Horse At Home In This Hotel

Chronicle (Levin), 11 October 1949, Page 7

Horse At Home In This Hotel

Press AssociationJ

(Per

AUCKLAND, Oct. S. A notice iu big, bold lettering 011 the t'acade of the Rangitaiki Hotel, 31 iniles east of Taupo, announeing "Ba.l Beer — Dirty Cflasses— Crook Change Lucivility — Come In," is just one of the many surprises fo'r visitors to this outlandish place in the Waimarino elee torate. There are £1 and 10s notes on the ceiling of the bar-room, and a horse that is quite at.ho.me inside the hotel. In a nearby birch forest are two elephants, acquired from a circus to haul logs. Fittingly described as an oasis in the desert, the • settlement is proud of its little hotel, on which hardy • vvorkers from miles around converge at weekends for relaxation from " their arduous work. So unusual L the settlement that the visitor immediately forms the impression that he has inadvertently wandered across the set of a Western film. So impressed vvas one visitor to the hotel a few years ago that he pinned a banknote on the ceiling of the bar-room to make sure he would have some funds in hand for a futurc visit. This odd behaviour, but not so unusual when one has seen the area has spead, and todav there is about £20 in £1 and 10s notes on the ceiling. Clumping up ' the passage of thi hotel does not denote the arrival oi a heavy-footed worker to quaff a pint of ale. Comparative strangers won dering at the noise find the answer when a fully-grown horse walks un escorted into the bar. Left near tne hotel by his mother, a mounta.ni brumby, the animal has been tamen by the two daughters of the pubii can, but has never been riddeu. Unabashed bv the curious stares of visitors and peremptory glanees of residents, the horse eventually

(inds the companv distasteful and wanders out the front door into ttnfresh air. Said to have belonged to a circu which suddenly ended its activifies ubout seven years ago, the two elephants are quite at home in the ueighbouring birch forest, but toda\ there are no circus crowds to applaud their antics. Their role now is the removal of large birch logs, which they handle with ease. Wild dogs, pigs, deer, horses and cattle rove the uncultivated plains. The dogs, many of which are a eros* between (treat Danes and ; Alsatians hunt in packs and ofter kill full-sized cattle, deer, and horses, and havt been known to tear tame dogs to bits. The settlement so impresses many

' visitors tiiat they return each summer, when bookings at the hotel art lieavy. Living an entiiely different oxistence from what is normally ex pected in New Zealand, the settlers are in a world of their own. They make it their business to strike up acquaintaneeship with all newomers, who, if they enter the bar, must bc prepai ed To''^ siibut " drinks aU^f&uncI. That is the custom, and exception* are not treated in a kindlv light. The compliment is always returned, tliough.