A TRIP TO THE MOKAU.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXIII, Issue 44, 1 March 1901, Page 2

A TRIP TO THE MOKAU.

SIX MEN IN A BOAT—NOT TO "JENTION THE BOY. The dip bad been talked about for weeks. The beginning of it was tho pVtos in Mr. OelbV window; tbesV Kike a* fio fine thiit wo. conic] net resist 'ha t.mptation, to the proposed mountain excursion was givon up au<] the Mokau substituted. Some of us hud s';cnt''e Waoganuiand wm-« anxions to discover if the L ss known Mokau mm anoihor "Rhine of Nuw Zealand." Tho original p:irty included a number of ledW, but like tho hdias of old tlirsy all with one consent began to make excuses, or as the " poat " of the part) put it:

feme lc.diES v.-oro to join the trip, Bat one by one gave us the slip; Some ha'l to stay at home with " Ma " And others could not leave their " Pa.' But to show that we wore not tied to 'suiiss' apron strings we pluekod up courage onough to go "on our owe." The outing was to ba of a primitive! character, an oxprens for the land journey and a rowing bout for the river. The usual half hour's delay occurred at Stirling, one of the party not being 'ised to rising at such au eai ly hour as 5 a.m. A lot of amusement was c uised by ono man taming up in a collar. F-u-cv a man going en a camping exppdl'ion in a collar! r, as he hadn't been lorg out frnm Homo he was lot off with a caution. It is siid that fortune favours the brave so we v-eia f avoured with splendid weather all through the trip. The morning was lovely. As we crossed the Waiwakaiho, we thought that at such an eirly hour—for us —we might escapo the toll, but no i-uch luck, tho man was there wi'h his usual limp and smile. Tho fowls on the wayside at Bell Block struck nn attitudo and with thfiir h"ods on one side appeared to say : " Whatever in the world is the alanine of this V But the horse 3 only acswf red by a toss of the hoad and the driv.r said: "Get up."'

Walt;ra was nached at 7.30 and here we took on board some tucker io fche shape of 12 large loavoc. The rest of the provisions we took from town. The first real step was made on the eraFfcy phin at Onaero where we breakfasted. Passing Urenui we quickly entered the Mimi Valley, where a photo of the winding river and papa rocks was taken. At Uruti we telephoned io our fii-nds in town and three miles further on gave the horses a good spill and hid lunch. On resuming the journey Mt. Mesenger came into Mght and we were snon tramping round its many bends. The mathematician of the party took it into his head to count the number of turn's in *.ho roid. He reported thera to be 66 on this side and 72 on the othir. No one cared to turn back and verify th ; s s'at»men' so it was accep*ed. Some lovely ferns aro seen in the giillief, and on the hills the tree fern ; md nikaus are really magnificent. At the saddle a glorious panorama was unrolh d before im. Over the many forest-c'ad hills was seen our own beautiful Mt. E?mont in all her queanly splendour. Language failed to express our f< eh'sjjg, we could only say: "Beautiful 1 Lovwly I Glorious 1" Cwidering the wretched state of tho weather lately the road over the mountain whs not bad ; it was only in thn bends ftw«y from the eun that the papa was ti'' üblosome,

We drove down the other side if thu mountain hut did not reach the ford at the Tongapotetu in time to erofs that evening, fo camp was pttoked on the grwn §*ya/d meai* the river, and we ma't'e our first acquaint mce with the mosquito and the moiepork, NVxt- morning at 5.15 we crossed the river just in time to see the summit of Mt. Egmont being kissed by the niorniug sunlight. Breakfast was prepared on the roadside neur the accommodation house.

* During the morning ablutions it was discovered that ore man had actu- ' ally brought scented soap! Laterqnthe same ''city man " startled the company ;' by producing a looking glass—and a , 'adv's hand glass at that! And to make the matter funnier still the man was . no 1- , married. All efforts to find the ~ real owners' name were fruitless. On . re'ohing the cutting herding to the v.illey of tho Mohukatino a ph:to was !, taken. The fine bridge oviv tho river, tho wooded hills in the background, and the winding road through tho t cutting i-hculd make a fine picture.' ~ The roal was in splendid condition right up to Mokau, whioh was reached 6 Q at 10.20 a.m. As the punt and ferry brat are kept _, on the other side, a c-o-ee was aice3sarv tobiinq tlja ferryman. Two of pros od the and made arrange-j I mofit-t with our hoi*mtn. .Astheiido ' was runmn? out he p'nps"! that we ' uU w:iit until n>xt morning and go »|) "ith tho tide, but wo did not care ' ?o lose a day so ha got his swag r-ady P and ve saihd away. The driver fixed t tip wi h s-me p or le übout hi) horses 5 ' and decided f o so with us, si wa made II ,- Eit'ht mcji \n a beat - ,} t'i mention the boy " )'. We had a livjy time in tlnjs boat.; It was >i te- ded to low seme miles up i! ih" river ■nd then camp nut, but th* r'otmping came much sooner than was ''■xpfct.d. The boa'man had r-xpUJred t> i\s th't tliero wai a anoal! lek in the ~ boat hut rft t a d nsercus one. The ,i'orrynr,nn 'old us the boat was s>fe

, on-n-h so wo hf-d no anxiety. The : nnxie'y w s shewn by tho other mtmi bers of the p- rty. Thi tide was running out ftrongly and the wind was against ir. Bofore we had gone far j water was reou in tho bottom of the boai', and those who bad not been told of the sm>ll loak began to look at each ! o'hr. There was no rudder to the , bmt, which was s'eered with an oar. j i What wi'h the tide and wind ngaiost , 'us, and (he unevan pulling a 1; the oirs j

the steering was not absolutely perfect, but; tho h-lrnsman did fuel hurt at such expressions a? tho following being i hurled a!, him : "What are you doing?'' i"\Y'h=ro on eirth are you going?'' " Haul a s avbowd !" " Who in thunder fold y 'ti you could st"er?" "Bring hor nose iomul qri"k!y !" However, cb-di-<nce boii.g ono of his cluractavi&tics, her uose was brought round and with su-h nlao \ y th»r. several of theparstmg V- sudd, nly s-it down in places nsu-.l : y j •f(-.S",rvol for sending room, the pbotigraphnr fol over his oamera, and the crow made several remarks the others bid aegleoted to mention. Yet the

iiieei'.-'imui was happy, i<i tVot the on!;' happy /ana aboar" that bo'it. A La- ty council uf wr *vas held and an osJoi' given to .steer for a certf<in point ii'Jios-s the river, which after various vir'ssitucles was reached. It i." a p'aiii ui;-' varnished fact; that th-<: Pilgrim Fathers wero not happier when tliuy landed in Now England than woro theso toraists in tho "Mary Ann " when landed ja: "Inspiration Point," for that is what j i« what wo afterwards called tho lauddin." place. Afr.er tfa, which was most si'ently partaken of, the situation was resolutely koked iu the ff»ee. One man declared that he wouHn't go np in a tub like that.! He had come for pleasure, not to practica baling out. Others wor.d«r*d if other nir.ans of getting np tho rivei I could not be found, and so en and so on.

We decided to camp at Inspiration Point for the night, and pet to work fixing up the tent. Tho place was nn ideal one for a camp. It stood well aHove tho river, was sheltered by trees, ind we had lovely views up and down tbe river. A pleasant surprise waited us during tho evening. Our driver had taken a stroll up the bill over tho clearing and at the farm house had found friends. The farmer came bsck to camp with him and brought a basket ,of rosy cheeked apples. A voto of 'thanks was immoJia'ely given to him and the fruft began tu dissapear quickly.

From our friend we learned that we were camping at the old mission station established by Mr Sneider. Wn were awakened next morning by the loud quacking of wild ducks and we were sorry a rouple of them were not cooking for breakfast. By 9 o'clock we were on our way up the river. Two took the boat round the first bond, the rest of us walktd over the hill. A good photo was taken of the boat coming round the bend. Then began the real trip up the river. With tho tide in our favour and (he swags eut of tbe boat we made gcod progress. At one place a large patch of ea»t,h had flipped from th« face of the rock, bringing the ferns and trees down with it into the river. Bend after revealed new beauties in fern, bush, and tree, the bright >ed flower of the Pohutukawa re'ieviog the darkly masses of evergreen. The fores' -clad hills were so grand that it was difficult to decide which scenes not to photograph. Seen from the boat the bush looked magnificent, sweeping down to the water's edg*. It needs the facile brush of an artist to oonvty anything like an adequate conception of its beauty, as a substitute for that we had to b? co&tent with the came a, and are looking forward with real interest to the finishing of the.photos. Oould it compare with the Wan-g-anui ? Off-hand, I should say that the scenery was equxl to anything in that liver below Pipiriki. To those who had not seen the Wanganui, ihe Mokau was a revelation. It will bs a thousand pities if the bush is allowed to be destroyed, and I am glad to find that the Seonery Preservation Society has decided to ask the Minister of Lands to introduce legislation enabling tho Government to acquire the surface rights of both banks. After calling at the sa.wm.ity the boat was rowed as far as Owen's clearing, and as the tide bad turned we turned alao, and once mo> e reached " Inspiration Point." Oh the river we had seen wild duck and tfal, and in tho bush were bed bii ds and kakas.

We got a Jot of amusement out of our boatman. Oa er/inixtg to a m»gMli cent band in the river he said, " That; is one of our romantic scenc'rits." During the roturu trip he explained that big boats tlrdrA travel very quickly because " it took mch a lot to get ' momenta' on." Ho was of opinion that if Mark Twain bad been present his imagination would have clothed the trip with a description that | would have brought fame on tho party. | An Am'riesn philosopher has saii "Never swop horses when crossing a stream,."' The same observation applies to amateur helmsmen. We can speak from painful experience, as owing to a change in coxswain we ran on an island, and it required tho combined genius of the boatman and " crew " to igefc us off again. As this was to re the last night on the river wo made things lively by practising a minstrel quartstte altered for tte occasion. Our photographer tried a magßetinm photo of us after we had retired, acd wo are anxiouMy waiting ti know the

i esult of the experiment. One of the most interesting photos wa* the <we as we left next morning.; it is called " Farewe! 'o Inspiiation Point," and shows us in . he " Mary Ann," Captain L«e in charge, putting out to Fe», or rathartotbe river. Our final pho'o was at Mokau, where a number ot our own party could not resist the temptation of being taken with some charming Maori girls. The re'ur.n drive to theTongaparutu was taken in a very easy fashion, arriving there in time for the tide. One of the line mrn working near told uh the Government whare was a mile this side of tho river. We tmdo for it and it spatvd us the trouble of hiving t> i fix tho tont. It also awed us from the, 'ain, which oamo on heavily in the 'night, but it was t»ie liveliest phct»

(imaginable f>r mosquitoes; vory fe* of ua sl«pt ai all, and soino of us b<w»i tho sc*rs of warfare yet. Rising at 5, we packed up for tho final drive home. Nothing of importance happened except that at one pi ice a. large tree came down near the road just; after we bad passed, the iifiso being like thunder. In due time New Plymouth was reached, and one of the happiest and most enjoyable trips anyone could have was brought to a clost*. So delighted were the whole of the party that they talked of going again next year and taking their wives or sweethearts, but all save one draw tho line at having at the holm Kuan Kumj.