TAUPO-NUI-A-TIA

Taupo Times, Volume I, Issue 14, 16 April 1952, Page 3

TAUPO-NUI-A-TIA

TALES OF THE TAUPO COUNTRY.

(By

R. H.

W.)

During celebrations in Napier in 1950 to mark the attainment of city status there was a transport parade in which one of the most interesting vehicles was an eight passenger coach that ran fof many years between Napier and Taupo. A passenger on this occasion was Mr Harry Hayhow, who dfove the coach on the Taupo run fon fifteen years commencing 'about fifty-one years ago. Now in his eightieth year, Mr Hayhow recently spent a fortnight in his Taupo cottage, and was pre-. vailed to give some reminiscences of his coachhlg days. The journey from Napier to Taupo, often d'one in from three to four hours by car to-day, then took two days, and made memorable in its sta^es. by the fact that in the route then followed up the Esk River it was necessary to ford the river forty-two times. It used to be said, Mr Hayhow recalled, that some. of the regular users of the road would take a case of beer with them and end'eavour to keep a tally of the fords by drinking a bottle at feach one, but "the beer always (beat them." There was no metal on the road in the early days, and often in winter the mud had to be seen to be believed. For many years there was only one bridge, that over the Mohaka River and at one period, when that one was washed away in a flood, even the Mohaka had to be forded by the goods waggons. A passenger coach was kept each side of the river, and the passengers ferried across in a canoe, so that in the event of floods the mails and passengers got through. In winter snow on the Titiowura and Turanga - kuma ranges was at times the cause of delay. On one occasion Mr Hayhow was snow bound on the summit of Turanga-kuma, near the . present day tearooms, and had to abandon the coach there, riding one of the horses with difficutly to Tarawera with the mails.' On another occasion going X o Napier the coach was snowbound near Te Haroto, and led by Mr Hayhow the passengers managed to ride the horses to the Mohaka Hotel, situated on the Taupo side of the river. In contrast to such experiences was an occasion when bush fires raged at Te Maroto and for two hours the coach was delayed by blazing branches that had to be cleared from the road. Another contrast was provided by a flood in a stream on the Taupo side of MarshalTs Crossing, when Mr Hay- . how had to leave the coach and get the passengers across on a lead horse. A man and, his daughter were in turn taken safely across, but when the wife's turn came she fell cff in midstream, to be grabbed by Mr Hayhow and towed ashore. ^Even then the driver's job was not done, for in keeping with coaching tradition the mail had to go through and Mr Hayhow rode with it to Napier. The timetable for the coach run from Napier to Taupo contrasts strikingly with the motor bus service of to-day. Depature from Napier was at 6.30 a.m., Te Pohue was reached for lunch, where there was a change of horses, and Tarawera was reached about six p.m. Next morning a start was made at 7.80 a.m., horses were changed at Rangitaiki and Taupo was reached at 4.30 p.m. There were two types of coach, a five passenger coach with four horses, and an eight passenger coach with five horses, of y * which three abreast were in front and two in the pole, The fare for the journey was 25/- smgle and £2 10/return. The box-seat passengers, one on the smaller coaches and two on the larger, paid an extr^f five shillings for the .privilegl of sitting in front with the driver, despite the rigours of the winter trip over the rangefs. For twelve months follow-

in£ |he butting of 'the Tarawera Hotel longer stages were necessary, Coming from Napier passengers stayed at Te Pohue, making the shveiity mile stage to Taupo next day between six thirty a.m. and five p.m., with changes of horses at Tarawera and Rangitaiki. There was on the return journey a stage o^ 77 miles between Rangitaiki and Napier. , The eight passenger coach driven by Mr Hayhow is now in the Napier Museum, and is the type known as the Thoroughbrace, swung on leather spring s. Mr Hayhow's coaching days ended one winter's day on the Taupo side of Titiokura, when his horses bolted. Fbr half a mile Mr Hayhow • held the team to the wind/ng downhill road, until he was throwh off and sustained a compound fracture of the right arm. To-d^y Mr Hayhow comes fiequen ly over the old coach road* to spend a few days at Taupo, fishing with the zest of a young man and an enthusiasm that the years have not dimmed.