NARRATIVE OF A WALKING TOUR TO LAKE WAIRARAPA BY THE SEA COAST.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5343, 13 May 1878, Page 2

NARRATIVE OF A WALKING TOUR TO LAKE WAIRARAPA BY THE SEA COAST.

: The sun was not just: gilding the hill-tops with- his morning beams—not by two good hours—as my companion Heliodorus and myself left the slumbering city behind us, and started off on what we intended to be a walking tour round the coast to the Wairarapa Lake, returning by way of Featherston and the Rimutaka Hill, . We commenced operations by scaling Mount Victoria, and reached Evans Bay just at the further side of the Patent Slip. Here we found two early fishermen hauling in their net, with a horse and cart in attendance, thus removing from my mind an unjust impression it once retained that “ All alive,' oh !" was “ All a lie, oh !” One has to get up early to search for truth, and no doubt these finny victims were as much alive and awake as many of their destined consumers by the time they reached Wellington, We then made straight across the peninsula for the pilot-station, where we roused from his slumbers the good Palinurus who had kindly promised to have us put across. Arrived at the other side of the Heads the real hard work of the day commenced. We climbed the hill by the lighthouse, and so cut off a good deal of Pencarrow Head, and went our way on through gorse and manuka, down devious sheepwalks, till we came to a lagoon, sacred no doubt to the divinities who preside over the interests of ducks and eels. Here we found a punt, and some spirit of mischief, probably the same which has ever tempted the youth of all ages per vetitum, mere, put it into the head of Heliodorus that we should devote this somewhat fragile skiff to onr own purposes. With difficulty forcing a way through tall forests of rushes, .we at last emerged on the shining bosom of the lake, which, in accordance with the plagiaristio. nomenclature in. fashion in the colonies, we named Njauza. After pulling about for a little, we landed on the other side, and climbing a hill, there was one of the most glorious panoramas spread out before us that it was ever my fortune to witness. The ocean lay below, as blue as indigo, and as smooth as a steel mirror ;; the Kaikouras rose before us, with that softened outline which only distance and the pure morning air can lend. Facing to the right, the picture was filled in by the sloping : head-land of / Pencarrow,:and the wooden prison: walls :of the Walnuiomata, However, as our intention was to reach the Ferry Inmat the mouth of the; lake. that evening, we could not stay very long admiring the view, so after giving - the time of day to a solitary European who, was; boiling down a small bottle-nose whale, or a fish very like one, which had. been stranded on the beach, we again made a short cut' inland, and crossed the Wainuiomata about a mile from its mouth. From here ,to Orongaoronga js about three miles, over a very fatiguing: shingly beach ; and it was noon when we came in sight of that prettiest of homesteads. We hallooed to a small boy who was herding kine to inform us, whether this was Orongaronga or not, but, doubtless terrified by the ruffian-like aspect of Heliodorus, he made away as ha,rd as he; could run. However, we held on, and ran him to earth in a kitchen, where we had half an hour’s rest, and refreshed the inner man.. Here, we were shown some specimens of gold, purporting to be obtained from the neighboring hills ; to' my vision, however, they seemed more r like pyrites. There certainly was a great deal of pyrites discernible in all the pieces of rock. Here we expected to meet with Nepos, hut instead he overtook us on horseback, with two companions, .after we‘ had, got about a mile further on, and as we were sampling the water of one of the thousand and one fluvial responsibilities which Falliser Bay- takes charge of. Not even the charm our company, however, could persuade them to come on with us for the rest of our journey, The full expanse of Palliser Bay now lay open to our view, and we saw in the far distance the sun-glare flashing on the windows of the hotel which was destined to shelter us that night. Distance here did not lend much enchantment 'to the view, for we knew we had sixteen miles of stiff beach to walk over before we could reach it. Where we could keep closehp under the cliffs the walking was generally, good) hut sometimes for miles it was necessary to trudge, along in the villainous shingle. Here one of ns, Heliodorus I think, remarked that the poet ‘ could never have had New Zealand in his head when he sung “And man alone is. vile.” , However the beautiful glimpses of bush and mountain scenery which every opening galley revealed went far to reconcile us to our troubles and inconveniences. Here and there we came upon a grove of karaka trees, fully justifying the popular definition of the work “luous,” so cool and dark that one might imagine the spirit of Egeria to. haunt it, where grateful cattle took refuge from the noontide heat. Bat by ,far the most frequent specimens of Fauua we met with were goats,—goats of all patterns, hues, and ages, and in all sorts of dizzy inaccessible places ; and paradise ducks. •* Their tameness was shocking to see ” till you got within a stone’s throw of them, when you were disagreeably reminded of the advantage pinions have over legs. When wo rounded the: foot of the bay we left the beauty of the scenery behind us, and both cliffs and beach became very uninteresting, the former being bare of; vegetation, and composed of sand and I clay,: interspersed with boulders and gravel. They gradually decreased in height till they reached the edge of the lake, where they turned up country and formed its western boundary. The beach consisted of inexorable shingle and loose sand, unyielding only in its yielding -nature. So loose and permeable is the whole beach along this coast, that none of the streams or rivers we crossed condescend to flow over it. All disappear immediately on coming into contact with it, and so” worm their way. subterranoously to the sea. As we neared the margin of the lake, the sun was setting, and the hills in front of us were bathed in the most . beautiful tints of pink and purple, surpassing even the sunset on the Tapanuis in Otago, or the first flush of the morning on Mount Egmont. Wo had still three miles to walk along a raised spit of sand, about three chains wide, which’forms the barrier between lake and sea, before we reached the point to which the ferry boat from the opposite side comes across; and it was quite dark when we got there and began cooeying in earnest—odoey in earnest we did, and,.at our loudest, for half an hour. We quite gave up all hopes of getting over, and were prepared to walk another four miles round by the spit, as we had been informed that the entrance to the lake had siltedhp. ! However, a final.and lung.splitting effort, into which we put our whole souls, brought a feeble , and distant response from the other side and the feelings of Jessie Brown at. Lucknow could not have been more enraptured than oura were, when we heard it, and when afterwards we saw the dim outline of our Charon and his dusky hark approaching us. He told us that for some time he thought we werehaving a game with him, till persuaded of the contrary by our pertinacity, so was slow to come over. - However, in the luxury of our feelings we forgave him everything. Of course, being in the heart of a duck country, we anticipated roast duck for supper, hut we were put off with mutton chops.: For a similar' reason, I suppose, one can never got a bloater at Yarmouth. However, we did justice to the chops and porter, and retired to very clean and comfortable beds at an early hour. - Nor did we need much rooking to cause us to sleep tho - well-earned sleep of the weary. (To he continuedJr