TRAMPERS ON HOLIDAY

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 862, 4 January 1930, Page 8

TRAMPERS ON HOLIDAY

GREAT BARRIER yiSITED MOUNTAIN PEAKS SCALED Tanned and healthy-looking after 10 days on Great Barrier Island, the members of the Auckland Tramping Club returned to the City last evening. From their headquarters at Whangapara, the party visited most points of interest on and about the island and climbed the highest peaks. The most difficult climb was up Mount Hobson. 2,o3Sft. the highest point on the island. The party also scaled Mount Young and The Drum, which resembles a kettle-drum resting flat on the ground, the cliffs rising steeply in an almost perfect circle. The climb up Afount Young was difficult owing to undergrowth, and when the party eventually reached the summit, the leaders were unable to find the track down again. The return journey had to be made by jumping into the tops of tall trees growing from the cliff side, and by climbing down until level with other tree-tops lower down the cliff.

The party also visited White Cliffs, Port Fitzroy, Tryphena and Oruawhero. All had a swim in the hot springs at Ohinepanga, and another dip at Kaitoke, off the ocean beach three miles long. A visit was paid by a launch to Gannet Island, where the birds were found in great numbers, quite tame. Anvil Island, whose extinct volcano dips down to below sea-leved, was also inspected, and the abandoned workings of the Barrier Reef gold mine examined.