SCENIC WONDERS

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 246, 13 October 1939, Page 4

SCENIC WONDERS

COAST HIGH Way ALL-WEATHER ROUTE READY FOR CHRISTMAS 1 Miles of scenic wonders, including innumerable beautiful land and seascapes, will be opened up to Christmas traffic with the establishment- of The Elast Coast scenic highway, via Capo Runaway, as an all-weather road. The G-isborne-Qnpo - Runaway-Opotiki-Waio-cka Yalley-Gisborne round trip of 300 mile.s is now available to motorists us a pleasant week-end jaunt. The resident A.A. patrol, 51 r. G. V. Merton, completed the journey during the week-end to compile data and have information available for tourists in the coming holiday season. Ho found the road surface in splendid or-der-and did not* have to slow down once on account of adverse Conditions. Developments Appreciated Developments on the load will bo ■appreciated greatly by the farming communities scattered along the route as rising l ivers will not'now prevent them from getting their cream supplies to the factories for many days on end, which was often the -case in the past. Tourists also will benefit because of the new selection of rugged panoramas that has been made available and a. trip around the Coast will pro.sont- to them scenery of a type unequalled in New Zealand, Flying spindthrift is flung into the winds, by tlie force of the Pacific Ocean combfi&ifcns they crash on to the massive jagged ’fetchs that fringe the shores of the coast. Behind that is the placid contrast of the small farming communities with their cattle grazing on the pohutukiiwa-studded green pastures. Speaking of the condition of the road now compared with its state a, year ago, the Public Works Department foreman at Whanarua, 51 r. J. 51. J. Carroll, said that it was now an all-weather route from Opotiki to Waihau Bay. The remaining creeks that would not bo bridged by Christmas were ones that rose quickly and l would •not be in flood for more than an hour or two. The cuttings were not high enough and the country was now so stable as to remove the possibility of serious slips. At the foot of the Maraenui Hill the cuttings might give a small measure of trouble for a short time. Many Bridges Finished - Since last Christmas bridges havo been erected and opened tin to traffic at AYliangaparaoa, 51angntoetoe, Waiokalia. To Waiti, slaraehako, sVaikawa, Paikarenui, Wakanaei, and Waikanae Factory, and culverts at Tauranga and near the To kalia school. r .l hero w|s a need for bridges, tor which tenders have been called, at Torero, and long fillings are being made to take the roadl inland slightly away from the beach and from the roach of stormy seas at that point. The main work on the highway at present is the widening of the bluffs at the Waikawa Stream bridge, thq construction of a coastal road to shorten tin* .Mar.-icnui 11 ill rente and dolour it irom a previously • dangerous section that has been the.scene of one or two accidents, and the easing back of the bluffs ;is the road rises on the Opotiki side of the sintu River. In all .eases the road surface is being widened and should make travelling enjoyable even to the normally nervous. * motorists. Residents said that there was an unbelievable increase last summer in the number ol tourists using the road compared with previous yoa’i-s. 5.1 any more touristy would In* expected now that their fears of the possibility of being marooned had been removed by the bridging of the rapidly-rising floodwater streams.—Gisborne Herald.