COAST SCENIC HIGHWAY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 71, 10 January 1947, Page 5

COAST SCENIC HIGHWAY

INCREASING POPULARITY More, interest than ever has been taken this year in the GisborneOpotiki scenic highway, via the East Coast, and the duty resident patrol, Mr E. W. Cook, said it appeared that that route this season would carry a record amount of traffic. He was able to recommend the scenic highway as being in good condition and worth the additional time on the road between Gisborne and Opotiki from the scenic point of view, he informed a Gisborne Herald representative. Motorists who have previously visited the Bay of Plenty camping grounds beyond Waihau Bay will be interested to leaim that attention has been given to the two access roads to the beach camp at Whanarua Bay, about 12 miles on the Opotiki side of Waihau Bay. A considerable amount of work has been carried out on the section of the highway between Waihau Bay and Te Kaha, and the straightening of the alignment of the road on the summit of the Hicks Bay hill is almost complete. The traffic has still been mostly from the south and making a northern circuit, but it is reported that many Auckland visitors and other tourists from northern districts have been going to Gisborne. The travellers from Gisborne have usually travelled over the scenic highway.

Mr Cook said he had heard nothing but praise for the condition of the highway and the unusual beauty of the scenery. One widely travelled woman tourist from Christchurch, he said, had volunteered the information that in her opinion the scenic highway “opened up some of the prettiest spots you could wish to find anywhere in New Zealand.”