A Trip to Mount Cook, New Zealand.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 472, 17 May 1890, Page 6

A Trip to Mount Cook, New Zealand.

We were staying at a station in New Zealand with a bachelor friend, Mr M., when the idea first occurred to us to make an excursion to Mount Cook, the highest peak of the Southern Alps. There were six of us, including our host. Four of us had riding horses, and Mr M. undertook to provide a pair of horses, and a buggy which would hold two people and all our belongings. Accordingly one Monday morning we prepared to make an early start, the first step being to get across the Waitaki River, which bounded the station on one side. Some miles lower down was a punt, and the buggy and pair had been sent that way the day before. The riding horses were conveyed across the river in rather a novel and exciting manner, two at a time, -v Halters were put on, and a rope hitched through the halters ; then, a boat being ready, two men started rowing, and the third, sitting in the stern, held the rope. The horses were driven into the water, and soon found themselves obliged to swim, the man with the rope doing what he could to guide them. The current being frightfully strong, the boat and horses were carried some distance down, but eventually landed in safety. The other two horses were taken over in

the same way, and the rest of us followed in the boat. On the other side we found the buggy waiting, and were not long in mounting our horses and getting away. We intended taking turn about in the buggy* I may say here that oneofthe pair, by name Darkie, had nearly, if not quite, reached an honourable old age—he owned to twenty-three, and might have been anything over. I had my misgivings as to his ability to perform the long journey expected of him ; however, he started off with the others at a comfortable trot. We hoped to reach a friend’s station fifty miles distant that evening. We jogged gaily along until lunch-time, when we had an hour’s rest and then off again. When we were about twenty-two miles from our destination, poor old Darkie gave evident signs that he had done enough, and was Certainly not fit for much more. This appeared a very serious dilemma, but our genial host was equal to the emergency. He told us that a couple of miles further on was a station where lived an acquaintance of his, who would not only give us afternoon tea. but probably lend us a horse. On entering the station yard, however, we found a travelling pedlar or hawker with a covered waggon and a fat pair of horses. Mr M. did nob let such an opportunity escape, and in a few moments had made a bargaiu with the man to lend him his horses till the next morning, _ when they would be sent back from Lake Ohau, the station at which we intended making our first halt. The new horses proved as good a 3 they looked, and we went along in grand style through some exquisite scenery, until we came to the last six miles of the journey. This part of the road, alas ! was rough and stony, beyond all imagining—l speak from experience, as it was my turn to drive. By this time«darkness was upon us, and there was no friendly moon. We plodded on wearily; bump, bump, seomingly over immense boulders, when a sudden extra bump, a crack, and a jar told us that a spring of the buggy had given way. Although this accident did nob detain us many minutes, it did not add to the comfort of the drive, and I think we were all very glad to know, by the barking of the dogs and the glimmering of lights, that we had reached our resting-place for the night. We remained at Lake Ohau the following day and night, not sorry to rest after our fifty-mile ride. Mr M. sent back the hawker’s horses and got his own, bub as Darkie had not proved very reliable, ho thought it wiser to leave him behind and buy another. The broken spring having been patched up, we started off on Wednesday morning, having only a comparatively short journey of thirty-eight miles, our destination being again a station. in the wilds of New Zealand, there are no other houses, and travellers must depend on the hospitality of the station-holder, which hospitality is never withheld ; the owners of these homesteads think nothing of an unexpected arrival of eight or ten people, and manage to put up their guests in a wonderful manner. Although this was our shortest stage, it embraced our most exciting incident—namely, the crossing of the River Ohau. As bridges in that part of the world are unknown, an enterprising settler has constructed an apparatus known as the ‘ wire rope.’ This means of locomotion consists of a strong, twisted wire rope attached on either bank, the shore on our side being much lower than on the other, the latter bank rising to nearly fifty feet. On this wire rope runs a so-called cage, though the two sides are unguarded, the floor being of wood ; it is connected with the wire rope overhead by pulleys. Three of us mounted into the cage by stepping up on a huge boulder, and sab down on the floor, feeling uncommonly nervous, and holding very tightly to the bars at the ends. All being ready, a signal was given, and a man at the other side having fixed the rope which was round the pulleys to a horse, led the animal along the bank, and the cage slid easily along the wire rope, and landed us once more on terra firma. To get the buggy over, the flooring of the cage was unshipped, and the vehicle hung in its place. The horses were driven into the water, and swam over without difficulty, the current being less swift than in the Waibaki. The track lay through old river beds; the mended spring again gave way, and, worse still, another kept it company. Handkerchiefs were pressed into service to bind them up, and we struggled along, cold and hungry human beings and horses, having had about enough of it. At last, appeared in the far distance what looked like a faint star, bub which was in reality the welcome light of the Hermitage. Once inside its hospitable walls, bad roads, tired horses, and broken springs were forgotten, and, after a good night’s rest, we all rosein the morning ready to enjoy the bracing air and the, to us, unusual sight of snowcovered mountains and occasional avalanches. We remained two days, taking photographs, and contenting ourselves with admiring all the wild beauty at a respectful distance. We made no wonderful ascents, only climbing high enough to gather some eidelweiss to carry away as a memento of a very pleasant excursion.