HOLIDAY IN SOUNDS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 101, 23 January 1935, Page 16

HOLIDAY IN SOUNDS

Wahine’s Picton Trip DAY FOR EXCURSIONISTS Despite the rival attraction of the races, over 1500 Wellingtonians filled the Lyttelton express steamer Wahine yesterday and made the special Anniversary Day excursion to Picton. It proved one of the most ideal days of its kind that have yet been arranged by the Union Steam Ship Company. Before the starting time the capacity limit of passengers on the ship had been reached. The three hundred or so persons who were left at the wharf have considerable cause to lament their luck for, on both crossings of Cook Strait the weather was kind, and the principal objective of many, the national speed-boat championship at Picton, was up to all expectations. No one who saw the ship as it passed between the islands could have doubted for an instant that it was an excursion steamer. Mingled snatches of song from many parts of every deck would have blown on the wind, nnd gay dresses and blazers flaunted at the rails. A great many passengers chose the top deck and packed every one of the ship’s boats —an informal procedure, perhaps, but the general mood was such. Those who did this were well rewarded by watching the sea sparkling far below, all under a strong sun tempered by the cool wind, and by being in a commanding position as the scenery changed and became increasingly attractive as the ship entered the Sounds. Arrived oil I’icton the passengers crowded to the rails, and were given some thrilling moments by a speed-boat encircling the ship.

The Wahine remained at Picton wharf for a little under tour hours, and within that time there could hardly have been a dull moment for any of the passengers, whatever their tastes, whether they desired strenuous activity or the very opposite. Those who were admirers of Blenheim, or its inhabitants, walked from the ship to a waiting train; those who wished to see the speed-boat races either crowded on to waiting launches or moved to the lawn promenade above the beach, and in between times were entertained by side shows; and those who sought more scenery were able to make special launch trips to some of the best known bays, or to go on a three-hour cruise from Picton in the s.s. Tuatea around Grove Arm and Double Bay.