RANGITOTO ROAD

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1018, 8 July 1930, Page 8

RANGITOTO ROAD

NINE MILES OF SMOOTH SURFACE TO SUMMIT OPENING AT END OF YEAR Nine miles of smooth, hard road now link the three summer colonies on Rangitoto. The road will be completed by the end of the year, and will provide th* finest walk in Auckland. Round ovejy corner and from every point of it* i--r\ miles, magnificent views can be tained. The three colonics on this 5.000-acr> domain —the wharf settlement. Islington Bay, and the Beacon week-end village—form a triangle, the perimeter of which measures nine miles. This new road is the product of four years of hard work by prison labour. From the wharf the road goes almost duo east to Islington Bay. It ki ? been hewn out of lava “paddocks.'’ which today are as bare of vegetation as* when they rolled down the mountain in their molten state. Beyond this. Nature has • lothed ti;*> rocks with forest—mostly pohutukawa. About 30 years ago a fire swept this area of the island, from the sea to the mountain top. Gaunt, dead tm> still indicate the track of the fire, bn*, the regeneration of the foresi-growth has been amazing. Lovely* glimpses of the blue harbour may be obtained down green walled valleys between the lava flows. From Islington Bay. the road rises quickly, and soon reaches the ash bek. forming the upper section of the mountain, and pohutukawa. tutu, “fivtfingered jack.” and puka rj*e replaced by* titree, a species of birch, veronica?, clematis, mountain rata, and shrubs like those to be found on the Waitakeres. Beneath them is a carpet of sphagnum moss. Deer and. opposvn make a home there. Through this leafy canopy the visitor reaches the caves, one of which is 220 feet lone. From the ascending road one looks down on the Hauraki Gulf—ever fascinating. Its blue arms nursing many islands. Northward, a huge rift in aii ancient crater frames a rare view of the east-coast bays. The most delightful of all the views, however, is an unsuspected panorama? of the Waitemata. appearing suddenly from behind a high wall of tree-fringed stone, which deflects the road, dipping: toward the beacon. The green finger of the North Shore forms a foreground to an irregular mass of grey cliffs—formed by* the cement-coated buildings terracing Auckland’s eastern waterfront. and over them, in bold relief, is the white inverted T of Auckland's War Memorial Museum. Immense deposits of ash. that exist near the summit, have been used for blinding the road, the sub-course of which is hand-packed scoria- Tins ash forms a splendidly compact surface. The only rolling work has been done by a motor-lorry* fitted with solid iron wheels. The workers on the road wore out a pair of boot soles every fortnight because the country* in which they worked was so rough.