PORT WAIKATO.

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1655, 13 February 1883, Page 2

PORT WAIKATO.

+. . This is rapidly becoming a popular summer resort, and for convalescents in search of fresh' air and salt/ wafer it' has few rivals. Our party, ' consisting of -four adults and six children, broke the journey by taking the rail, for Mercer, and then joining the Rarigiriri we steamed away at 2 p.m., and reached tlie Heads at 9.30 ; this was a long "trip,' the river being low.' Our friends met us on the 'wharf,' and conducted iis> to a furnished house we had engaged for our stay, .the boat's crew of the Rangiriri taking up bur baggage. We found the visitors' cottages situate in a little bay delighting in the name of Paratikitiki, say' 2ooyds from the Waikato. Steam wharf and 'd'epftt ;' there" are three of them, verandah cottages, all within half-a-chain of liigh Mater, but considerably above, that level. In front of the cottages all the large boulders have bedn. Removed from the beach,' and posts 'wjth ropes erected for the use of bathers. VfwL batHed -every 'tide, 'and ■ the! children^ dabbled in the water from morning to night , The, village or. town (I hardly know w,hat to call it) is built on a small hilly peninsula, and judging .from the number of times I heard, "Ah, "yes, but you should have been, here t during the war,"' must at one iime have been quite ' 'a place." At present it contains four white residents. The Court-house -and/ locfeupj , ace^ falling/ 1 to ahcftne^nTy b\iifdingsUUu£ WiiM 'I could, get, any ( definite, j informatiqn were, the officer's mess-room' ami ihe riath'Q ho?|;elry/ ,Qf pourge, t\)WQ ,V3'tlie>ijievitable store t and we found necessaries as tgoocVaiftl-cHeap as r at > anjr*c6untry''BWi i e. The proprietor keeps a Jarge number of bet^e.en,nye{andj^ix~hnpdrpdV and oce riiail, brought Ji'im while ' ,we \vtre there) a 'cheque for Ovdr £5(Ji '^for fr&h ,eggarp Fish are, r good I and -,plpntiful. Fatiki, 2s per dozen ; a largo cleaned sqhnajyper, 6c| jj>and of, m^lk^for-jt^a cliil,dren, % we| had^an imlimibed spppjy|afc 4d of the estuary, but „01 1 the ocean, .seaob, they; could not get' 'enough*, chasmg 1 big t\m W"i '99?K n Sp. B >Pi%^9 ea rW ed » .

fish, in fasyt is 'fiffifttyfftay what they did not doi 'AJp the river natives were fishing in »>tho surf, drying the take on Wp,od/3jy frames, hh e y end \VtSh water. I suppose they had about half tg ton. The heads, north, and south, differ widely in| appearance, jtjhjs north jbeadj be« iug merely a dreary, v saudy desert, the squthjhead bold, rocky and precipitous. M&Vaetai, the old mission station', is' ilo'w occupied as an out-station of the To Akan run, ■ "hnd ! ''W l '' l approkohßd" at high water by a 'nov^l suspension bridge, apparently constructed of fencing wire and driftwood. About ten minutes' walk from our house is a small bay with an unspeHojble Maori, name, .and at, t the base pf the! hills at the back are r the buildings oiice used by Major, Lusk 'as a fla*jn'ill. ' The mjjs appears to Jiaye beqn driven by a turbine, the wheel, .tubing and fluming being still to the fore. In this bay are three small waterfalls, costing a'sHft if clTnib/bu"ti,|m6ly'fepA'^l)^ ; the trouble and exertion.' The " king" of Port Waikato has a beautiful place up on the hill 1 (another climb), garden, orchard, aviary, conservatory, vinery, books, pictures, and a most magnificent view from the verandah. Behind the house the roads •' tnckj'jfrom right to, left, to the summit of ahitl, from which we saw the open waters of the Manukati, the white dots of houses at Qnehiinga, Rangitoto, and the* laltalike* |W^ikato. One of the valleys on the estate has been cleared of the undergrowth, and a track with rustic seats ami bridges formed for some distance ; here We 1 collected ferns and mosquitos — mosquitos especially. Waimate, a little higher up the river, is a pretty spot, and worth a visit— and you don't have to cfymb tp.gftt there,, ( l, think there are about a dozen places to visit, and yoT|- may collect ferns, shells, suaweetj./ sponges, corallines, zoophyte.", a few wild flowers, and, lastly, Tertiary fossils, ' and ' modern, recpnt in fact, conglomerate in one small bay it is in course of formation.' The fishing is good, too good for me, I connot catcli fish and allow them to, spoil., lam pleased M'ith the trip, and I think the rest of our party are satisfied. For, those who can find amusement' and recreation in nature the place is perfect, but to those who aft'ect tliei conventionalities of English watering places I should say, don't go. Our- expenses, four, adults and six children for sixteen days, including travelling, just reached £16 3s (id, or, say, £1 per day. I refrain from any account of the people I met, as at some future time when the columns of The Waikato Times are again at my disposal I way risk the forbearance of my .readers, and roughly etch some of the thirtythree vjsitoi;s who were there on Sunday, 14th January, ISS3. I ha\e kept my promise, will my friend who was there "during the war" tell us about that whaleboat, and keep his ? Karakta.