WairakeiNapier

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 331, 19 September 1932, Page 8

WairakeiNapier

The Wairakei-Napier Road is an important link in the main highway between Rotox'ua, Palmerston, and Wellington. It can be safely nego- j tiated in all weathers, and is now ! the favourite route for motorists | journeying north or south. Leaving | Wairakei the road passes through I Taupo and along the shores of the j lake until it begins the climb toward j Opipi, 2,000 feet above sea level. j By degrees the car passes out of the j region * of thermal actlvity, though as a reminder an occasional hot j spring is to be seen. Immense bould- j ers and pumice rocks lie strewn J about the country, bearing eloquent j testimony to the mighty volcanic up- | heavals of past ages. The journey j is enlivened by two great ascents — , to the top of Taurangakuma, then j down into the valley of the Mohaka River, and up again to the Titiokura Saddle, 1,200 feet above .the Mohaka. From these high altitudes uninterrupted views of rugged and magnificent country are to be had, the perspeetive on all sides fading into the far distance. The final deseent hrings the traveller into the rich sheep country of Hawlce's Bay. Handsome and spacious homesteads, embodying modern ideas of comf ort and luxury, furnish ©vidence 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.