HOLIDAY RESORTS

Hokitika Guardian, 2 January 1931, Page 2

HOLIDAY RESORTS

IN WESTLAND.

There are many glaciers in Westland, but the more notable, and worldwide 5 knovvn are the Franz Josef at iWailio Gorge, and the Fox at Weheka. The former is probably the better known and most widey written about and advertised. The striking- feature about both glaciers is their accessibility. A horse may be ridden right to the ice, and some venturesome spirits have ridden horses on the Franz Josef. Another remarkable feature in the luxuriant growth of forest into which the glaciers penetrate. There rivers of ice are set in valleys, the hillsides being bush covered. Both are central features in all advertising setting forth the attractions o.‘ the district, and are mainly- responsible for the vogue of tourist traffic into , -i the _ South. They are each notable fin their own way and are ideal resorts -They create a. pure atmosphere, thoroughly sterilised by passing over the icy surface, and the cleanness of the air and its purity are factors which give visitors a; lightness of step combined with a.'lhjdchi 'developed appetite. The late Mi- G. J; Roberts sometifiie Commissioner "of, .Crown f-pJVest-land, wrote A; i eulogy -of ifthe Franz Josef Glaciery and word pictures as true to-dAy, as when published over thirty iyears'ago. He wrote:— “Proceeding up the main valley ,the snow'-crestS loom . higher and hearer, the blue staircase of the 4 great -'glacier shows out at intervals, the last jutting point of bush is passed and the glories of the Josef are revealed. Ascending the graded foot-track to Lady Westland’s Outlook the whole of' the great ice-stream is in full view from the broad show-fields above to the terminal face beneath. The eye almost wearied with the marvellous contrasts-hoar.v summits clear and sharp in the far distance; drifted expanses swooping down in soft , white curves, delicately creased and ribbed; fleecy piles sciattedwr and teased; ore&jny . swells ' rippling and surging lapsing' chaykdike-; cliffs'; -.patches j!>f sky-bluA ’ tiilits ’ "showing through, as 'it were foamy lace; the quivering iceblink of a hidden hollow; a huge white billow heaving high; next turquoise clefts powdered steps, headlopg idesc.ents of cobalty -.-. zigzag- pf emerald and white outlined by indigo depths; awesome crevasses; abyssmal fissures; poised transparencies;' splinteder steeples, translucent stairways; blue chasms full of light; glittering spikes; glistening debris of fallen glories; 4 archways » of gxeen propped by glassy 'buttresses;., .shattered monliths, fretted bjrlepses of congealed flight; lustrous'penclants clear and -adamant ; lakelets miraged to, infinite depths in laps of crystal shelves; hl.'lck nigilt,' rpo|ed Avitti. nzifjve firmament, fading away v outwards '• to ten* derest greens; dancing sunbeams on surface of flowing, river: reflected, Aver on shadowless ■walls, of; sunlight through gleaming roof; blend ing of rainbow tints ever glowing and waning; prismatic reflections oF grounded icefloos; opal, frozen masses grinding against base of purple cliffs brocaded with lichens, mosses and fl'owers, overhung by tier upon tier of crimson rata.” Of the Fox Glacier, eqjually as accessible, Mr Roberts wrote: — “To see this giacier to, advantage,

an easy and sate route is to cross' the terminal and go up the creek on the “• southern side or the “Cone.” The creek-bed is a little rough in some places, but presents no serious difficulty. Nearing the eastern point of the “Cone,” the going is easy, and travellers come out on the edge of-the ice, and can proceed quite another quarter of a mile along the lateral moraine to a point some 2i miles from the terminal face. At times .the glacier, is traversed right up'to the loot *Y>f.ythe 1 - ‘“great *ice-fall*’, but'this must be attempted by a novice. Exalpine men have here, and the adjoining valleys, a, magnifi>?cint stretch of ice,-rock, and snow- .. The Fox Glacier is quite distinct in aspect from the Frans!. Josef. Crije pressure of the upper ice not ’hewing so great, and the rock-bed being smoother, the lower portion of the o*ox Glacier glides on in almost unbroken masses. Striking features •jalsp are the high conical ridge which y/jthe ice has ground to its present 'form, arid the large surface of denuded rock planed and polished by the same • agent. It is fed by great neves which stretch from Bismarck’s Peak to Mount Tasman. The outflowing ice, scarred with crevasses, descends like a high •;stairway, pure white, , green, . and blue ice, not a stain on its spark--.rlTijig surface. If the Franz Josef lias. Vats own intrinsic charms, the Fox 'Glacier has a beauty at once weired •and awesome. ' r he terminal face is ..Only 756 feet above sea-level, while “duly 9 miles awav. Tasman rears his iii'aiighty crest 10.719 feet higher. The ■ rata bloom on the rone is outlined on %he wh>te icefields beyond with won■•••Vijjpus effect. Tire ceaseless crush Which ploughs up the boulders at its face like grains of sand, the constant crunch of the ice, the intermittent * crash of overhanging ice-Walls, and w the reverberating thunder of the ?*nyalonches which roar down night and day from the .shoulders of the mightv ./Tasman, svniholise its power, while foaming out in furious, heaving gouts, ff rushes a full-grown river, evincing | the tremendous repressing force of this enormous glacier. A little helow the terminal, on the southern bank, a fine hot spring gushes out of the

shingle, and is reported by its discoverer, Mr C. E. Doufdas, to “smell bad enough to cure anything.” And, so, in tabloid form, our readers have bad an outline of several of Westland’s holiday resorts. Many of them are new to numbers of our own people. Even old residents of the district have not “done” South Westland. To such and to all who make the trip, there is a treat in store. See your own country and glory in its nature treasures which are a gift of unsurpassing value, for many of the natural features of Westland are without compare, and worth a world journey to visit and enjoy.