WONDERS OF THE NORTH

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVII, Issue 21529, 16 December 1939, Page 29 (Supplement)

WONDERS OF THE NORTH

GEYSER TO VOLCANO The wonders of the north, gian kauri forests, thermal springs, fame: Waitomo Caves, active geysers and i volcano and a host of other attraction 1 act as a magnet on the tourist. Fa: north, in country so remote and deser that few other than lovers of solitude and nature ever go there, is Te Reinga Spirits’ Bay, the end of the land. Here the Maoris say, the spirits of the departed plunge into the waves, on theii journey to the Land of the Hereafter Here flying fish play in the warm seas and sometimes wandering tropic bird.: and great green turtles come straying from the tropics, not so very far away. A lonely, lovely spot, where gnarled karaka and scarlet-flowering pohutukawa overhang the cliffs that wall the bay. Giana Kauri Groves Up in the north, too, the wonderful kauri grove of the Waipoua Forest Reserve is alone of its kind in the world. Once there were many such groves in this little country—but lire and the axe laid low the giant trees. Walk between the tall, straight columns of the tree-trunks, sixty feet tall to their lowest branches, with featheryheads that let the sunshine fall in slanting rays through chinks in the forest roof; and you walk the hushed aisle of a vast Gothic cathedral, dedicated of old to half-forgotten, powerless Polynesian deities. Round Rotorua and the many sister lakes the earth trembles and quakes, and the vast furnaces of the infernal regions find vent in geyser and fumarole. mud volcano, blowhole, and boiling pools. There is the strange lake called Rotomahana, where, at one end. the launch slips through cool, still waters, and at the other traverses a seething, steaming cauldron. There, too. is the model Native village of Whakarewarewa, with its grotesque carved gateway and traditional houses

' and encircling palisade. In it dwell 1 pretty brown wahines, half-naked, j happy children, and jolly Maori men, | and they do their bathing and washing I and cooking in the hot springs at thendoors. Much legend and history is woven around geyser and lake. These are not the only scenes of thermal activity. At Te Puia and Morere, on the East Coast, are other medical hot springs, although not on the same scale as those of Rotorua, I nor so popular as spas. But there are i several active or dormant volcanoes in New Zealand, and away in the middle ' of the Bay of Plenty the sulphur crater of White Island pokes its steaming, ; smoking head out of the blue sea. And at the Tongariro National Park, where ■ I the Chateau forms a winter sports I rendezvous, winter visitors can ski on | the snow-covered slopes of the active volcano Ngauruhoe. Limestone Caverns New Zealand Is a land ol sunshine — only, at Waitomo, is a vaulted cavern where the sun never shines. There are three limestone caverns, with stalac- | tites and stalagmites; and in one the I visitor glides in a dinghy across an ' underground river, while above him, like faint stars, glimmer the feeble illuminations of fly larvae, suspended in | tiny hammocks of their own weaving, j One word softly spoken, and all those i fairy candles are doused, to reappear one by one, cautiously, after a due in- I terval. Auckland, northernmost of the four | main cities, stands at the head of the j Hauraki Gulf, with island bird sanctu- i aries and quiet havens where yachtsmen moor of summer evenings, to the i soft music of gramophone and radio. Triple-crowned Rangitoto, a perfect | cone, crater of an extinct volcano, is I Auckland’s gatepast; past it the big ships come in with the traffic and trade of the seven seas. Up and down the Au kland streets, 225,000 strong, flows the gay populace of the islands' biggest city. I

Wellington, the capital and centre of trade, stands on the shores of Cook’s turbulent strait; a city of commerce and mart, city of Government and power, with noble public buildings, and busy city men coming and going in the bustling, seething streets. And—once more by contrast —away . i oder Maungapohatu, the sacred mounj tain of the Urewcra. sleeps a lonely , i village not even linked by road with the ll I outer world. All around, for miles and . i miles, the dense impenetrable jungle 1 I rolls unbroken, cloaked eternally in c mists, haunt of the shy kiwi and the C mournful owl. Until a couple of de- " cades ago, this was no white man’s ’ territory, and even now the Native brats scatter squealing at sight of a strange 1 | white face. Such faces are rare in , Maungapohatu. ! • I ; 1 Towns Young and Old . I Russell, on the Bay of Islands, is the ' I oldest town in the Dominion, for it »s , • I the erstwhile Kororareka, sacked ninety i ; ' years ago by Hone Heke, when he ’ | hewed the flagstaff down. Once it was | a greatly notorious whaling, beach- ! combing, roystering town of escaped I • convicts and renegade sailormen and j i adventurers of all descriptions, and was the centre of the shocking traffic in ■ I smoked heads and Native women. The I | bay was the scene of Samuel Marsden's | i mission, the first in the land, and of ' | the signing of the Maori Magna Carta. : I I

the Treaty of Waitangi. To-day Russell is a centre of the big- ' game fishing sport, whence fishermen . from all over the world put out in sturdy launches for the grim headland. Cape Brett and Piercy Island, where ' the giant marlin swordfish and mako. thresher and hammerhead sharks are taken. Record fish have been landed on the little wharf. The Wanganui and Waikato are the finest rivers of the north. The former I rolls proudly between bush-garmented I cliffs, a leisurely and stately stream. To | cruise "its navigable waters in launch or steamer is a memorable experience. Its high banks of evergreen foliage are : I reflected in the water. It runs through i some of the loveliest bush country in | the north. | The lordly Waikato starts with rapids and falls, but it. too. develops into a loitering, smooth - watered stream. ( i Where it overflows from the great inland ] sea of Taupo, it plunges over the ma-

- | jestic Huka Falls, and then flows down > 1 through some of the richest pastures of ‘ i New Zealand, where dairy cattle graze. I On its lower reaches may be seen in I ' season the whitebait fisheries of which i ‘ this river is the principal source. But if the northern rivers loiter on their ' I way, those of the south number among i their ranks some of the swiftest and I yet most attractive in the world. Lure of the Outdoors | Organised sport in New Zealand enables its citizens to compete in physical prowess with the rest of the world. But in many other branches of sport j New Zealand’s superb natural facilities ! give her unchallenged pre-eminence, j She has mountains as rugged and | beautiful, if not as high, as any in the j world; her seas favour the skilful yachtsmen; her forests abound in game. ' her rivers, lakes and coastal water m 1 fish, which provide rod and gun with sport admittedly without equal in the , world. A deeply indented and fascinating coast, with wonderful inland waters. ! offers the yachtsman cruising grounds 1 as interesting and pleasant as are to , be found in the Seven Seas, with j charming sheltered anchorages as rich ■ in history as in beauty. The strong 1 winds of the Roaring Forties make New I Zealand’s harbours fine schools of sea- • manship, while her varied waterways. ■ including in their range deep navigable

rivers, tidal sea-ways, shallow estuaries. I and great inland lakes, encourage every | class of yachting Cruising launches, j keel yachts, racing centreboarders, i therefore swing side by side in the ; Dominion boat harbours. It is a strik- I ing feature of the sport that the ma- ; jority of these craft are constructed ov I amateur shipwrights, and through the I prevalent syndicate system of owner- | ship almost any young folk who so ' desire are able to participate in what is elsewhere a very costly pastime. Region of Romance *

‘ Tongariro, place of a thousand marI vels (writes James Cowan in ■Travel I in New Zealand”) was in the first place a gift to the Government from Te Heuheu Tukino (the head chief of the Ngati-Tuwharctoa tribe i who in 1837 made over the sacred mountain peaks of his ancestors to the Slate as a national reserve lor ever. No grander itbblic gift was ever made than this bestowal of so magnificent a region on the people. None but Te Heuheu and | his tribe indeed were able to exercise so grand a right of endowment; for it was his priestly ancestor Ngaroro-i-Rangi who first ascended and named I the sacred mountain of Tongariro, six I centuries ago. To Ngatoro legendary ' lore even attributes tlte origin ol the i magic fires; and the chief family of i | the land had its proud proverbial say- | ing: "Taupo is the Sea, Tongariro is | : the Mountain, Te Heuheu is the Man.” I Tapu to travellers, and ascended only at more or less risk of the Maori s anger, up to the year 1887, the semiroyal Heuheu’s interdict against ascents was lifted with the gifting to the State, and to-day the only tapu is the protective hand of the Government against the spoliation of the country’s mast valuable recreation zone. No part of New Zealand Is richer than the Tongariro National Park m Maori folk lore and romance. These sacred mountains were haunted, in the belief of the older generation of Maoris, by troops of supernatural beings (remarks James Cowan). Men who incurred the anger of these mysterious ! ; beings of valcano-land were sometimes . suddenly seized and borne off into the i enchanted regions; sometimes they were killed; sometimes kept under a kind of fairy spell for years. In former days, say the old people, care was taken to avoid anything that was likely to offend the gods of the mountains when classing the plains. When strangers to the place were crossing the plains at the base of the mountains for the first time they wore wreaths or

shades of large leaves about their heads, covering the eyes, allowing them to see the ground over which they walked, but not the surrounding high country. These leafy blinkers prevented them from gazing on the holy peaks where the spirits of the volcanos i dwelt. The local tribes-people did not wear the chaplet, but they were careful to avoid needless talk while they were under the shadow of the mountains. They repeated Karakia or charms to avert any misfortune such as a sudden storm.