Wairakei-Napier

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 302, 16 August 1932, Page 8

Wairakei--Napier

The Wairakei-Napier Road is an important link in the main highway j between Rotorua, Palmerston, and "Wellington. It can be safely negotiated in all weathers, and is now , the favourite route for motorists journey ing north or south. Leaving Wairakei the road passes through j Taupo and along the shores of the lake until it begins the climb toward Opipi, 2,000 feet above sea level. By degrees the car passes out of the region of thermal activity, though as a reminder an occasional hot spring is to be seen. Immense boulders and pumice rocks lie strewn about the country, bearing eloquent testimony to the mighty volcanic upheavals of past ages. The journey is enlivened by two great ascents — to the top of Taurangakuma, then down into the valley of the Mohaka River, and up again to the Titiokura Saddle, 1,200 feet above _ the Mo- , haka. From these high altitudes un- j interrupted views of rugged and mag- j nificent country are to be had, the , perspective on all sides fading into the far distance. The final descent hrings the traveller into the rich I sheep country of Hawlce's Bay. Handsome and spacious homesteads, emhodying modern ideas of comfort and hixurv. furnish evidence of the great wealth of the district. A run of several miles along the sea coast leads into' the progressive and picturesque town of Napier.