THE CITY'S GIRDLE

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 17, 21 January 1924, Page 17

THE CITY'S GIRDLE

MOTOR ROADS AND TRAMP TRACKS

V _ ■ TCLLTN OTOTsT and district derive their configuration mainly from fill 6 southern end of the Tararua Kange, which forks near Mount Alpha", sending a very lofty branch down towards Palliser Bay, and a less lofty branch down past Porirua Harbour towards Oape Terawhiti. The only low-lying

There are two hinterland objectives—the Manawatu Plains and the Wairarapa Plains, divided by the Tararua backbone. The road and railway builders between Wellington and the Manawatu both chose the Porirua Valley as an outlet. On the Wellington Harbour side there are three valleys that may be chosen as giving approach, to the Porirua

expanse of any size enclosed between these two southward branches of the Tararuas is Wellington Harbour, Bkirtefi by the bit of flat on which stands Wellington City,, and the Hutt Valley, the natural outlet for the Greater Wellington to be. •

These heights gave rise to a river system, and the roads and railways of the colonising white man have taken;their character from the mountain-and-river layout of the country.

The Terawhiti or south-western branch of the Tararuas is crossed by roads at Makara Hill, at Johnsonville (main West Coast road, with branch, to Ohariu), at Hayw&rds and Trentham (these two roads converging on Pahautanui), and at Akatarawa (Upper Hutt to Waikanae). • ,

The Palliser Bay or southern branch of.the Tararuas (a branch called the Rimutaka in places and the Orongorongo in places) is crossed by the Wellington-Wairarapa main road at Mangaroa Hill and Rimutaka Pass. One ,of its off-shoots is crossed by the Wainui-q-mata road ; but that road is not yet complete to the Wairarapa side, though there is a track round the coast, and a high-level pack track (Semple's) connects the Wainui-o-mata and the Orongorongo Valleys. The road-conquest of this southern branch of the Tararuas has hardly begun.

The communications policy of the district pivots upon (1) better routes for main railways,

Valley. They are Kaiwarra Gorge, Ngahauranga Gorge, and Korokoro. The railwaybuilders chose Kaiwarra; the road-builders chose Ngahauranga. Railway improvement engineers to-day still aim to get into Porirua Valley, and they agree on ■ the principle of doing it at a lower level by means of tunnelling. But while 'the Public Works Department favours the idea of proceeding via a branch gully (Newlands) of Ngahauranga Gorge, at least one private-engineer suggests a tunnelfrom the Korokoro. . All Routes go via Porirua. The Porirua Valley route, which js common to all these railway schemes, has the drawback that it does not avoid Paekakariki Hill. An Akatarawa Valley route would avoid Paekakariki Hill, but is otherwise objectionable on account of steep country and high elevation. . : Any artery traversing the Porirua Valley northward is beset with two hurdles. One is . the hurdle behind it (the high ground between ' the Porirua Valley and Wellington Harbour), the other is the hurdle in front of it, Paekakariki Hill. Nothing but tunnelling can get through the first hurdled But the second hurdle (Paekakariki) may be got round by skirting the sea-shore, and this course the railway of the future will probably follow.

At present the railway runs, partly through small tunnels, from sea-level up to Johnson-

(2) bitumenising of main roads, (3) improvement of grades and curves on the mountain roads and roads of lesser importance. Mountain Conquest. It is well to consider the three arterial roads and two railways connecting "Wellington and its Manawatu-Wairarapa hinterland, apart from the various roads that do not cross the main mountain barrier.

ville, down again.. to sea-level; then up over Paekakariki's shoulder through another series of small tunnels, and back again to sea-level —a great waste of effort. The road does the same thing, but runs still higher at Paekakariki, attaining a height of about 900 feet. The suddenness of the rise on each side of this hill makes the road very steep, though it must be admitted that the Public Works Department has lately made a wonderful improvement in grades and curves.

OUTER SUBURBS AND FAR VALLEYS

supply. A still easier project should be to make a new road to the Wairarapa by completing the Wainui-o-mata road round the coast to Wairarapa Lake. With that brief survey, we leave the arterial over-the-mountain thoroughfares. Of the three existing roads, two are well known to motorists, and their scenic attractions need no praise. The third (via Akatarawa) is in, some respects the prettiest of the three! ' Roads Nearest City. '" Now for the roads within the ramparts. The less lofty branch of the Tararuas has, of course, been much more roaded than the other. It is a beautiful trip to motor through Karori (past the head waters of the South Karori stream, famous for the number though not the size of its trout), over the Makara Hill, and down into the valley of the Makara stream (whose rather muddy bed provides cover for some biggish trout and some busi-ness-like eels). When you have motored down the Makara to within no great distance of the sea, you can either go on to the beach, where there is sea-fishing, or you can take a road turning to the right up a tributary and motor through Ohariu to Johnsonville, thence back to Wellington. A branch road in the Ohariu Valley enables you to strike the sea at another good fishing place if you want to. The Makara-Ohariu-Johnsonville round trip is one of the best of what may be called the outer suburban jaunts. There is a well-known drive through Porirua to Titahi Bay. Sea-fishing is obtainable there, and at the other seaside places northward to Pukerua. Here is another round trip. Motor along the Porirua road to near Pahautanui, then leave the main road at a right-hand turn close to Pahautanui and go through what is called the " small farms." -At a point near Mr. Galloway's the road divides; either of these two takes you right over the main divide (with glorious view) and into the Hutt Valley. The right-hand choice brings you to Hayward's, and the left-hand choice to. Tfentham . (over the newest Hutt bridge, built of concrete, called, as a rule, the Moonshine Bridge). Either of these round trips may be reversed by motoring up the Hutt VaJley to Haywards or to Trentham. But from the Trentham side the Moonshine road over the divide is very steep. To Bush and Trout Stream. This Moonshine loop trip has a spur to it. The spur runs into the valley of the Little Wainui stream, and ends blind near where that stream flows into the Whakatiki. There are open spaces in the stream bank beloved :•■■ of picnickers, and there are a few big trout in the Whakatiki. Picnic parties sometimes include anglers who catch a tasty lunch, but the ladies of these parties say it is safer to carry some lunch with you. The few big fish in the Whakatiki are reported to be first-class humorists, except at night-time. The Wainui

Settled policy for the railway (North Island Main Trunk) seems to be a lower-level tunnel to Porirua Valley, and a seaside route)at Paekakariki Hill. Bub the limit of improvement oa the Wellington-Porirua-Manawatu road, so far as the two high places are concerned, seems to be about reached,- though the Ngahauranga Gorge section could be bettered.

Akatarawa Route. As may be gathered from what is stated above, the alternative road to the Manawatu leads over the saddle dividing a branch stream

bf the Akatarawa from a branch stream of-the Waikanae. This road is very much higher, but the Public Works Department has made a fairly good job of it, and when better known it may be much used. For the two high hills on the old Porirua road it substitutes one much higher hill. It • has the advantage of the flat running between Wellington and Upper Hutt, the complete bitumenising of which is assured as soon as the Hutt Valley people wake up. It runs through picturesque high country, giving'a fine panorama from the top of the pass. Its popularity will undeniably increase, provided that the Hutt County Council keeps it in repair. The two remaining arterial routes (railway and road) connect Wellington and the Wairarapa. For the improving of the railway a tun-nelling-out policy is, again accepted in most quarters, but the route fight on this southern branch of the Tararuas is more fierce than the route argument on the other branch. There are several alternative railway routes. Fortunately, the Wairarapa road question is not complicated by route issues; it is a question of money, complicated by local bodies' disunity. Here again the Public Works Department is making a great improvement to grades and curves. Looking a long way ahead, some day a road may connect the valley of the Western Hutt with the valley of the Waiqtauru branch of the Otaki. Perhaps in quicker time the Orongorougo and Waivongomai valleys will be connected, especially if the Wellington City Council goes to the Wairongomai for water

tributary, fifteen years ago, was full of magnificent fish, but now hardly shows a fin. Fifteen years ago this country was overrun with rabbits, and now there is hardly a sign.. ■ Just as the roads over the divide to Pahautanui provide a round trip on that side of the Hutt River, so, on the other (eastern) side a round trip is provided by the by-road which leaves the main road at Silverstream, and, going oS to the right, climbs into the headwaters of the Mangaroa, and thence down the Mangaroa to Mangaroa township. From, here there are three ways of returning to Upper Hutt, and so completing ■ the loop to Silverstream. The fall of the Mangaroa stream is so gradual that a wonderfully graded road is provided, and the going is delightful. Round About Upper Hutt. \ Upper Hutt is a centre from which you can' motor into the Mangaroa Valley, or up into the higher parts of the main Hutt Valley (such as Kaitoke and the Pakuratahi), or into the Akatarawa, and thence to Waikanae, or by an Akatarawa side-road into the Little Akatarawa. This side-road now stops at Karapoti, but is being extended to Hukinga (Mr. Price's), where there is a low saddle permitting access for pedestrians from the Little.' Akatarawa into the Whakatiki. Some day a road may lead over this saddle into the Whakatiki to connect with the spur road (mentioned above) now ending blind in the Little Waimii, but difficult country (gorges and high hills) present obstacles on the Whakatiki side. At present this Little Akatarawa and Whaka-

tiki country belongs—except in the opossum B6^son —to the tramper, and—what glorious tramps! Where the heights separating Whakatihi, Little Akatarawa, and Akatarawa remain forested, they are a Nature-lover's paradise, marred only by the mobs of raw youths and mangy hounds that range the bush looking for wild pigs that are too clever for them, and relieving their disappointment by shooting pigeons or geligniting trout: For the genuine tramper and bush lover the mountains and hills between Paekakariki and the Akatarawa, between the Wainui-o-mata and Wairarapa Lake, and on the main Tararua Hange itself, provide a never-ending joy.

To return to the motorist: We have dealt with his opportunities along the main roadß and in the loops formed by their by-roads. Coming nearer to Wellington Harbour, the Wainui-o-mata gives a good motor trip (with an unsurpassed view, from the hill, of Huttmout* harbour), but you have to come back the same way as you went; and the same

remark applies to the coastal road to Eastbourne. If these two were linked, another round trip of great variety would be provided. The Eastbourne coastal road, combined with the Hutt road and the coastal roads of Evans Bay, Miramar, Lyall Bay, Island Bay, and Ohiro Bay, make updone of the finest marine drives in the world. From Oriental Bay round the coast (via Miramar Peninsula) to Ohiro, and through Happy Valley to Brooklyn, is a circuit of which any city could be proud. Karori-Wilton's Bush-Wadestown is another. Some day the coast round the Red Rocks will be roaded, and the valley of the South Karori stream will provide a.route for linking up Karori. At present this is tramper country. So is Terawhiti, Oterongu, and the old goldfields. The panorama of Wellington Harbour iroxn' the hills between Kaiwarra. and Korokoro has not been enjoyed by many in the past. The new road from the Hutt road to Khandallah should • alter this. It is an acquisition to Greater Wellington from the traffic and scenic angles. The Tramper's Sphere. And here, as the tramper has already come into the story a couple of times, let us leave the motorist, and follow the activities of the pedestrian. The nearer trips—Mount Hawkins, Terawhiti, etc.—need not be described. They are well enough known. And enough has been said already about the country between the Hutt Valley and the Porirua-Pahautanui coast-line, and about the forest wonderland, where rise the clear-water tributaries of the Hutt (Whakatiki, Little Akatarawa, Akatarawa). Knowledge of this country has been promoted to some extent by the operations of the Tararua Tramping Club, but the club

Tararua Tramping Club. Because of the needs of the Orongoroago water-tunnel and weir, Mr. Semple's party constructed a pack-track over the lofty ridge that separates the Wainui-o-mata stream from the Orongorongo. Transport required a packtrack. One summer's day about half-a-doien ladies and about a dozen men of the Tararua Tramping Club filed over Semple's track with their rucsacs on their backs. They slept.that night in whares on the Orongorongo. Then, leaving the pack-track, they travelled up stream—past the water works—for some time, turned to. right up a tributary of the Orongorongo, crossed an easy saddle, and passed into a tributary' of the Wairongomai, seeking in the evening a camping ground on the latter stream. After leaving the weir works, the party was in conditions that gave no option but to carry its house and its goods on its back; that is to say, it travelled in conditions sacred to the tramper.

And the novice is constantly astonished to see how much can be transported over bush tracks and up and down stream-beds by strong backs and clever packing. At the end of the day's tramp, at the camping site on the Wairongomai, four or five tents sprang up like mushrooms, and with them a wonderful equipment of tools and utensilß, all back-carried through bush and over mountain. The mobility and carrying power of a well-organised tramping party are remarkable. Thanks to the co-operative organising work of the Tararua Tramping Club, many ladies and men of average walking ability are able to visit, in comparative comfort, places quite inaccessible to animal or mechanical transport, and therefor© inaccessible td the mere individual." The co-operative effort, the team spirit, organising ability, and bush-craft are the factors that count. Beyond the far-flung radius of the motor, many ideal playgrounds like the Orongorongo and Wairongomai stand waiting for the tramper, who enters into joys that one who is only a motorist will never comprehend. Tararua Mountain Tracks. On the Tararuas, the back-tracks are developing towards pack-tracks. There is occasional need to pack in material, on horseback, in order to improve accommodation on the mountains. The widening of tracks does not, of course, compel a tramper to resign a tramper 's privileges. He can still tramp, and be his own beast of burden.The Alpha-Hector section of the Tararuas was first tracked from Manawatu to Wairarapa (Otaki to Woodside). The problem before .the road-builder who started from Woodside was how to negotiate Mount Reeves and the Tauherenikau Valley behind it. Reeves is nearly 3000 feet high. Then you drop a couple of thousand feet into the bed of the Tauhere-

has specialised in the Tararuas and Orongorongos, and its longer trips and track-making activities are worthy of particular notice. A track is something which does not take wheeled traffic. Some tracks can take packhorses. Others take pedestrians, but no beast of burden (other than pedestrians). Over the latter kind of track man (or woman, as the ease may be) carried all his requirements. So tracks may be summed up' as pack-tracks and back-tracks.

nikau, cross that river, and rise again to Alpha (4467 feet) and Hector (5016 feet). Except from a hygienic and aesthetic point of view, there is a big waste of energy in the big "up" • followed by the big "down," but as that point of view is the main point of view, no particular damage arises from the fact that the road-' builder went at his job with the simple diretir, ness shown»by; a-spirited horse-at a-hnidjek,

t Latterly, howerer, , an alternative route aas coma, into notice. It reached Alpha , without touching; Reeves or the TauhereJiikan, because it starts in from Kaitoke -to Mount Marchant, -and thus, gets at once on to the main divide of the Taratuaa betweon Wairarapa and the higher >Hutt. The advantage to, Wellington people is that Kaitoke is hearer than Woodside. The-advantage to everybody is that the Kaitoke-Marchant route provides a retreat from Alpha Hut to by any party-that is prevented by weather from passing the hut ito the western side, and which is disinclined to risk the Tauherenikau River crossing. The Kaitoke-Marchant route in fortunate in avoiding all unbridged rivers, Taut, to do so, it has to head off and go iound the Hutt tributary known as the Eastern Hutt. •■And;that fact.makes it a long tramp from Kaitoke .to Alpha Hut. The Kaitoke-Quoin route to Alpha is more direct, and therefore "much shorter, but it'pays the penalty of directness Iby having to ford the Eastern Hutt, ~, MARCHANT'S PROS AND^CONS. -f, On the whole, it is easy to find a balance of advantage in favour of the Alarchant route, and the Tararua Tramping Club has done well by employing one or two of its skilled bushmen to make^a good bush track over Marchant ■lo a junction point with the older track near Omega. .When the Alpha-bound tramper reaches the point of junction, lie finds he still-has £he precipitous Hell's Oate to traverse; but tlie drawback, inherent to the route, has been met by providing hut accommodation a t Dobson s JUistuke. lu'OHuKa'itbke to Dobson's is ian easy stage; from Dobson's to Alpha Hut is a moderate tramp for a summer's gay; and from Alpha Hut on-to lit. Hector (another, hut .here), Tahle Top, Xc Moe Aloe (another hut), Otaki Forks^ and the Main Trunk railway is as per schedule. The huts on the Wairarapa side of Alpha are at Tauherenikau and Bassett's. ■ - - • - The Tararua Tramping Club, and its off-shoot club in the Hutt Valley, organise trips of varying time and distance, so as to suit both sexes and most ages. The club stands for order, discipline, camaraderie, and,;safety; \ It has excellent tramping codes and-bush-craft rules. IV is educational and...-social as well as locomobile. It discourages Marathon racing across the Tararuas. ? Although the purpose of tramping is to tramp, transport to the tramping ground is as important to the tramper as to any other person who desires to proceed quickly from city life to rura) ■or bush surroundings. The better the rail and motor services, the better oppoitunity lor the tramper. Already it is possible tft be,,,pi£; .the bushliiieCafter : a iapse. of OTe or ••two hours from-leaving the city by motor or rail.' -'This time, intermediary ..between"" the .: city ..'and Nature's playground, may be cut down by. better roading and ' transport services, provided that the time thus gained is not lost by pushing back the bushline. Preservation of the bush, its flora ■ aiid fauna, and of natural conditions generally, is aJWmportaui. ' 2 POOR COUNTRY,'YET RICH. same rocky mountain rampart that impedes commercial transport beftveen city and hinterland has created a- magnificent area of high, steep, forest- , ed, well-watered country, protected from -I commercial despoliation by its precipitous and inaccessible character, and by the poorness of the soil for. any purpose I oxher than the conservation of forest &nd water. Had this land been flat and fertile, it would long since hare erased to be a public playground. Poor as it is in the eye of commerce those forested parts of the all-important'water-shed that are not protected, by Government reservation are yet threatened by iae or axe. The smallness of their grass value is no protection from the man With the fire-stick. It.'would have been better if the Government had reserved the whole watershed from the Whakatiki to the main Tararuas; better still if the local bodies (including those of the Hutt Valley) had conserved nearly all the Hutt tributaries for water supply and power. Perhaps some additional protection may ySt be given ; against deforestation. The interests if the owners of river lands of city dwellers seeking playgrounds, and of, the public as a whole, are all aided by the preservation of the natural bush. ■- lhe Nature-lover rejoices in the fact that the forest primeval is still within two hours of New Zealand's Capital City -Properly conserved, this forest can be made one of the city's greatest attractions. Its more secluded parts still shelter many rare and beautiful native birds. In the headwaters of the Wahkatiki even the much-sought huia has a chance of survival. ; PANORAMIC PLEASURES. < ■'■ The high points near the city are fairly well known. Some of those o'utlyin" &ay be worth a few notes. ° ; Where the road crosses the hill between the Hutt and Wainui-o-mata, an unsurpassed view may be obtained of the harbour, Heads, and the city and its overlooking hills; also (nearer at hand) feomes Island, the automatically increasing delta of the Hutt River, the anabranch, Petone, and the western hills of the Hutt Valley. ;; Near where the Haywards road crosses the divide between the Hutt and Pahautanui, another fine panorama opens out. Irom almost anywhere the Kaikouras are visible, and from various high points iSgmont is sometimes seen. ! The Paekakariki Hill outlook is one of the best known. Kapiti is its j<;wel. Xhe Kapakapanui panorama is still greater, because higher, but Kapakapiumi's summit is accessible only to trampers. ' •Not many people realise how wide and fertile is the Mangaroa Valley. Anyone who motors to Maori Bank (just beyond Upper Hutt) and takes the road to the right, leading into the Mangaroa, can, by walking a few steps from the top of the ioad, get an excellent view of both that valley and tho Upper Hutt Valley. After cutting out these two valleys all that remains of farm iland in the higher Hutt basin is pretty harmless. ; All these outlook points are within reach of the motor, except where otherwise stated. TROUT STREAMS. ;.The trout-fishing streams nearest to the city are the Kaiwarra, South Karori, and Makara, Korokoro. little farther are the Hutt, the ,Wainui-o-mata, and the P,orirua. -Hutt and Wainui-o-mata are much resorted to. Hutt is open to live bait, The day-time fly fisherman needs skill in the Hutt, but the skilled dry fly men get, as a rule, good baskets. Wai-nui-o-mata is one of- the most consistent trout streams- near ; Wellington, except in drought tune. ■ "The clear-water tributaries of the Hutt - Whakatiki, Little Akatarawa, and Akatarawa—carry a limited number of fair-sized fish, some of them from three to ten pounds. 'The mirrortlike water makes long casting and light tackle necessary. The Akatarawa is the most "civilised" and probably the best stocked. Upper Whakatiki is the not very productive haunt ol the bush-loving fishermen. Little Akatarawa is betwixt ajjd between. ~Across the dividing range is another clear-water stream, the Waikanae, but itjS finny characteristic is the reverse—

it carries many trout and small, as against few trout and large in the three Hutt tributaries. The Waikanae is a charming resort. Not many-anglers go empty away.

Coming back to the Hutt Valley, the higher Hutt contains some tremendous fish, but they are wary and rise little to the fly. Pakuratahi tributary is said to have "gone off." The higher Hutt branches, Eastern and Western Hutt, are almost unexplored. , Cross the hill from the Eastern Hutt stream and you are on the Wairarapa side in the Tauherenikau. It carries big trout, and so does its tributaries, or, at any rate, one of them" does. The Wairarapa river fishing is improved this year; the Waiohine, Waingawa, and Ruamahunga report well. The lake contains perch.

'On the West Coast, between the Waikanae and the Porirua, are two small waters, the . Horokiwi and the. Mangatukituki, of variable fishing quality. Mangatukituki is a tributary of the Waikanae. • ■

' Beyond Waikanae • are the Te Horo Stream.and the Otaki. Otaki> either low down or at the Forks, is good fishing to the angler who knows it. Perhaps the easiest fly-fishing of all is in the Waikanae.

The tendency to fish with a "bully" (small line fish) at night is increasing throughout the district. 'Night fishing is uncomfortable, but gets big trout that in daytime are timid. The Hutt, the Whakatiki, and the Makara are the only near by streams of consequence that are not reserved to artificial lures.' ' . ' "