, and the scenery in many places was lovely. Next morning we commenced with a five or six-mile climb, over ihe Rai range, and reached Havelock ab ut one o’clock. Have.ock is a small place doing a timber business at the head of Peiorous Sound. A short stay here and we were again in the saddle, determined to reacli Blenheim that evening. We soon passed Kaituua, a small township, and made good time to the Wairau river, a stream after the style of the Bangitata. In crossing the first stream yours truly had an exciting few minutes, but the struggle ended in my emerging safe, though rather wet below. Pneumatic machines are rather bad things to wrestle with in mid-stream, with the water surging fiercely against your thighs, and with the machine itself hampered up with swag and coat and dangling billy. A 0-horse waggon now came along and took us aboard in mid-stream, so that we woie spared any further wading, for which small mercy w r e were devoutly thankful. Directly we crossed the Wairau we began to notice the numbers of rabbits. The place was quite lively with them, and we saw them all along the road to Blenheim, which we reached a little after sundown.

Our intention of proceeding down the East (Joust on che homeward journey was prevented from being carried out by the rain, which kept us close prisoners in Blenheim till Tuesday afternoon, when we started for Pictou, taking the steamer there for Lyttelton via Wellington. Queen Charlotte Sound is very picturesque, the sides being quite mountainous, though not bush-clad to any extent, and the steamer winds about for 20 miles before reaching open water. Nothing of importance, barring sea-sickness, happened on the homeward route, and a rough ride from Christchurch to Ashburton ended my part of the trip on Thursday evening, we having been 17 days away, ridden 500 miles on bikes, and travelled over 700 miles altogether. Trusting that all readers will enjoy the account of our travels as well as we enjoyed our travelling, I have nothing further to do than to sign myself B. H. Low.