YOUNG EXPLORERS

Hokitika Guardian, 11 September 1930, Page 2

YOUNG EXPLORERS

A REMARKABLE JOURNEY • HOKITIKA TO SOUTHLAND. UNEXPLORED COUNTRY 'traversed/.. (Southland “Times”, August 23rcl> A desire to secure work and to see some of the only sliglitly explored coiiu try of the South Island of New Zealand led two adventurous West Coast young men to undertake a trek almost without precedence in the history, of the ! country, Their long journey took them from Hokitika down the West Coast to the Sounds country and then through difficult and practically unexplored territory in the region of the southern lakes before they eventually reached roaded areas in the vicinity of Mossburn. The two young men were in, Invercargill yesterday and a recital of their adventures was of considerable interest. I >’ _ . _ Practically the whole of their journey was made on foot,' much of it in diffi-

cult circumstances, and they estimated they travelled over 300 miles in■ the course of their expedition. They are at present employed at Mossburn and when their employment chases they will ret sume their travels, it being their in-; tention to trek up the East Coast aijd completely circumvent the South Island, A luxury trip back home by train does not ..appeal, to these hardy adventurers j.-. who are experienced bushpiep and delight in. undertaking difficult journeys. -A It is now three months since Messrs

Ivan and Valdamar Rasmussen set but

from Rimu, which is a few miles south of Hokitika, on their long and interesting journey. Tramping through the inhabited district of Westland did, not attract them so they took motor bus to Weheka ,which is in the vicinity of the Fox Glacier, and is practically the end of the. motor road, and it was from this point that they-set; out pn foot.- ; . They werp offered employment on ; the Public Works , road construction which is being carried out at Weheka, but the prospects were not attractive to them. Good wages were being, offered, but they' learned; that provisions were very dear. Amoiig some of j ithe“, excessive prices That were charged for food, they mentioned that 2s a pound was being charged for butter,- Is 6d for a, loa ; f. offbread and Is 2d per pound for meat. It had been the experience of some of the employees that after a month’s work only £2 remained of their wages after:,provisions had been paid for. The men were employed for a ifortnight at 14s .a*.day and after that were paid The main road Is being cut Through and will eventually join, the Te A nan road.

OFF THE BEATEN TRACK. After leaving Weheka, the wanderers were practically cut off from civiUsat-! ion. Proceeding southward, they' skirt-1 ed the coast until reaching Bruce Bay and the Haast river. They found the going somewhat rough and oh some days they only:,made/about five or six-,; miles, while on others they travelled up to 15 miles, They carried with them a tent fiy, blankets, a rifle and a certain quantity of provisions, but they depended chiefly on the food that their rifles and fishing tackle could provide. They found the fish very plentiful on the coast and had little difficulty in maintaining their food supply. The distances made each day depended largely on the finding of good camping places. . .

Although they understood there was a ferry on the Haast river, they did not come across it and had to wade across. Although the river is a(very large one and very wide, they experien ced no difficulty in crossing it as there had been an absence of rain for sonie time and the river was very low. The track along-this section was more or less defined, and no trouble was encountered to hinder them except occus< ional patches of soft. sand. The next point where human habitation .was struck was Okuru where there are half a dozen settlers engaged in farming. They have declared the land extensively and appeared to be doing well. A cheese factory has recently been established at Okuru and a whitebait factory is operating. A small schooner visits Okuru from Hokitika conveying supplies and taking away the cheese and tinned whitebait. The cattle produced in this region are keenly sought after when they are taken to the market and very high prices have been realised for them at Addington. Tlie stock are usually taken out ot it the Haast Pass.

Further walking took the visitors to the Arawliata which is too big a river to be forded and a boat is necessary to take travellers across. Here, they met the romantic hermit of the West Coast who is known as “Arawhata Bill.” This is ..fr O’Leary an Irish prospector, who has been in the region for 35 years pro specting for gold and precious, stones. He states that he has found rubies m the district as well as gold and spends his time searching for the source of these stones, maintaining that a fortune is to be picked up there. The West Coasters came to the conclusion that although ‘‘Arawhata Bill” has not made his fortune, his prospecting activities have not been althogether in vain and the solitary existence which he has chosen to lead has not caused him to want 'for worldly possessions. The hermit proved to be most hospitable and the adventurers spent two

or three weeks in his company. Mr O’Leary comes out to civilisation, pexiodicaliv making use of a pass he has discovered and which is believed to be known to no one beside himself. The route lie follows brings him out at Glenorchy. THROUGH ROUGH COUNTRY. . The old prospector accompanied the young men over a portion ol their journey southward with au ancient horse which lie lias had lor many years, liiey travelled over rough country and on several occasions were compelled to delay their progress to dig the horse out of. the. bogs iu which it became 'stuck fast, while they were continually cutting scrub to enable the party to cross deep morasses. While with him, they negotiated some of-the roughest coun-try-of The trip, travelling inland from Jackson’s Bay across the Red Hills — so called on account of the red volcanic nature of the rock—to the Cascade Valley.

\i ...The next habitation encountered was the big station of Messrs Nolan brothers who are the most southerly farmers on the West Coast, their property being comparatively near to the boundary of the Otago province. A great area- of bush has been fallen and the property . produces large numbers of cattle and horses which are drafted out occasionally and fetch very good prices. After leaving this property, they crossed the Cascade river near the homestead and proceeded 14 nnles along the coast to Barn Bay and further oil to Big Bay, the last part eff the journey being a matter of scrambling over boulders. The old prospector, Who then made for the interior on a prospecting excursion, bade them a reluctant fare.well as he had appeared to to enjoy their company after so many years in solitude.

‘ NEARING CIVILISATION AGAIN

A comparatively short trek brought ■them to Martin’s Bay where Mr David Gutln has a well-established farm. Mr Gunn provided a boat to take the travellers to the head of Lake McKerrow 15 miles inland. The track then followed up the ’ Hollyford river. This was a difficult journey as the river had to be crossed several times. It was both deep and swift and was difficult to negotiate safely. * This section of the journey , occupied over , a week before the Greenstone Valley was reached. Then a small saddle was crossed bringing the travellers to the Mavora Country! They followed the lake down to the Mavora homestead and the rest of the journey became commonplace after such strenuous and exciting travelling as they had engaged in for the previous months. Mere travelling along roads held no attraction, and they did not consider it worthy of mention that they then proceeded to Mossburn. ' The hospitality of the few settlers encountered on the journey was warmly commented upon by the adventurous pair. On a good part of the journey they found old and primitive tracks which had been made in various parts of the bush many years befpre. Many of these were so overgrown as to be of practically no value. In fact, it was frequently found easier to make fresh track for themselves than to take the old one.v which had in many cases been obliterated altogether. • The account of the two explorers remains complete so long as they, continue to be employed in Southland, but there is no doubt that their diary, if they keep one, would .be a very interesting one bv the time they reach home again. To use their own expression, it; is unnecessary to seek adventures irt exploration in foreign countries until our own country has been thoroughly investigated.