TO OPOTIKI AND BACK.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume IV, Issue 541, 6 December 1890, Page 3

TO OPOTIKI AND BACK.

[SPHCIAL T » TH* STANDARD.] Having which required my presence in Opotiki I endeavored to glean some information as to the overland route, the state of the road, the stages I should make, and the time the journey would occupy. I never had a more difficult task. Those who should know were not available ; those who thought they knew were legion. The majority of the latter I found had acquired their experience in theTe Kooti expedition, and under such abnormal conditions that it was practically useless. They had a very hazy idea as to the n>ad, and the dangers of the journey had been considerably exaggerated with the lapse of time and possibly by contemporary events. O'hers, again, had made phenomenal trips, either very lengthy, in the depth of winter, or excessively short, in the middle of summer. One said I would have to sleep out, another that there was plenty of shelter. AU, however, seemed agreed upon one thing, and that was that the Motu Bush and the road through it were terrors to the traveller, a most equalling Stanley’s great forest in the horrors of the journey. This was not at all reassuring to one who never msde pretence to bravery or courage, and I h >d almost decided to leave the trip shoe. But w «en man sett’es the telegraph wir> s?m« times unsettles, and so it was in thfa c •«. A te-egram urged me to go and I went, lit was f ur in the afternoon when I mad* upfhy mind, and in two hours I had left the town on my way to the unknown oonntry- A Scotch mist was falling, and I pmaad on through a conti' ua! drizzle until I reached genial Ormond Here for a While the rain ceased to fall, but directly I pa«ed the outekirts down it came again with renewed vigor and increased intensity My destination that evening was the Kaiteratahi Hotel, where I arrived, snaking wet and glad of a night’s shelter. During the night some heavy showers fell, and as I tossed sleepless in my bed and listened to the downpour, over and over again the thought entered my mind to give the journey up and return to Gisborne. iWitb daylight the outlook was decidedly gloomy. Away in the direminn I mnst pursue, the rain appeared to be coming down steadily, while passing shower, fell at interval, in the Kaiteratahi Valiev. Bv six o’clock the rain seemed to be Sharing rS and before seven, when I had had my hr eat fa t and was ready to start, th. eon shone nut, not indeed brilliantly, bu' > bopefnllv. Boon after I was in the saddle y and away. The morning's rain had made ' the roads slippery and my speed was necessarily impeded Bl ck clouds gathered around and threatened several times to pour down their wrath upon me, and altogether the journey was not plraeant. Yet I pushed on. .By ton I had passed the Pon’u'n station, and after same upon O'NeiU'a camp. Mr O’Nsll has a contract for widening the road, and seems tn be making an excellent j b of it. He expects to be on the work til] Christmas time, end bie work will be of considers' ’e advantage to travellers. Mr O’Neill invited Ba to stay for dinner, but after a passing good day, and giving all the latest news from Gisborne I determined to push on to Mr 0. Goldsmith’, survey camp, some distance further on. Hers I was made welcome by Mr Goldsmith b'mwlf, lh« other persons of bie party bei'g absent. We discussed a pan. Bikin of tea, with some home-made bread SnA wild honey, While my horse enjoyed himself on a grass pa'oh not far away, f After an hour's spell I was in the saddle agklft, end Rushing tor the terrible M tu Bush. At a ttle past three I reached its edge, where a hut has been though'fully erected for the convenience of belated travellers. I looked St my watch and considered for a whi'e whfthrr I Should camp there for the night or tempt the unknown dangers. No sooner had I made up my mind to go on than ths rain which had been threatening gll day commenced to fall. All through the afternoon it continued, and wet, gold, and miserable I pursued my lone'y gad wearisome way, jThe soli'Ude of th" bush was my uncomfni - sble surroundings, and I was pleas°d about six to come in sight of tents. These I found belonged tn Neil’s survey party, engaged in Barking out th" Motn sections. I enquired the distance of the accommodation house. Four and a hslf mi'es, was the answer; I Con'd reach it before dark if I pressed on. I pressed on, but two hours passed and it was pitch dark and no accommodation house in view, and then a hundred thoughts assailed Be. I must have missed th» house, and I would have to comp nut. But where ? It was raining heavily, and th°re was no shelter near. | last I could distinguish a hut Whien®ght or might not be the place I wanted. With difficulty I found an entrance into a fenced paddock, and over fallen trees and etnmps I made an effort to reach the door, I reached it—to find it padlocked 1 Disgusted. I stumbled mv way to the road and then I considered what I should do. I concluded to keep moving ■ I could not better mvself by camping in the rain, and there was always a chance of coming across a deeer'ed hnt. For half an hour, with feelings better imagined than described, I pro oeeded, when to my delight and great satisfaction I saw a tent with a light in it. It was the roadman's tent, and the accommodation -house, he told me. was a mile further on received parti tfar directions so that *1 should not miss the place, I pushed on, in better humor, and at last arrived at the end Of that day's journev. Never did traveller enjoy the scant romforts of an accommodation house with more zest Wet, gore, and tired. I welcomed the cheery log fire, and after I had seen my horse fed and cared for, prepared to forge* all my recent discomforts. Having changed mv wet clothe. I waited, While Miss Hansen busied herself in get' : nu Be some tea This was soon ready, and I was agreeably surprised at the resu't. Almost as good a tea was laid out a. one could expec' in an hotel, and to be supplied with milk and butter in the midst nf the bn-h was what I had least expected. accommodation house ia kept by Messrs Hansen, who informed m» that the present hut is Only a makeshift. They can now put up three travellers comfortably, and many more on a pinch. It I. ei’uated four and a half miles this side of the Mo'u Bridge, about 56 miles, I believe, from Gisborne, and on the left hand aide of the road going towards the hr dge The permanent house will bo on the right hand -id upon a natural Semes. The proprietors intend that I' shall be on a large io»le, and the timber will be sawn in the immediate vicinity, where there is plen'y of material A’rrady a large Clearing baa been made and nn one portion a garden and orchard laid dowu, which will Before long yield an abundance of vegetab'es and fruit. I v.n’ure to predict that the Motu Accommodation House, when built, Will form a summer resort for visitors from Gisborne, besides adding to the convenience of through travellers. The wonderful Motu Faile as seen from th* bridg* are alone worth the journey, while the lovely picturesque nooks along th* mad, and the natural features of the huab, will at*rant artistic and scientific mind There is, however, one thing T think miyht well do, and that is to erect, especially on the Gisborne aide, notice boards which shall tel! the weary traveller how far he is off the night’s shelter. Tu my own case I was lucky enough to continue my journey, but had it been fine I dare say I should not have done SO. Two other travellers lately sought in Vain for the accnmmoda’inn house, and ' giving it up as hopeless laid down under a tree. The night was bitterly cold, and as Soon as the moon rose, about 2 in the morning. they made a frs.h start, to discover that they had stopped witbin a couple of hundred yards from the pl.ee they sought 1 Once at Hansen', one find, himself very oomfortab’e, and considering that packing costs £2O a 'on the charges of two shillings a meat—good ones, too—and one shilling for a bed, are very reasonable. Horsefeed is, however, pear; there i. ao grass near, and a feed of bats costs half a crown. Next morning I got away at half past six, and fortunately the weather had somewhat Cleared. The fo'i.ge wa« damp and the first part of the journey was bitterly cold. The eon, however, soon brightened up matters, Bpd I threaded my lonely way along the Barrow track which winds around the base Of the bills, sometimes arising to cross the spun and saddles and again descending to ford soma mountain stream, but always in a tantalizing a'gz g course. The road la CM Of surprises. Away across some valley m see comparatively does to you a portion M th* road you must eventually travel. But What teems seconds away may take an

hour to reach, because the path probably winds mi’es away iu order to reach the point desired I had travelled thus for over three hours with nothing to break the monotony beyond the sounds of the birds, which dulled with their very frequency, or the roaring of the hidden streams, which hundreds of feet helow rushed over stones and boulders on their way to fill the Motu and other rivers. Sometimes new interest was evoked by some dangerous piece of nnd, which was so narrow that the horse had only sufficient footing, and so precipitous that to have gone off the side meant instantaneous death for m «n and horse./ A break in the dreariness was the sound of ifTaxe, and looking ahead I saw & man busy cutting a tree from the road. This was Mr Irwan, one of the roadmen, Mr Kelly, who was a day in advance of had suddenly found himself blocked by this tree, which had fallen across the path. He Could neither get the horse under nor over it, and the place was too steep to get round, so that the rider was compelled to leave his horse and make the be Icf his way to the roadmen’s camp, some sixteen miles away. Weary and footsore he had arrived there in the afternoon, and stayed with the men all nicht. Next morning, borrowing one of the roadmen’s horses, he left for Opo'.iki, while Irwan had come to clear the obstruction away./Having given what little assistance I was tSSpable of, we were able to get the horses past, and we filed along the road with Kelly’s horse in the centre. To have a companion put new life into our travelling, and we soon got over the distance which separated us from the camp. We had some refreshment while the horses were allowed to roam among the grass, which was here in plenty. We had made such good time that Irwan, who had business to do in Opotiki, and was going there in any event in the morning, decided io go through with me that I was glad of his company, and he made an excellent guide, giving me the various distances, altitudes, and what ever he thought would be interesting. He 'old me that at one time they were allowed four men on the road, and then he was able to keep it in good order, but they were retrenched to two, and now it took them all their time to ride from one point to another, endeavoring to ke*p the road clear, so that th°y were unable to do any permanent work. II had a good deal of experience in the narrow ~£nd dangerous parses over which I had to lead my horse, and every storm brings down some new slips, either carrying away the pa h altogether or obliterating it with the heap of fallen earth and debris. When some fatal accident has occurred on the road the Government will perhaps in ther wisdom make a change, but until they do travellers will continue to risk their necks in clambering over heaps of rotten r >ok und clay, where a slip of the foot meads a fall of hundreds of feet, or to squeeze past the mountain face ia places with scarce room for footing, wh«>re a stumble would bring instant death. ’We bad 20 milea to go b fore reaching Opotiki, 19 of which were still through h u-b and open scrub. Just at dark ws reached the beach. Under ordinary circumstances the beach travelling would he pleasant, but it was my third day in the saddle, and I was stiff and tired, and my companion had travelled nearly 60 miles that day. We went along the b*ach at funeral rate. J Opotiki never seemed to come nearer, and the dreary length of beach served to increase the feeing of weariness which came over horse and rider. At last we turned off from the beach, and away—it seemed miles—in the distance we could spe the lights of Opotiki. hour afterwards we rode along the main etree!. It was then close on ten o'clock, and the street seemed deserted. We made for the Royal Hotel, but just before I reached it, I found that some people were on the look out for me. and the cheery greeting which 1 received ma 1* me forget, for the moment, all my weariness and discomfort. A few minutes’ talk, and the inevitable welcome drink, and I found myself fast settling dowu into an Opotiki settler. I saw my horse put a« ay, and after a short walk, to work off the stiffness, I retired to bed—not to sleep, for I was too tired to do that, but to toss about with nijhtmare of falling over tremendously high cliffs, or being block« d with impossibly large trees, from all of which dangers I was invariably saved by the kindness of the Opotiki people, who always came to my resell--. Of Opotiki,and-sumeof ftff inhffbf ti.nta,