Through the Land of Gum and Home Again.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5383, 4 February 1929, Page 1

Through the Land of Gum and Home Again.

(By

C. W. Malcolm.)

(The opinions and criticisms expressed here arej not necessarily those of the Editor.) PART V.

Though Waitawneta Gorge, within four or five miles of Paeroa, offers scenery eyual to that of th<,j Blue Mountains, there is something depressingly. awe-inspiring in that view of the Jamies.on Valley from Echp> Point. You are standing on the edge of, the world and looking out over eternity. Seemingly miles below you the eternal gum trees appear, as dwarf shrubs rising aw’ay beyond into the rocky parallel strata, of Mt. Solitary. On the left stand the time-worn pinnacles of the Three Sisters, and away to the left rises the castle-like Orphan Rock. The vast silence of the great evoid weighs on the beholder, save for the sighing of thej wind in the depths. Sheer will-power alone can make one move from the spot. I walked, through the dusty, driedl-up park and clambered down a long flight of stone; steps to. another lookout, which gave only another, magnificent view of the same magnificent, grandeur.

It was hard to realise that in winter this region is a Wonderland of snow and ice, and I should have given a good de,al to> have .seen that valley at a time when it arrests the attention of wor,ld-wide tourists in its wonderful -misty -shroud 1 . At times the vast valley fills with dense white mist, from the flat surface of .which project, like islands from a Sjep, the peaks of the mountains.

There are ' waterfalls ther.e, and there are ferns; and there falW snow, and mists enchant the valley. But in New Zealand there are prettier falls that, do not dry up in summer; there are ferns that do not wear a coat of dust at Christmastide ; there is know that does not fade in the days pf heat, and thq mists of. Maoriland linger eternally in the valleys. BY RAIL, TO MELBOURNE . On Tuesday, at 7.10 p.m.. the South-bound pjiUs out from Sydney station and one innocently enjoys the initial stages of the journey in the cooler closing hqurs of the day. Night soon descends, and the first evqnt of mportanc,ce is a rush-stop at Moss Vale at 9.45 p.m., wheije a rush is made for coffee and sandwiches. Apart from the typically pretty AuSr tralian girls whe; sqrye the traveller, I do not think a more efficient refreshment buffet is to be found) on any railway station the world, over. In the stop of-seven minutes everybody enjoys, without a splendid steaming cup to fortify him against the night ahead.

The night is inky black, but the observant tc-urist is not easily baulked.. There are people .who Cjould spend a month ip’ a place and f®il to use thq powers of observation that a passer-by in a motor-car might employ. By looking ahead ,c i ne could use the powerful sweeping beam of the headlight that lit the panting monster’s path through the gloom. The glare from thq ever-clanging firebox door flung far its crimson blaze across the country while most of the train snored. The silhouetted' head of the engineer gazing always into the darkness often arrested the attention, and so, up. and on, .'through resounding tunnel's until at IHIS We grind to- a stop, everybody being awakened into blinking dreariness at Go.ulburn. Here engines are; changed, and. I stretched, my legs down the platform to survey the giant brute that was to drag us on through the nigjit southwards. It was a massive monster, with p-ower in its sinews though lacking the sleek beauty of our, own shining A. Ji’s. A heart of iron would be melted at the sight of men trying,to sleep in a train in N.S.W. Here let me pay a tribute to the spirit of the; Australian. There is no freer people under the; sun — there cannot be. .You can never be lonely in Australia. If a woman sees you looking in yAinfqr a street will hail you with. a “Hay, what a looking for ?” and you’ll soon find l your w ay. If you’re: alone your fellow passengers immediately strike up'cop.Tve ■ seen them do that with a traveller until they found he was broke; and what did they do then ? Edge out like the conservative New Zealander might be tempted to dtt? Turn up their nose at his shabby clothes and battered, boots? No ! took him to- the buffet foir coffee am) sandwiches and; gave hito two or three bob. tol go on .with. And when it comes to sleeping in their trains, because there are no pillows provided they let yo-u sag over and ovar until your head falls to - rest on the shoulder or the chest of, the man next to you. Nobody cares, and I s aW six men sleeping thus, all total strangers, and you’d take from their, attitude ifl slumber that they were, brothers id. exile. Rut. it melt's, your heart to them in their sleep. The trains jump and shake and jerk most lUnmereif uMly —indescribably—and the shakinig one’s body receives, is sp» violent as to leave its effect for hours, and sometimes days. Heaven knotws how they sleep, But they de-, until ;t.he vile jarring of the brakes at Jupiv.e Junction at eleven past four t'n the early morning pf Wednesday brinas forth yawns and groans and the opening of bleary eyes and the strjetchtipg of tired limbs. The Junee Junction nafreshmejit room is the w ors,t in the world, for yc-u pay for yoifr refreshment and by- the time you gut it dribbled over the counter at yon the engine howls. You have only time- to say something nasty aud leave 11; behind, or miss your, train, whjche'vejr yoti prefer. (To be o !|i