ON THE TARARUAS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 732, 3 February 1910, Page 6

ON THE TARARUAS.

THE GREY-TOWN PARTY.: The tourist resorts of . this Dominion Have attracted ; large. numbers. of • travelfrom >allV parts of tho. .world.-, The ,curative;powers of the waters of Rotorua have " proved - a ;booh to many, and at-the ..same tune the.: beauties.' of the' southern* lakes,have, been admired. 'Still, at the. same time, -the bush scenery, is not an' unknown quantity. - Although the present. Government , has used the pruninp-knife on the' Tourist Department, the Govern-' isent thought it in' the 'interests of the, tourist, traffio to . allot the' sum of .£SO for the. surveying of a packtrack across the Tararua range, and thus linking the' Ota&i.Gorga' withnthe,-Waira-rapa.: A party,, headed bv Mr. W. H. Field, M.P.; _set out from Otaki last Friday, but, .owing to stress, of .weather, 'had "o return,'. after going as far as' Mount Dennan, . A , party from Greytown side ;set',out, .and. are,', reported- to have ;had a. niore . arduous . .experience . duringthe time they were on .the journey—from Thursday at. early morn till .the after-/ ,'noon< of ,the following Monday/. The party, which oomprised Messrs. J. 1 and E. Phelps, W. Ordish,. and Douglas- . M Cracken, ■: of . Greytown, report having. , oxperien-jed ,',a hazardous time. -Rain ; poured, : and everything .was wet.' Wearing apparel,. blankets, etc.; were saturated, and it. was even' impossible to/boil the billy. -Not': disparaged, the party,' resorted to \ the' only, alternative. measure of ' spending a bad night—a perpendicular, rest- against a tree stump. . It' was a solitary night. ■ Out-' post duty in. South 1 Africa with the enemy niiles .aiway" could not have been ; worse. The- party, left: Greytown on" 1 -Thursday, .morning at, five o'clock, driving to Harrison's'nut. " .

: Of the bush climb, Mount. Beeves was reached-that: evening.-/'-The: following morning the party crossed" the Tauherinikau,,; and ''finding a .leading spur, <made the ascent, by it, , instead of raking the cone/track, a, mistaken- decision", as the track taken.turned oat.to be rough and difficult, being precipitous in many, places, and except where . the wild tracks could be followed the going was very heavy and tiresome. The party considered that the cone track is the one to'.take as the permanent route, should such ever he, made.

On Friday evening: the party camped about a couple of hours'journey from the top of Mount Hector, but heavy rain and mist 1 discarded further progress, and as there were no signs-of the Otaki party it was thought necessary to. return.The return journey. was a'. boisterous one, the party having to undergo privations which will-be remembered... A worse time so far as ; weather- conditions - were concerned could not . have been struck. During, thoir unfortunate trip the party- came across wild pigs, wild cattle, kakas, pigeons, and even the übiquitous rabbit. The flora of .the; bush is described as rich in quantity .and variety, the high, ranges abounding in all kinds of ■' alpine plants, whilst the bush itself provides a veritable mine: of wealth to . the fern collector. : .