An Excursion and a Disappointment.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XIII, Issue III, 21 July 1894, Page 65

An Excursion and a Disappointment.

THE CAMERA IN NEW ZEALAND. THROUGH THE WONDERLAND. (BY JOSIAH MARTIN.) IN the good old days, before coaches traversed the island from north to south, the track from Rotorua to Taupo

crossed the Waikato River at Orakei Korako. And this district, so often visited by early explorers, has been left metaphorically, but not physically, * out in the cold ’ and is now almost unknown. A little more than a year ago the place became suddenly notorious in consequence of the outbreak of the ‘ Terrific Geyser,’ whose terrible demonstrations completely dwarfed, it was said, the feebler efforts of the great fountains of

Whakarewarewa and Taupo. Not to have seen • The Terrific’ was to lose caste at once among tourists through the Wonderland, and not to have a photograph of its many hnndred feet of roaring steam was to be without the most important item in the country. So forming an expedition of three jolly good fellows we started well equipped for two or three day’s camping in Maoriland one brilliant morning by Robertson’s coach from ROTORUA TO URATIAMI. Rising up into the pass of the Hemo Gorge, we look over the Rotorua Valley upon one of the most impressive and beautiful pictures in the Wonderland—a pictuie like a poet’s dream. More than a hundred columns of steam are rising in the stillness of early morning, brilliantly illuminated by the low rays of the sun, some with spreading heads more massive than forest giants, while others are slender as saplings; and besides these, a countless number of thin vaporous threads, ascending, as in the poet’s vision, like the prayers of lost souls in purgatory; while dark fantastic figures move, weird and indistinct, through the mist, like earth-bound ghouls or demons. What a chance for the camera ! So we very hastily prepare for action. The effect seen upon the ground-glass is magical; but just as we are pulling out the slide our picture is completely wiped out by a rush of wind, which comes sweeping through the gorge, and our expressions of delight are as quickly changed to despair. Our companions console us by the confident assurance that we can get the photograph again on our return. They cannot realise that there is not one day in a hundred when the conditionswill bein such favourable combination.

We soon get over our disappointment, and enjoy the panorama of * Horo Horo,’ a conspicuous table-mountain, whose face rises like a wall of rock ridged in vertical furrows like Titanic palisades. Its abrupt termination is marked by a solitary splintered pinnacle, detached like an uplifted warning finger. This is named after Hinemoa, the Maori maiden. On our left are the volcanic cones and terrace of * Haparangi,’ and through the valley winds 'a clear stream edged with clumps of flax and overhanging foliage — grand and imposing scenery, presenting many pictures for the brush of the artist, but too extensive for the camera. We make ATIAMURI, thirty miles from Rotorua, in time for early lunch, and at Crowther’s comfortable hostelry find our creature comforts well attended to. Some romantic bits here for the camera, the view from the hotel making a most artistically perfect picture. Here the beautiful Waikato, sweeping with rapid course at the base of precipitous cliffs (down the

face of which we have just passed on the coach road cutting), and under a long white bridge, breaks into foaming rapids ; a steep slope from the hotel leads to a sandy Hat where a large, overhanging willow forms a fine foreground study ; while the rock-strewn valley, with the gigantic natural pyramid • Pohuturoa (800 feet high), in centre, makes an imposing and striking background. Situated so conveniently, and seen from the door of the half-way house, where all passing tourists stay for an hour’s refreshment—every third passenger carrying a camera—this scene has been more frequently photographed than any other place of interest in the country. The afternoon was spent in visiting the ANAWHANIWIIA, OR RAINBOW FALLS, a walk of a little more than two miles from the hotel, across the plain by the old military redoubt or by the side of the river,and close under a well known land mark, the sharp conical hill known as * Niho-o-te-Kiore,’ or * Rat’s Tooth.’

How shall we describe the inexpressible grandeur of these magnificent falls, so close to the road and yet so rarely visited by tourists ? At a bend in its course, the noble Waikato, here more than two hundred yards across, rushes through a series of rocky E asses, where it is broken by a undred foaming rapids into as many beautiful cascades, roaring tumultuously over huge masses of rock, and dashing with irresistible force down the craggy steeps —now broken into two or three streams by rocky islets, and again united witbone wild roaring whirl; while above and around, the misty spray breaks into brilliant showers, lit, in the dazzling sunbeams, by many lovely rainbows, which Hash and fade like fairy lights thrown across the scene. Early next morning our cavalcade starts for ORAKEI KORAKO, and not being able to get an extra pack-horse our steeds are encumbered with baggage, provisions, and photographic gear, under which extra weight they move with a funeral pace that is very exasperating to eager and impetuous tourists. < Ince we try to urge them forward,but our plates clattered (our tin plates and paunikins, not our Imperials), then a string broke and our provisions were distributed, not in regular rations, but by the way side, aud time was lost in securing them. The track, after leaving the main road leads through a romantic country, and then strikes the river by another series of very picturesque rapids, with many pretty bits for the camera. Lord Onslow—himself an enthusiastic photographer — considered thia river gorge to be the finest part of the Waikato.