KAWHIA BY THE SEA.

Waikato Times, Volume 105, Issue 17605, 9 January 1929, Page 9

KAWHIA BY THE SEA.

RESORT FOR VISITORS. INCREASING POPULARITY. GOOD ROAD PROVIDED. (Contributed.) Evidence of the increasing popularity of Kawhia as the seaside resort for the people of Southern Waikato and Northern King Country districts was not lacking during the Christmas and New Year vacation. Never has there been such an assemblage as (his year, and it is a safe prediction that ere many seasons havo passed the attractions of Kawhia will receive due recognition.

The great bugbear of the past, the road, is now a forgotten dread. Metal stretches from coast to railway. It is merely repeating history to recall the strenuous endeavours made to secure the finance necessary for the metalling. The road was, indeed, a thing to dread. Crossing the Pirongia ranges and skirting the foothills it necessarily had many steep gradients and a curvature in places that startled nervous folk. And when, after rain, vehicles sank axle-deep in mud it was, indeed, a tortuous journey.

A Thing of the Past.

But that is a condition of years ago. The Kawhia people themselves were the first to move. With commendable enterprise and foresight, before the days of the Highways Board and its more generous subsidies in aid of roads serving as outlets from such isolation, a loan was negotiated to complete the metalling to the top of the Pirongia ranges. That gave a real start, and then, a year ago, the metalling on this side of the ranges was completed. Thus to-day there is an all-weather road. The motor journey can be comfortably completed in a little over two hours. Actually the distance from Te Awamutu to Kawahia is 43 milts, and it is a pretty drive. Ascending the Pirongia ranges the road passes through many heavily-bushed valleys; mountain streams rush headlong down the precipitous slopes, and it is an ever-changing scene. At the top of the ridge a glorious panorama is revealed. Looking back, the great basin of the Waikato stretches for miles—Kakepuku standing as a sullen sentinel in the foreground. Ahead stretches miles of coast line, with the great basin of the Kawhia Harbour nestling amongst the foothills of the mountain and the rugged country of the West Coast.

Another ten miles and the road descends to Oparau—a settlement on the upper reaches of the harbour. For the remaining eight miles the road skirts the harbour, crosses a small watershed, and Anally, turning a rather abrupt corner, reaches along the main street of the Kawhia township.

600 People Under Canvas. It is reliably stated that fully 600 people were under canvas at Kawhia this year. Certainly most points of advantage were occupied. In addition, numerous summer shacks along the water-front were in occupation, and others are building. The accommodation a’t the private hotels was taxed to capacity. Kawhia did not escape the unseasonable weather which marred the holiday season this year. This, naturally, caused the abandonment of many harbour trips. But it can be claimed that the weather caused a minimum of discomfort. The campers continued to And means of enjoying themselves. There were dances and all manner of impromptu entertainment, and the days—even though it rained —passed pleasantly. But when the sun shone the harbour became the popular attraction. Launches, packed with holiday jaunters, plied hither and thither. Some went to Awaroa, a pre'Lty tidal river, on the south side of the harbour with a score of ideal picnic grounds along its banks. Others went to Rakahui, another tidal inlet on the south side of the harbour, with its towering slopes cut out of the solid limestone rocks. Others made for Mahoe, a three-hour cruise across the harbour and along a tidal river whose banks are lined to the water edge with dense New Zealand bush. Then at Te Maika, which guards the entrance to the harbour, hundreds of holidaymakers enjoyed the rolling breakers or hunted those vicious-looking crabs whose abode is amongst the rocks.

Or, on the other side up the entrance, they would walk along the sands, until'blistering feet told of the hot springs which send a steady stream of boiling water to the surface. Truly wonderful are these hot springs. At high tide they are covered by the breakers, which roll for ever in from the Tasman. But as the tide recedes a thin haze of steam may be discerned rising from the sand* The bathei needs only to walk to such a point at which the heat feels “comfortable,” and here with a shovel hollow out a hole, which quickly fills. In this he may recline at leisure, and, as suits his pleasure, he may run half-a-dozen yards and enjoy the breakers. Regatta and Carnival. The Regatta and Carnival is an annual attraction, viewed this year by over 1000 people. It is for the people of the district an annual reunion, and is thus a feature of Kawhia’s social life. For the visitor also it is a pleasurable day. The Maoris assemble in numbers and many and varied are the unrehearsed incidents which delight (hose who care to watch the native customs. The whaleboat races, in which sturdy crews compete, are a real novelty now-a-days, and the native events are an interesting interlude in a programme of races which are more or less commonplace. With net and line Kawhia is a real retreat for the ardent fisherman.

Launching, swimming, and the host of attractions which characterise the seaside serve to make Kawhia the popular resort it is surely becoming. Great Scope for Development, More th4n a holiday resort, the district bordering on the harbour has great scope for development. Viewed casually, it is a rugged expanse, but a closer survey shows clearly the strides made toward prosperous settlement and the avenues into which future enterprise may be successfully directed. At Oparau and at Lemon Point, at opposite sides of the harbour, dairy factories are, 'established apd contribute a worthy quota to the Dominion’s national export of butter. And thousands of bales of wool go forward every season from a countryside which, at first sight, is strangely forbidding. It is when the setting sun throws deep shadows in the valleys,that the extent of cultivation is best seen, and. patches

of pasture may be discerned amongst the numerous foothills. It is apparent that if given the finance to aid the sturdy settlers of this developing country a wealth of production will be secured. The sandy loarn which surrounds the Kawhia township responds quickly to cultivation and the yield of crops is surprising. Kawhia is surely destined to enjoy a bright future. A wider recognition of its great potentialities by those in authority will hasten its permanent development, and a recognition of its undoubted attractions will prove advantageous not only to Kawhia but to the pfjple of the hinterland who have, at Kawhia, a seaside resort only a few hours distant.