MOTUTARA AS A SUMMER RESORT.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume X, Issue 6, 11 February 1893, Page 127

MOTUTARA AS A SUMMER RESORT.

SEE PACE 130. are many beautiful places in the North Island, ll many whose sylvan loveliness should tempt the holiday maker, but it is to be doubted if there is any spot where you may find so many varying types of exquisite scenery as Motutara. Many people are doubtless ignorant of the very existence of such a place. Supposing you care to visit it you will take train from Auckland to Waimauku. Here Mr Foster, the store keeper, will doubtless set you in the way of obtaining carts and horses for the transport of your tents and provisions, for at Motutara, be it understood, you must camp out.

From Waimauku you will pass over three or four miles of gum land till you reach the old Murewai tlax-mill, built just below some falls in the Murewai creek. Two or three miles down the creek will delight your eyes and bring you to the beach ; a beautifully level stretch of sand extending from Motutara, some eighteen miles to the northward. Having arrived at the ‘ rocks ’ you will proceed to pitch your tent in a beautiful Itttle gully, shaded by numberless pohutukawa and karaka trees, and watered by a small stream that rises in the sand, and after flowing through the bush, empties itself into a small lagoon a short distance above the camp. One of the chief features of Motutara is the gieat variety in the scenery, the perfectly level stretches of yellow beach, the undulating hills of sand behind, and magnificent cliffs and rocks running out into the sea. There are the fishing rocks left almost dry by the ebbing tide, where you shall find good sport and dry quarters. If you are too bold, however, and remain till high water you will get drenched to the skin with fountains and showers of white spray. At low water you can walk round the foot of the cliffs to the bays beyond, and in the pools and crevices see all manner of curious and delightful things. Whole armies of crabs continually rattle over the rocks and splash into the pools ot water or hide themselves in the crevices among the stones. You may walk on like this for bay after bay, with the cliffs towering two or three hundred feet overhead, and as you go back, should the tide be too high to pass at the foot of the cliffs, you can climb over the top and back to camp again.