BEAUTIFUL SCENERY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20003, 31 July 1939, Page 4

BEAUTIFUL SCENERY

GISBORNE ROUTE ROTORUA MOTORIST’S VISIT “If it is scenery that anybody wants there is nothing to touch it in Australia. Last year I took my car to Australia and drove inland from Sydney up to Queensland, ’back to the coast, then inland down to Victoria, across to Tasmania from north to south, east to west, 'back to Melbourne, up the coast into Sydney—and I have never seen anything to equal this particular drive from Auckland to Wellington,” writes Mr. A. W. Sand, Rotorua, to the Wellington Post. ■Describing a recent motor tour from Auckland, via Gisborne, Mr. Sands said: "Apart from here and there where the roads are being regraded, they are in a wonderful condition. The journey from Auckland to Opotiki—--225 miles—was done comfortably in seven hours. From Opotiki, which I left on the Sunday morning for Gisborne, I motored through the Waioeka Gorge, and from what I heard from other people, that gorge was a nightmare to drive through. I found nothing wrong with it 'whatever —-scenery was beautiful, grading was good—in fact, I iwen't right through to Gisborne and did not drop toelow top gear once. C.ittle in Poor Condition “I passed several mobs of cattle coming from the Gisborne district, two large mobs in particular; their condition vvas something awful—nothing tout skin and bone, and I do not know how the animals are going to winter through. In fact, one mao. left with over 200 and lost 47 on the way. I passed another mob the drover had left wandering on the road overnight stretching over a distance of five miles, iwith their eyes sticking out of their heads looking for a blade of grass which they had no hope of finding. There -was nothing but bills, gullies and scenery.

“The farms in the Poverty Bay district are very short of feed, and ii looks as if they are going to have a hard winter.

“Although the weather in Rotorua was very toad when I left, from Auckland right down to Wellington it was beautiful sunshine. I left Gisborne and came through to Hastings. The road is absolutely wonderful. Very little work going on —practically all done.

“When I arrived in Wellington and told people of my experiences, I got the usual reply, ‘But the roads used to toe dreadful.’ Why worry about what we used to get, it’s what we have to-day thtot counts! It is my opinion that those (people who complain of the roads should not drive a car —their nerves will n'ot permit them.”