A TRIP FROM TEMUKA TO LAKE PUKAKI.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2707, 4 September 1894, Page 3

A TRIP FROM TEMUKA TO LAKE PUKAKI.

Mr John Clouston, who drove the Temuka and Arowhenua men who have been found employment on the road works at Glen tanner to their destination, returned home on Saturday last, and has kindly supplied us with the following interesting notes of the journey, which occupied threAdays and a half: — “ We left Temuka on Monday morning, 27th August, at about 9.45 o’clock, and took the road up through Pleasant Point and past the Cave. We were ten in number, all told, and were fully equipped for a few days’ outing, and we made up our minds to make the trip as enjoyable as possible. We stopped near the Cave, by the roadside, for the first time on out journey, and boiled the billy, and all enjoyed a hearty meal, as a drive of about 18 miles had whetted our appetites wonderfully. After giving the horses a spell for over an hour, we started again, and soon we were getting out of sight of (ho Canterbury plains and winding our

; j way between the rugged hills along the railway line to Fairlie. We passed j Albury in the afternoon, and reached Fairlie just before dark. After getting in a good supply of horse feed, etc., we , proceeded a short distance along the road , and pitched our camp for the night, as the ) men had provided themselves with tents ) for that purpose. After tea most of us ( walked back to the township, and 5 we proceeded to the railway station to see the train come in. There were a ■ good many people on the platform, including some of the men from Timaru i whom I knew, who were going up to the ; same place as we were bound for. They had , put up in Fairlie for the night. After i danndeiin’ aboot for some time and seeing the unco’s o’ the Hieland capital, we i went back to camp again, and were soon i snoring soundly in the arms of Morpheus. Tuesday.—The sound of the cocks i crowing awakened me out of my slumbers, and by the first streaks of daylight all were astir. The billy was soon boiled, and after a hearty breakfast—for the morning was very fine and the air very fresh—all agreed that they liked the mountain air very much, it seemed so much purer and fresher than down on the plains. We made a start again shortly after seven and proceeded up past Silverstream. We had not gone many miles of our journey, however, before the sky darkened and a thick drizzly rain set in. from the north-west, but, nothing daunted, we pushed on. The roads were very good all the way through the Pass. We passed the Burke’s Pass township without halting, and after proceeding a few miles further, the rain all the time getting worse, and it being about dinner-time, and feeling cold and hungry, we began to think of the best means of cooking dinner. One of oiir companions said he knew where there was an old hut not far off the road, a little way ahead, so we pushed on in that direction. On reaching the place we found that it was an old tumble-down place, without any roof, but we determined not to be bested by the elements, and we at once set to work and got a tarpaulin fixed across it|and got underneath its shelter. We soon had a big fire in the old chimney, and some hot dinner, which revived our spirits greatly. Some talked of putting in the night in the place, but to do that we thought would be miserable, as the ground floor was all so wet and muddy, so after an hour or two we determined to proceed to some place where we could get better shelter for the night. Accordingly we started

on our way for Tekapo. The roads were now very wet and heavy, and our progress was very slow. The country around us at this stage was rather barren-looking. For miles nothing was to be seen but big boulders and tussocks, and now and again a mountain streamlet winds its way across the road. Before reaching Tekapo we passed the bullock waggon which had been engaged to cart op the provisions to the camp. It was stuck fast in one of those sandhills which abound at that part of the road near the edge of the lake, and at first sight we thought it was a big boulder in the distance. Soon afterwards we arrived at the Tekano Hotel, where the most

beautiful and neat little suspension bridge 1 have seen spans the river as it rushes out of that magnificent lake. Mr Donald McMillan, the proprietor of the hotel, showed ns every kindness, providing shelter for man and beast, and we soon forgot the rough journey we had had. Some of our men began to sing, and Mr J. Barrett favored us with a song, entitled “ Erin-go-Bragh,” and gave us a speech on the “ War in China.” Daring the evening the men from Timaru and Pleasant Point arrived, and there being such a number at the place they were obliged to sleep anywhere they could get a roof over them, the night being anything but pleasant outside. (lo be continued.)