Long Voyage Taken on the Waitemata

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 593, 20 February 1929, Page 1

Long Voyage Taken on the Waitemata

Fe rry Boats Fulfil Needs of Doctor's Orders 12.000 MILES TO HEALTH Imagine enjoying a 12,000-mile sea voyage for the modest sum of £4 12s 6d! It sounds impossible, but an Auckland man did it. The secret of his success, however, lay in the fact that he did not stir out of the Waitemata Harbour! gUFFERING from ill-health, he -was ordered a loDg sea-voyage by his doctor. But, unfortunately, a loug sea voyage requires a long banking account, and the sufferer did not have it and the claims of a wife and family made the doctor's advice impossible. Ingenuity came to his aid after deep thought, however, and he decided to take his ozone on the waters of the Waitemata. For the modest outlay of £ 4 12s Gd, he purchased a yearly ticket between Auckland and Devonport, took six months’ holiday from work, and plied back and forth across the narrow strip of water between the city and the Shore every day for six months. The fresh salty breezes off the water slowly improved his health, while he had all the advantages of “a life on the ocean wave” without any of the ill-effects to which ordinary' travellers succumb. Now, he knows the harbour as he knows his own backyard. Travelling the 12 miles strip of water from the ferry station to the Devonport Wharf 42 times a day brought his mileage total up to about 500 a week, or. roughly, a distance of about 12,000 miles for the six months. To-day that citizen walks the streets of Auckland in robust health, a walking advertisement of the health-giving properties of the harbour winds and water. “Abroad at home” is his slogan, and he must surely hold the record for overcoming a huge difficulty by the exercise of imagination.