THE OTIRA GORGE
Let me suppose, however, that what the tourist wants is rather the wilderness and its scenery than prosaic evidence of the work of subduing the one and wrecking the other. His route then will very much depend on the port that is his starting-point. Should he land at Bluff Harbour he will find himself within easy striking distance of the Otago mountain lakes, all of which are worth a visit, while one of them, Manapouri, is perhaps as romantic a piece of wild lake scenery as the earth has to show. The sounds or fiords of the south-west coast can be comfortably reached by excursion steamer in the autumn. The tougher stamp of pedestrian can get to them at other times in the year by following one of the tracks which cross the mountains from the lake district aforesaid to the western coast. The beauty of the route from Te Anau through the Clinton Valley, and by way of the Sutherland Falls to Milford Sound, is unsurpassed in the island.
Aorangi, the highest peak of the Southern Alps, and the centre of the chief glaciers, is best approached from Timaru, a seaport on the eastern coast a hundred and twelve miles south of Christchurch. Any one, however, who is able to travel on horseback may be promised a rich reward if he follows the west coast, southward from the town of Hokitika, and passes between Aorangi and the sea, on that side. Between Hokitika and the Canterbury Plains the journey by rail and coach is for half its distance a succession of beautiful sights, the finest of which is found in the deep gorge of the Otira River, into which the traveller plunges on the western side of the dividing range. Inferior, but well worth seeing, is the gorge of the Buller River, to be seen by those who make the coach journey from Westport to Nelson. Nelson itself is finely placed at the inner end of the grand arc of Blind Bay. The drive thence to Picton on Queen Charlotte Sound, passing on the way through Havelock and the Rai Valley, has charming points of view.
The better scenery of the North Island is not found in the southern portion unless the traveller is prepared to leave the beaten track and do some rough scrambling in the Tararua and Ruahiné Mountains. Then, indeed, he will have his reward. Otherwise, after taking in the fine panorama of Wellington Harbour, he may be recommended to make his way with all convenient speed to New Plymouth and the forest-clad slopes of Mount Egmont. Thence he should turn to the interior and reach the Hot Lakes district by way of one of the river valleys. That of the Mokau is extremely beautiful in its rich covering of virgin forest. But the gorges of the Wanganui are not only equal to anything of the kind in beauty, but may be ascended in the most comfortable fashion. Arrived at the upper end of the navigable river, the traveller will make his way by coach across country to Lake Taupo and the famous volcanoes of its plateau.
LAKE WAIKARE-MOANA
More often the tourist gains the volcanoes and thermal springs by coming thither southward from the town of Auckland. And here let me observe that Auckland and its surroundings make the pleasantest urban district in the islands. Within thirty miles of the city there is much that is charming both on sea and land. Nor will a longer journey be wasted if a visit be paid to the chief bays and inlets of the northern peninsula, notably to Whangaroa, Whangarei, Hokianga, and the Bay of Islands. Still, nothing in the province of Auckland is likely to rival in magnetic power the volcanic district of which Roto-rua is the official centre. To its other attractions have now been added a connection by road with the unspoiled loveliness of Lake Waikarémoana and the forest and mountain region of the Uriwera tribe, into which before the ’nineties white men seldom ventured, save in armed force. Rising like a wall to the east of the Rangitaiki River the Uriwera country is all the more striking by reason of the utter contrast it affords to the desolate, half-barren plains of pumice which separate it from the Hot Lakes. These last and their district include Taupo, with its hot pools and giant cones. But the most convenient point among them for a visitor’s headquarters is undoubtedly Roto-rua.