Diary of a (Would-be) Journey From Auckland to Otago Gold Diggings and Back.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 319, 24 November 1888, Page 6

Diary of a (Would-be) Journey From Auckland to Otago Gold Diggings and Back.

Thursday, October 10th, 1861. In Airedale steamer. Went down inlet Manukau, Anchored for night inside. Many passengers. 11. Left Manakau Heads out for sea. Weather fine. " 12. Arrived at Taranaki, 5 o'clock a.m. Open roadstead. Big waves. Fine view of place ; some went- on shore. Had seen it afore ; never since. Left it same day. 13. Sunday, p.m. At Nelson, South Island, Cook Strait. 'Longside Prince Alfred, our old s.s., in which we came from London. Small town in a basin, closely environed by lofty hills. Harbour formed by singular tongue-land and beach of boulders. 15. To Wellington, Noith, Island, pleasing interview and tea with Rev. Scott, Congregationalist minister ; knew him in England, at Frost's .academy, i ■Next morning he escorted me to newspaper office. Chat with the master. Afterwards strolled with a passenger on the road toward , tho Hutt. Beach semi-circular. Most, of the town on die beach. Has since expanded. . The second visit to Nelson and Wellington. IG. Detained specially on Government occasion. 18. Lytte'lton,' South Island, 6 o'clock p.m. 19. Left Lyttelton halfr pastel O'clock midday. 20. Arrived at Otago Heads, night ; remained there till day ligh t. (2TT\V en tfihslde Heads and] to Port Chalmers at day -dawn ; thenete proceeded by tug steam^to Dunedin ; arrived at 8 o'clock a.m. Scottish place. On shore heard adver&e account of diggings, horn Auckland people, nearly all of whom had resolved to return home immediately, without going further on towaid the goldfield. Some of these 1 persuaded, having gob so tar, to go the- odd 60 or 70 miles, anb on the next day these started with me loaded, w,ith tents, etc., and a hor^e and cart loaded; to Waitetuna gold-diggings. Long, rustic, gip.sying journey ; fchoit f-tages, some tun, altogether pleasantly enjoyed, very pleasant now in retrospect. 23. Crossed Taieri ferry ; met with Lawrence, shipwright of Aberdeen. He is engaged with his trade at Taieri, at £1 per clay and board. 25. Reached Waitetuna goldfield about noon. Afternoon went into the thick ot tho golddiggings and diggers for inquiry, and to look for a man whom I was referred witn a letter from William Upton, bookseller. My buthday, unnoticed. 26, Saturday. Weno throughout goldfield, many hours, till 10 o'clock ; then, my money being shoit, staited on return journey, just after seeing reteree. A large valley. Many thoiiband men on the goldfields ; too many ; some doing nothing, some doing wonderfully well, some ot them educated professionals. Said to be 10,000 Melbourmtes there. Price oi provisions exorbitant. Hundieds of pits about 20ft square, 4 to 6ft deep, tilled with eager diggers, 8 or 10 to each. 27. Sunoay. .Re-crossed Taieri ferry. Proceeded and slept at an inn hve miles short ot .Punedin. Weather windy and wet, at eventide. Alone, a stranger in a strange land. All alone, among multitudes, pensive, sedate, peaceful, healthy. 28. \\ ent, atter breakfast to Dunedin. Weather stormy all day. 29. T^ook passage and started in smack Marvel, of Auckland ; Dan Sellars, master ; which got on shorotew miles downharbour ; waited till morning, weather fine. 30. Left the port with a strong breeze. Saw Lord Worsley, oui old s.s. (mail) making for port. A ketch in our company; -/The romance of the deep blue sea ! 31. On the vast ocean with little wind. Magnificent amplitude ! gi-andeur ! November 1. Wont into Akaroa harbour, Fiench .bettlement; found same ketch there ; had unaccountably beaten us. P.M. : Went on sho e alone, very interesting conversation (in English) at inn with a company of courteous Frenchmen,* i delighted to meet a sociable Englishman ;. this soon after Crimean war, when lor once we wex-e united ; supped, slept, and breakfasted theie. inn kept by a German. Harbour small. Place romantic, but did not look prosperous. Quiet. 2. Saturday : Returned on board before noon. Left early next morning, and got inside Port .Cooper Heads in the dark, and with great hazard ; wind being in heavy gusts ; and when close under North Head, "which is a jagged rock-mountain precipice, vessel missed stays for awhile, to the general consternation. The master, Ward, vented a stentorian shout att and so saved us : "Haul in the main shee& !' The haibour of Auckland with its magnificent entrance by the tapering Hauraki Gulf is unsurpassed even by the beautiful harbour of Sydney, the superior deep water bays and bights and the splendid bursting scenery of which are counterbalanced by its narrow entrance with its formidable frowning Heads ot piecipitous rocks, making that most horrible, heart-rending case of vhe Dunbar nothing unaccountable, and as vessels often miss stays very likely to be oft repeated. That frightful loss in no degree owing to any ignorance. And, here, Port Cooper comes under the same ban, and next to this Otago. Port Cooper Heads are the exact model of those of Sydney. iTover shall I forget them. Under their sable, sombre shadow in a dark, dirty .night, the vessel missing stays at a critical moment, I once resigned myself to death, with the words, this is a ' Dunbar ' case in miniature. There weie mental ejaculations, with assiduity and work, and after all it appoared miraculous that we escaped. A bad entrance to a good harbour is a serious drawback. I ook at all our harbours of both islands on the West Coast. It is acknowledged on all-. K hands that their pros-pects-are ruined'* by 'dun bars.' P. 30 ot. .my t Otagan , Prize Pamphlet. Ancl^red inside*: next" day (Monclay),wenti up'ljarbQur", y\l4?l c father ; he'arly calm ; reached LytteTfion at noon.' After dinner went on shore ;• ascended the mountain by causeway at rear of town ; the railway under mountain unfinished. The mountain scopes dowri to the water, the scattered town on the slope. Viewed the extensive plain of Canterbury, and descended to it ; met an Auckland man, fellow^assenger in Airedale ; came in our rassel next day, crossed ferry, lodged at inn, a mile or two short of Cbristchurch ; was very sorry 1 did not see morb than environ of town. Saw if outside near. Never since. 5, Guy Fawkes' Bay, reminded of 'it in the streets. Returned to Lyttelton. Early on the evening of * 7tb, put to sea-, weather fine. Several days fetching Cook's Strait, wind always either contrary or noarlycalm. After passing the Strait,' encountered a storm of wind contrary ; stood off to sea, laying- to nearly^ 2 days, drifting toward. Chatham Islands. I sprawling on deck, reading through New Testament, and awestruck at the vast ocean in a rage. Bright clear sky, passage at twilight between clusters of islets I ' (Mercury Bay, etc.) and mainland. These lofty peaked rocks rising in perpendicular atitude, looked sombre, - fearful, awfully grand, inducing solemn awe in mind of beholders, especially night coming on. A fine barrier .these to break full force of main ocean trom mainland ! Evidently so designed. Design implies designer. Yet I did not inquire ,of our captain whether, premier of our parliament had put them there for that bbviouß purpose of someone.

Abdub sunset rounded Cape Colville ; and next sunrise anchored, home, Wednesday, 21sb, the harbour looking most glorious, so never before seen !l! l ''..'. By reminiscences we live our life over again ; this compensates for , the ,very serious fact, that ' the present moments just appear, then slide away in haste, that we can never say they are here, but only say they are past. ' Oh, the retrospection in the eternal spirit-world ! ! This soon. ' Now, thanks, hearty and unfeigned, to the Most High Jehovah God Almighty for Providential protection, preservation, peace, and— ay— plenty ! W. E. Sadler.