AMONG THE MOUNTAINS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 356, 19 February 1869, Page 2

AMONG THE MOUNTAINS.

CLYDE TO THE HEAD OF LANE WAKATIP. (from an occasional correspondent.) After the hot dusty weather and worry and bustle of the race week, who could wonder that I seized upon the first opportunity that presented

itself of enjoying a few days amidst the cool mountain breezes of the Wakatip, including a trip to the head of that most glorious of New Zealand Lakes. The sight of a mountain is of course no novelty at the Dunstan, for are there not the Garrick and Dunstan Ranges to feast your eyes upon 1 and, if inclined for a ramble, an ascent to the obelisk at the top of the “ Old Man 1 ' should be sufficient to satisfy the cravings of the most romantic of adventurers. But, somehow or another, we all love novelty, and thus intent I availed myself of the public invitation issued by Messrs. Robertson and Co. to a trip in their new steamer Artrim to the head of the Lake. A few years ago a journey from Clyde to Queenstown, when the Gentle Annie and Crown Ranges required to be climbed and the Roaring Meg forded, was* considered a most formidable affair, and any one mooting such an idea as a pleasure trip to the Lake District would in those days have been seized upon by the first peace officer in blue, and forthwith lodged in the “ lock-up,'” pending transmission by Escort to • Dunedin, there to be dealt with by those professing to undertake the cure of the insane. Things have happily undergone a great change since, and at the present time a few hours’ ride in a four-horse coach is sufficient exertion to reach Queenstown. Eullj conscious that I was not about to lindertake anything dangerous'bv desperate, instead of consulting my friends I sought the assistance of Mr. William Smitham, one of our oldest and most successful mail contractors, and procured from him a ticket which was to convey me, at half the usual fares, to the city of the Lakes and back. At 6 o’clock on Thursday, the 11th 'instant, at the hint of “ all on board,” I jumped into the coach at the Dims tan Hotel, and in less time than it takes me to describe it, we were off at a hand-gallop towards Cromwell. There was a goodly company of us; but it won d be wasting pen, ink, and paper to describe outgeneral appearance. A telegraph coach, under the patronymic of Cobh and Co., revelling in red paint and varnish, with its load of happy-lookim* ladies and gentlemen, all dressed in their best Sunday clothes, is so faithfully depicted on almost every book ing office window in Otago that a description is positively unnecessary. Looking upon one of these pictures the reader must imagine that ho sees a correct representation of our party and how we appeared upon that memorable morning, allowing just this difference, that, instead of the ladies wearing coal-scuttles upon their heads, they wore some other arrangement, which could not be denominated a bonnet, a cap, nor a hat Appealing to Mr. Smitham upon the incongruity of these aforementioned pictures, he promised that, in future, both himself and other coach proprietors would cause the ladies to bo painted with more fashionable and becoming headdresses. The road between Clyde and Cromwell presents no feature worthy of particular note. The joltings wo got in places where, for the want of a timely shovel-full of stone, the wheeltracks had been allowed to break through the metal, were oftentimes excrutiating, and it is needless to remark that the Provincial Government came in for a goodly share of wellmerited abu"G for the scandalous state of the highways ; but I presume they a re far too thick-skinned to care much about public opininion the up-country districts, and, despite warnings, will still persevere in spending all the goldfields revenue about Dunedin, instead of upon the goldfields from which it was obtained. In a little more than two hours we drove up to the Kawarau Hotel, Cromwell, when, with appetites whetted by our early morning’s ride, we did ample justice to the good and substantial things provided for our matitudinal meal. Increasing our number of passengers, we were off again, and before the hurrahs of the sundry small urchins who witnessed our departure had died away Cromwell was far behind. Crossing the fine open plain which forms the valley of the Clutha, we arrived at the Kawarau Gorge, a place, I am told, famous for its sluicing claims, and for the growth of dairymen, cows, geese, and race-horses. Many of the bipeds denominated sluicers, I should say, must be fast making their way in the world, if the comfortable cottages, with their neat and well-stocked gai--dens, which line tiie sides of the road can be taken as a criterion, let alone the prosperity they seem to be acquiring in the shape of babies, for at almost every cottage door might he seen a smartly-attired female, holding in either hand some member of the rising generation, while she gazed upon our passing vehicle. I could not help thinking to myself that when the time arrives that the working man can fill the bellies ot these hungry little youngsters at something like a reasonable cost, tho question of the settlement of the population upon the goldfields will be in a fair way of becoming satisfactorily solved. From this the road enters a narrow rocky defile, and runs close alongside the precipitous banks of the Kawarau river, which tears, roars, and churns itself into foam as it tumbles over rocky precipices and forces itself, with the strength of ten thousand giants, through some rock-bound trough, dangerous even to look upon. We were fairly among tho mountains now. They surrounded us and frowned upon

us on every side, and we appeared to be in such a labarynth that escape seemed hopeless and our chance of reaching the Wakatip rather remote. Our good steeds, however, kept the coach bowling along at a tolerably quick rate, and amidst the thunder of falling waters our Jehu pulled up at the Roaring Meg Hotel. This hostelrie, I was informed, derives its euphonious name from a large stream which, close by the house, comes tumbling down over rocky precipices from the Mount Pisa Ranges, and mingles with the waters of the Kawarau. Crossing a wooden bridge, and still threading our way through the rocky defile, we pulled up at the Gentle Annie Store to change horses, which necessary piece of business having been gone through we resumed our journey with renewed vigor, and, after a ride of some three miles, reached the Nevis Ferry, or, more properly speaking, Edwards’s Punt, on the Kawarau River, at the Nevis Junction. As far as the arrangements for crossing the river are concerned the punt and its fixings are admirable, but the approaches are execrable. The roadway, besides being at a ridiculously steep gradient, is in a shocking state of repair ; so much so that the male portion of our party, were compelled to walk, and although we toiled down and up the steep inclines, each passenger was charged Is. puntage, in addition to the toll of 6s. levied on the coach. The proprietor of the punt imformed me that he was compelled to carry over all Provincial Government officers free of charge. These officers, numbering, as they do, so large a per centage of the population, lam inclined to believe a serious inroad is made on the profits of ferrying. and the prices charged, considering the circumstances, are not more than just, although at first sight, to those unacquainted with the facts, they appear unreasonably high. Our horses having, by dint of extreme exertion, tugged the coach up the incline, we were all on board again, and in a few minutes reached the much talked about Nevis Bluff, round the precipitous rocky face of which some 20,000 L were expended iu forming a roadway and building parapets, so that incautious riders and drivers of vehicles might be preserved to us, and not depart this sublunary sphere by immersion in the boiling waters of the Kawarau, which runs immediately below. Rounding the Bluff, we presently emerge upon a, well-grassed flat, the “ Remavkables” on our left hand, and the “ Gentle Annie” on our right, the silver-like rivulets coursing down the sides of the latter mountain, green as a leek with verdure, together with the patches of scrub which dot it here and there, produces a most refreshing appearance, and forms an agreeable change from the dry arid country that we loft behind at the Dunstan. At the extremity of this flat is the second, or Arrow Bluff, another rocky projection, overhanging the Kawarau, and like its brother the "Nevis Bluff. A considerable money expenditure has been required to fotm the road-way, let alone the engineering difficultiei that were necessary to overcome The road from this to tho Morvern Ferry is mostly through deep light sand, and it was fairly a matter of wonder to me Low the horses managed to pull the coach through, but the poor brutes did so, and that was sufficient for my purpose. At the feiry we were again mulcted in the sum of Is. each, and our driver in a further 6s. Remonstrances about excessive charges were met as before. It was the Provincial Government that did it, and I really do think that the Puntowuers are not to blame, the fault lays with that benificent authority, under whose rule of wisdom we have the happiness to live. Ascending another steep incline and rattling over some four miles of undulating country, with patches of cultivation here and there, we arrived at the Royal Oak Hotel, Arrowtown, where a good dinner was prepared by Host Scole’s, and which we concluded was a thing by no means to be despised, so fell to it with knife and fork accordingly. Not wishing to trespass too much upon your space I will hold over an account ot the remainder of our trip for your next issue.