“LAKE OF RUFFLED WATERS” —WAIKAREMOANA!

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 106, 26 July 1927, Page 11

“LAKE OF RUFFLED WATERS” —WAIKAREMOANA!

NEW TOURIST ATTRACTION ROAD FROM AUCKLAND The news that in the not-far-distant future there will be a direct motor road from Auckland to Lake Waikaremoana will be welcomed by all who have wandered by the star-shaped ‘Make of ruffled waters/’ This huge sheet of water, its length is nearly equal to the distance from Auckland to Drury, is one of the loveliest in our land, being rivalled only by Manapouri, “the lake of the sorrowing heart,” in Otago. WAIKAREMOANA has, however, a * * setting in historic perspective that Manapouri lacks. The Maoris had numerous villages and fortifications along its shores. Countless times had the palisaded pas and the expansive waters witnessed foray or siege in the unending feud between the “Children of the Mist” and the “Children of the Dawn.” The former were the Tuhoe folk, remnants of a score of defeated tribes who found refuge on the snow and mistwrapped flanks of Maungapohatu, the sacred mount of Tuhoe-land. The “Children of the Dawn” were the people who lived by the big lake to the eastward of Maungapohatu. The centuries have .recorded bold raids, determined resistance, futile attacks, grim hand-to-hand warfare that the grandchild took up as the grandsire sunk into mumbling old age, and even in European times white and brown closed in death-grips by these waters. BUSH-CLAD HILLS The lake-side, with its sl rounding bush-clad hills, gave a comfortable living to the owners cf the lands; kaka, pigeon and koko (tui) abounded, as did the noisy mutton bird. The place Umu-titi marks where the ovens were situated for cooking the titi or mut-

ton bird. At Waikopiro is the scented waterfall at the foot of which, in season, the Maori caught quantities of maehe, a tiny fish that came to drink the scented waters. Maehe and the fresh-water crayfish were the only fish in. the lake in Maori days, but now the eel and trout may be landed too. Waikaremoana is 2,050 feet above sea level, the highest portions being the Huiarau Ranges, that show their snow-shrouded summits 2,000 feet above the lake, which is a vast submerged valley filled to a depth oi 1,000 feet with the waters from many streams. It usually has only one outlet. really a series of underground ones, but in the spring when the returning run releases the snow-bound streams, the lake level rises. At the outlet, at Te Wha-ngaro-manga, or Te Wharawhara, the risen waters rush in a tumbling mass through a natural channel worn in solid rock. This canal is about 12 feet deep and 16-20 feet wide. The pent up waters burst through the imprisoning mountain wall at various points down the hillside. The immense lake-valley branching into the distant ranges suggests a star shape; one of the stararms. Wairau-Moana is a scenic gem. This Wairau arm is cut off from the main lake by the straits of Manaia. ANCIENT MAORI STRONGHOLD | ;l one side is a low promontory ' finished in a mound, once the stronghold of the Ruapani but now desolate [and remembered only in tribal story. I Further along is the Opu-Ruahine i stream, by its mouth a much-fought ! over pa, and 100 feet out in the lake I a natural phenomenon ice-cold I springs bursting through the lake bottom and clearly visible from the I boat some fathoms above, i Then there is the lovely bay ot i Mokau, with its fall, formed by a river 1 hurling itself through a 25ft. wide i ravine to a lean of 100 feet, and striking in its descent a projecting ledge j that scatters the water into a huge fan-shaped mass of foam. Xot far away is Whakaari pa, on its I mound in a tiny crescent-shaped reI cess in the bluffs looking as if modelled ibv the hand of man. Adjacent is the i bold headland of Matuahu where ! pakeha and Maori spilled blood. There is a road from One-poto, the township by the outlet, where ends the road from Wairoa, distant 31 miles. I This road leads to Aniwaniwa, passing Ibv strange chasms and great rocky terraces, at every step gathering new glimpses of the waters through the bush and revealing the gigantic bluff 1 of Fane-kiri. Its tree-clad summit | is 1,000 feet above the lake. Five hundred feet above IVaikare- ! moana. Lake Waikare-iti nestles, in 1 the hollow of the hills, charming in t its serenity. I Occasional oiling of hinges and latches ! will prevent doors from becoming stiff and rattly. Keeping latches oiled not 1 only makes them work easier, but prel vents their rapid wear.