The Little Barrier Island, though possessing no harbour, has several yachting anchorages. It is uninhabited, and is chiefly interesting from the fact that it is the last remaining stronghold of many rare species of New Zealand birds. This is attributable in some degree to its distance from the mainland. The bee has not found its way across to Little Barrier, and the honey-eating birds, driven away from elsewhere by the stings of bees seeking a common food, have made this island their last habitat. It is greatly to be hoped that the New Zealand Government will complete the pending negotiations for its purchase from the natives, so that it may be made into a national park for the preservation of these unique ornithological specimens.
Great Barrier Island is larger than the Isle of Wight, being 21 miles long. It is about eight miles eastward of the Little Barrier, and possesses in Port Fitzroy one of the finest harbours in New Zealand. Yachts enter by a channel 1¼ mile wide, pass under a remarkable rock resembling the Duke of Wellington's head, and come to Governor's Pass, a narrow channel, 178 feet across, which opens out into an inner harbour three miles in length and more than half a mile wide, surrounded on all sides by high mountains which give complete security from every wind. The harbour is full of fish of every kind, from the little New Zealand herring to the flat stingaree resembling an enormous skate with a formidable spiked tail. Unless the fisherman cuts this off before he proceeds to deal with the fish, he may find one blow from it compel him to seek for several weeks an asylum in the Auckland Hospital. If the yachtsman has on board a seine net, he may realise something of the miraculous draught of fishes mentioned in the Bible. Let him also bring his rifle, for the island is swarming with wild goats, and if he can steel his heart against the piercing and humanlike screams to which they give utterance when wounded, he may, by getting up to the highest ground and stalking them down the mountain-sides, secure more than he will find it possible to get back to his yacht, be he never so impervious to powerful odours. He will, moreover, earn the gratitude of the settlers by so doing, for the goats eat not a little of that pasture which would more profitably be utilised in affording sustenance to the domestic sheep of the island farmers.
Many years ago Selwyn Island, at the entrance to the harbour, was stocked with the large silver-grey rabbit, and a good day's shooting may still be had among them, though the skins are no longer of the great value they were when first acclimatised.
Having explored the creeks of the Waitemata, which open into the harbour of Auckland to the north, the yachtsman may proceed to cruise in the southern waters of the Hauraki Gulf. On his way he may run in for a few hours to one of the Maori villages, where he will find some very well-to-do natives, owners of valuable property close to Auckland, but who still practise all the old-fashioned Maori customs of cooking and manufacture. He will be interested, too, in the long war canoe with its carved prow, one of the few now remaining in New Zealand.
All the islands between the mouth of the gulf and the Firth of Thames are interesting. The most remarkable in appearance is Rangitoto, guarding the entrance to the Auckland harbour. In shape it is a perfect cone. The mountain is an extinct volcano, rising to a height of 920 feet, and presents a precisely similar appearance from whatever aspect it is regarded. The summit of the mountain is composed of masses of scoria, but there is no fresh water on the island. Rangitoto is connected by a sandy neck, a quarter of a mile long, dry at high water, with Motu Tapu, the Sacred Island. Whatever odour of sanctity may have attached to it in earlier days, it is now the island most profaned by the feet of Auckland yachtsmen. Herds of deer scamper across its grassy slopes, and afford excellent stalking to the hospitable owner and his guests. No one who takes care to keep on the shores of the island and refrain from disturbing the deer is likely to be forbidden to shoot a few rabbits. From some of the higher points round the coast he may espy the acclimatised emus stalking over the hills; the pheasants feeding round the edges of the patches of woodland, and the flocks of turkeys, once tame, but which now require the persuasion of the fowling-piece before they can be brought to table.
From the Thames the yacht may be taken round to the harbour of Tauranga; this is a quiet and comfortable little town, the harbour land-locked by an island running down to meet a sandy spit. From this spit rises the Mawayanui Rock, 860 ft. in height, conspicuous for miles, both from the land and sea sides of the harbour.
The entrance is tortuous, narrow in places, and liable to gusts and eddies when the wind is blowing from the sea, but of considerable capacity inside. Tauranga is close to the scene of a conflict between the Maories and English troops, in which the 68th Regiment lost more officers than did any regiment at Waterloo. It is the best harbour whence to visit the volcano of White Island, and is the nearest also to the Maori Settlements, the hot lakes and springs of the interior of the North Island.
White Island is sixty miles off, and the steam blowing off the crater to a height varying from 2,000 to 10,000 feet is clearly visible in fine weather. This island is well worth a visit, though great care must be exercised in landing, for the whole island is so hot that walking is not pleasant, while the clouds of sulphurous steam blowing to leeward are suffocating. It is about three miles in circumference, having in the centre a crater about a hundred yards in circumference, surrounded by steam geysers, which make a roaring, deafening noise, like a hundred engines massed in one engine-room. Although there is no vegetation on the island, the base of the crater gives the appearance of a well-watered meadow in spring. This effect is produced by the bed of crystallised sulphur traversed by the streams from the several geysers. Myriads of sea birds, chiefly gannets, circle round the island, and the remarkable Tuatara lizards may be seen crawling on the hot rocks. There is no harbour in the island, but there is shelter between the principal islet and a little islet half a mile to south-east.
Yachting on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand is less agreeable; there is no convenient centre from which to start on many cruises, and between the harbours are long distances of usually stormy sea.
Once inside the Kaipara Harbour a large expanse of rather uninteresting water is available, but the rivers which flow into it are wide and picturesque, afford excellent wildfowl shooting, and are the home of the trade in Kauri timber. The huge logs are cut up by sawmills with giant circular saws. The trunks of the Kauri trees may be seen floating down the rivers from the forests above till they are caught, as they pass the various mills, by baulks stretched at an angle across the stream to intercept their progress. In the same way, once you get across the bar of the Hokianga River, many days may be spent in the land of oranges and lemons.