RAMBLES IN OTAGO.

Evening Star, Issue 2971, 27 August 1872, Page 2

RAMBLES IN OTAGO.

TURAKANUI BAY AND ITS VICINITY. Thinking that a few notes recently made during a journey to one of the most picturesque'localities adjacent to Dunedin might be acceptable I have seut them you. The recent severe weather over and a rising barometer, your humble servant, accompanied by a friend, left Dunedin one day last week for Port Chalmers in the coach. Of the journey to the Port it is not my intention to make any remarks ; but I had almost forgotten to say that the fences erected by the Government on the side of the X’oad are in sad need of repair, and something should be done to prevent any serious accident occurring. Arriving at the Port all right and my friend having fortified himself against the danger- of drinking water in its pure state by procuring a bottle of Martell’s brand, we ascended the hi 1 from the Port, and skirting the cemetery through the bush, we gained the road formed for the convenience of the settlers .located in the Deborah Bay and other districts adjacent. After following this road for the distance of a mile we arrived at the scene of the late heavy bush lires, which have done so much damage aboqt the head of Sawyer’s Bay. The energy displayed by the settlers who suffered such pecuniary losses is very praiseworthy. The new houses, fences, and out-buildings prove

beyond a doubt the amount of confidence which the settlers place in the future prosperity of Otago. At the foot of Mihiwaka there is a junction ; the ro ul suing toward i the west leads to Blue-skin, and lias recently been formed by the Government, the road to Purakanui turns to the north, the scenery at this point being grand in the extreme. Mihiwaka, rising on our left, attains an altitude of 2,000 feet. Sawyer’s Bay and the flat at our feet, the Harbor skirted by the Peninsula, and the ocean in the extreme distance : the whole formi >g a scene not to be forgotten. After a short rest and enjoyment of the view, we resumed our journey, and the difficulties of the road were anything but easily surmounted. The mud caused by the recent bad weather and the melting snow, together with the constant wandering of cattle: the whole combined almost making the road impassable. At a bend in the road, under a mass of overhanging rocks, I was startled by an exclamati »n and, by the way, not a very refined one—made by my friend, and upon turning round .sharply to learn the cause of it, I saw my friend had assumed an involuntary kneeling position in the mud, and was using bis host endeavors to obtain a vertical one. After a little assistance, and the use of a knife to scrape off a little of the superabundant mud, all was righted. At this point I could not help admiring the splendid quality of the basaltic rock, Trap Breccia predominating in grand columnar masses on the left-hand side of the road ; and I have no doubt it will prove of great value in the construction of works where durability is required.

The flora on the side of Mihiwaka assume quite an Alpine appearance, tho pines having beautiful cone-shaped tops, white pine (podocarpus dacrydiodes), red pine (dacridium cupressmum), black pine (podocarpusspicarta) being predominant ; the ferns giving the whole a most tropical appearance. The silver tree fern (cyathea dealbata) and (agathea smitbii) together with the king of ferns (leptopteris guperba), being amongst the most prominent of these beautiful plants of the family at Alices. The road, after leaving the side of Mibiwaka, turns to the east, keeping on the top of the hills, which lie between the Heads and Purakanui, for about three miles, when it wends to the north where tho junction of the Purakanui and the Hayward’s Point roads take place. At this place the first glimpse of Waikouaiti and the surlounding country is obtained; the hills in the extreme distanceassume a beautiful purple tint, which, contrasted with the sombre color of the pines in the foreground on each side of the road, forms a rich foregronnd to the whole pinure. We could not help noticing the amount of labor that had been expended upon the various roads, but the cattle have made them almost impassable; and until some stringent measures are adopted by tho settlers in these districts to prevent the owners allowing their cattle to stray, I think any attempt to make good roads will be futile. After a little more floundering about through tho mud, we arrived at the head of Purakanui Bay, it being nearly dark; so pushing across the Bay wc arrived at our friend’s house. Bye-Hie-bye, while crossing a fence, I was requested lo take great care of the only specimen of Martcllh we vee possessed of, as my friend seemed to value it, at all events at that time, very highly. After enjoying a pleasant evening and a good night’s rest, and, to say tho least of it, a good breakfast in the morning, we at once started to have a look about us. We made straight over the Bay (tho tide being out) for the sand spit, which is the burying ground of the Maoris located here ; from this point we was enabled to form a better opinien of the J Bay, and we at once saw the advantages it possesses for seabathing. The bay lies between Otago Heads and Bluer,lda Bay, and has this great advantage, viz., there is never any heavy swell rolling into it. Owing to its being comElctely land-lccked it is classed as a boat arbour with a bar, upon which there is six f*et of water, and vessels capable of carrying forty tons have frequently been loaded here with manuka firewood for Dunedin—one settler having sent upwards of 300 cords to town. Looking inland from the beach, the bay is backed by a very high conical hill called Mopanui, rising upwards of 1700 feet, and the homesteads of tho various settlers dotted about the skirts of the bay form a very pleasing feature in the landscape. While enjoying the scone, a boat pulled in ; and upon the men lauding, they told us they bad come to try their luck at fishing, having failed in their efforts to procure any fish in the vicinity of the heads of Otago harbor, they having frequently succeeded here upon other similar occasions—soles, flounders, cod, and crayfish being most abundant. On the beach and among the rocks we gathered some beautiful specimens of shells, chiefly mutton fish (halioloris) and lotcl lincolata, pattela rodian, astirna, &c. The beach is strewn with the remains of whales, showing that it was a favourite place for “trying out” by whalers. Upon reference being made to the watch wo found it was time to rot; ace our footsteps, so, returning to our friend’s house and partaking of a good dinner, we bade our kind host good bye, and regained the road to Dunedin. After walking about three miles, I though we plight belter ourselves by taking an old disused track to the Port, and proposed to my friend that we should try it, so, being agreeable, we scrambled through the bush, we found it, and proceeded very well for a mile or so, when wc became perfectly convinced of tho truth of the old proverb, “ Never leave a highroad for a byroad,” for what with lawyers (I don’t mean tho legal profession) and other undergrowth, fallen timber, fragmentary portions of rock, together with my friend’s excitable nature, and his constantly accusing me of leading him astray, Lean assure you 1 wished we had kept the main road ; but as there is an end to roads in general, wo found the end of this track at last, and reached the Lort in time for the coach for Dunedin, where we arrived at 7 o’clock, being tired but withal yleil pleased with our trip, TLamdier.