TARANAKI AS A TOURING CENTRE

Ladies' Mirror, Volume 3, Issue 5, 1 November 1924, Page vii (Supplement)

TARANAKI AS A TOURING CENTRE

A MOTORIST’S PARADISE 'Y’ARANAKI has fittingly been described as the motorist’s Elysium, and one has only to visit that fertile province, famed for its dairying industry, to prove the aptness of such a description. It has , unique attractions to offer as a motoring centre, and chief among these are its splendid roads, the object of admiration and envy of all visiting motorists. Certainly tolls have to be paid, but what is that compared with the extra pleasure and comfort derived in touring over a delightful surface and enjoying an almost puncture-free existence! Nobody grumbles at paying tolls under those circumstances. In any case, that obsolete method of taxation is now threatened with extinction by the operation of the Main Highways Act, and it is more than likely that after the 31st March next, toll gates will have ceased to exist. But splendid roads are not the only source of attraction that Taranaki has to offer. There is much to see besides. Mountain resorts, beautiful bush scenery, fishing, and trips, long and short, into the heart of the back countrywhere, by the way, the roads are not so good—or along the picturesque coast-line, where the blue waters of the Pacific spend themselves on hard, sandy beaches or dash in unending fantasies of spray against rugged headlands, are all at the choice of the motorist, and probably in no other comer of New Zealand could be found such a variety and wealth of natural beauty. Nestling on the shores of the Tasman Sea beneath Egmont’s snow-clad peak, New Plymouth, a fast-growing seaport of

some 15,000 inhabitants, and the largest town in the province, is the logical centre and the base from which the touring motorist should start his excursions. The suburbs of New Plymouth are widely scattered, and many pleasing jaunts may be obtained without going much beyond the limits of the borough. These claim the visitor’s early attention, and then having become acquainted with the town and its environs, he may wander further afield and find much to charm him. In future issues we hope to give details of some of the best trips, with maps and photographs. ffliMiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiißfi