Wairakei-Napier

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 333, 21 September 1932, Page 8

Wairakei--Napier

The Wairalcei-Napier Road is an important link in the main highway

between Rotorua, Palmerston, and Wellington. It can be safely nego- j tiated in all weathers, and is now , the favourite route for motorists j journey ing north or south. Leaving j Wairakei the road passes through Taupo and along the shores of the , lake until it begins the climb toward j Opipi, 2,000 feet above sea level. | By degrees the car passes out of the j region of thermal activity, though as a reminder an occasional hot spring is to be seen. Immense bould- , ers and pumice rocks lie strewn i about the country, bearing eloquent j testimony to the mighty volcanic up- j heavals of past ages. The journey . is enlivened by two great ascents— to the top of Taurangalcuma, then j down into the valley of the Mohaka j 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 perspective- on all sides fading into the far distance. The final descent brings the traveller into the rich sheep country of Hawke's Bay. Handsome and spacious homesteads, embodying modern ideas of comfort and luxury, 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,