Y.M.C.A. PARTY TOURS SOUTH ISLAND BY BUS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18959, 3 January 1930, Page 16

Y.M.C.A. PARTY TOURS SOUTH ISLAND BY BUS.

A party of twenty members of the Wellington YLM.C.A., under the direction of the secretary, Mr L. J. Greenverg, have returned to Christchurch after a thousand mile tour of the South Island in a bus chartered for the purpose. The party left Wellington on December 24 and commenced their tour from Christchurch. Timaru was first visited, then Fairlie, the cold lakes district of Southland, Central Otago, Dunedin and thence back to Christchurch. Mr Greenverg stated last evening that they had been much impressed with the South Island scenery on their tour, but one or two comparisons with the North Island trip which was undertaken recently were in favour of the northern tour. First, he said, while the main South Island beauty spots were wonderful, a lot of uninteresting country had to be traversed before they were reached, but in the North Island the scenery was interesting most of the time. They had been told also before leaving Wellington that there would be no more wear and tear on the lorry on the South Island roads than had been the case in the north. This it was found was not correct, as the roads in the back parts of the country were in some cases very poor. Mr Greenverg also said that the signposting carried out by the Otago Automobile Association was not so thorough or so efficient as it was, say, in North or South Auckland. There was one pleasing aspect of the trip, however, that had been absent on the northern tour and that was the splendid hospitality of the South Island people. In the north they were looked upon as so many more tourists and not the slightest notice was taken of them as individuals. Wherever they camped in the south people set out to do all that was possible for their comfort and convenience. This is the first trip of this nature which has been undertaken in the South Island.