Chapter X: Appendix: A Word to the Tourist

Passengers to New Zealand may be roughly divided into two kinds--those who go to settle there, and those who go as visitors merely. The visitors, again, may be separated into sportsmen, invalids, and ordinary tourists who land in the country in order to look round and depart, “to glance and nod and hurry by.” Now by passengers and travellers of all sorts and conditions I, a Government official, may be forgiven if I advise them to make all possible use of the Government of the Dominion. For it is a Government ready and willing to give them help and information. I may be pardoned for reminding English readers that the Dominion has an office in London with a bureau, where inquirers are cheerfully welcomed and inquiries dealt with. Official pamphlets and statistics may not be stimulating or exciting reading; but, though dry and cautious, they are likely to be fairly accurate. So much for the information to be got in England. When the passenger lands in New Zealand, I can only repeat the advice--let him make every use he can of the Government. If he be in search of land, he cannot do better than make his way to the nearest office of the Lands and Survey Department. If he be a skilled labourer whose capital is chiefly in his muscles and trade knowledge, the Department of Labour will tell him where he can best seek for employment. Last, but not least, if he be a tourist of any of the three descriptions above mentioned, he cannot easily miss the Tourist Department, for that ubiquitous organisation has agents in every part of the islands. Once in their hands, and brought by them into touch with the State and the facilities its railways offer, the traveller’s path is made as smooth as ample knowledge and good advice can make it. The journey from Auckland to Wellington may now be made by railway, while the voyage from Wellington to Lyttelton is but a matter of ten to eleven hours. Old colonists will understand what a saving of time and discomfort these changes mean.

The visitor need not overburden himself with any cumbrous or extravagant outfit. He is going to a civilised country with a temperate climate. The sort of kit that might be taken for an autumn journey through the west of Ireland will be sufficient for a run through New Zealand. A sportsman may take very much what he would take for a hunting or fishing holiday in the highlands of Scotland; and, speaking broadly, the mountaineer who has climbed Switzerland will know what to take to New Zealand. Of course any one who contemplates camping out must add the apparatus for sleeping, cooking, and washing; but these things can be bought in the larger New Zealand towns at reasonable prices.

A much more complicated question is the route which the traveller should follow on landing. The districts for deer-shooting are well known. Indeed, the sportsman need have no difficulty in mapping out a course for himself. All will depend on the season of the year and the special game he is after. Any one interested in the progress of settlement and colonisation may be recommended to pass through the farming district between the Waiau River in Southland and the river of the same name which runs into the sea about sixty miles north of Christchurch. Next he should make a journey from Wellington to New Plymouth, along the south-west coast of New Zealand, and again from Wellington to Napier, threading the districts of Wairarapa, the Seventy Mile Bush, and Hawke’s Bay. The city of Auckland and its neighbourhood, and the valley of the Waikato River also, he should not miss.

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.

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.

Index

Acclimatisation, 59

Acclimatisers, 65

Adams, Arthur, 21

Akaroa, 190, 201, 215

Albatrosses, 213

Alps, 6, 160, 166, 179

Antipodes Island, 206

Aorangi, 163, 164, 165, 167, 170, 173, 175, 233

Ara-tia-tia Rapids, 123

Art, 20, 21, 49

Auckland, 19, 28, 75, 90, 101, 104, 114, 129, 132, 142, 193, 231, 232, 234 Isles, 91, 94, 184, 191, 204, 205, 206, 222, 223, 225

Australia, 5, 10, 11, 20, 37, 73, 101, 165

Australian stock-riders, 68

Bay of Plenty, 115, 116, 117, 120, 140

Beech, 87 woods, 161

Bell, Dr. Mackintosh, 176

Bell-bird, 192

Bidwill, 128, 136

Blackwell, 24

Blue duck, 64

Bounties, the, 206, 207

Bowen, the 182

British trees, 7

Broadleaf, the large or shining, 94

Brunner, 177, 193

Buddle, Mr., 117

Buick, 24

Buller River, 160, 233

Bush-fire, 105 lawyer, 99 settler, 40

Butler, Samuel, 162, 163

Butter, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17 factories, 11

Caddell, James, 196, 197

Campbell Island, 227, 228, 229

Canoe, 76, 77

Cape Maria Van Diemen, 133, 204

Carrick, Mr., 24

Chapman, Mr. Justice, 200, 206

Charles Edward, the young Pretender, 228

Chatham Island lily, 222

Chatham Islands, the, 190, 204, 211, 212, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221

Cheese, 12, 13, 14, 17

Chief towns, 18

Christchurch, 28, 132, 162, 232, 233

Clematis, 37, 94, 95

Climate, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 14, 35, 36, 38, 52, 165, 170, 187, 222

Clutha River, 202

Cockayne, Dr., 24, 191

Colenso, 95, 97

Contrasts, 6

Cook, Captain, 168, 180, 195

Coprosma, 100

Country labourers, 50 life, 28, 29, 32, 35, 39 life tendencies, 46

Cowan, Mr. James, 24, 130

Craddock, Colonel, 53

Cricket, 72, 73

Decentralised colony, 19

Deer-stalking, 61

Department of Public Health, 44

Disappointment Island, 204, 226, 227

Domett, 21, 138, 155

Douglas glacier, 176

Drummond, Mr. James, 24

_Dundonald_, the barque, 225

Dunedin, 28

Dusky Sound, 180, 186 Sound in 1771, 195

Eels, 65, 213, 214

Egmont, Mount, 105, 125, 165, 234

_Elingamite_, 211

English trees and flowers, 2

Eruption of Tarawera, 139, 144

Factories, 26

Factory hands, 26

Fairies, 77, 78, 79, 81, 82, 83

Fairy-tales, 80

Farm labourers, 14, 51

Farmers, 8, 13, 17, 29, 30, 31, 46, 47, 50, 106

Farming, 32

Fern, 55, 86

Ferns, 38, 85, 116, 119

Fiords, 179

Fire, 77, 102, 106, 107, 108, 110, 125, 183

Fish, 65

Fishing, 49

Fitzgerald, E. A., 171, 172, 173

Flax, 12, 13, 37, 86, 95, 99, 202, 213

Flightless birds, 184, 186, 188 duck, 184, 204

Football, 71, 72

Forests, 104, 105

Freeholders, 48

Freezing, 13 factory, 15

Frozen beef, 17 mutton, 11

Fuchsias, 94

Garden, 34, 49, 107

Gardening, 36, 85

_General Gates_, the, 197

_General Grant_, the, 224, 225

Gentians, 94, 223

Gerard, Mr. George, 61

Geyser, 116, 119, 139, 148, 150, 151, 152, 164

Goats, 52, 53, 54, 104, 191, 223

Godwits, 62, 192

Gold-mining, 13

_Grafton_, the, 224

Grass, 2, 7, 41, 72, 102, 106, 107, 108, 120, 121, 124, 125, 163, 222, 226

Green, Mr., 166, 168, 171, 175

Green’s climb, Mr., 169

Greenstone, 200

Grey, Sir George, 80, 129, 155

Grey duck, 62, 64 kiwi, 184

Hamilton, A., 24

Hardie, Mr. Keir, 27

Harewood, 215

Hauraki Gulf, 74, 186, 192

Hau-roto, 160, 177, 179

Hawke’s Bay, 104, 232

Hazard, Mr., 145

Healing waters, 154

Health Department, 45

Hemp, 12, 13

Henry, Mr. Richard, 187, 188, 189

High Alps, 57

Hinemoa, 155

Hochstetter, 136, 163 ice-fall, 176

Hongi, 156, 157, 158

Hooker glacier, 172, 174, 176

Hori Haupapa, 157

Horo-Horo, 126

Horses, 68, 69, 71

Hotels, 20

Hot Lakes, 134, 234, 235 Lakes District, 118

House-sparrow, 60

Howitt, Mr. Charlton, 193

Huka, 123

Hutton, 24

Inter-colonial trade, 10

Island sanctuaries, 186

_Jean Bart_, the, 218, 219

_Journal of the Polynesian Society_, 24, 219

Kahikatea, 101

Kahukura, 80

Kaka, 57, 63, 84, 96

Kakapo, 184, 186, 189

Kapiti, 186, 190, 191, 217

Karaka, 37, 95, 96, 97, 98, 191, 212, 214

Kauri, 11, 88, 89, 90, 91, 101, 103, 106, 192 gum, 13

Kea, 57, 58, 167, 186

Kermadecs, 133, 204, 207, 208

Kirk, 91

Kirk’s _Forest Flora_, 24

Kiwi, 186, 188, 189

Kowhai, 87, 94, 95, 96

Krakatoa, 141

Laing, 24, 92

Lake Taupo, 116, 127, 234 Tikitapu, 144

Lakes of the South Island, 177

Lance-wood, 88, 100

Likeness to England, 2

Literature, 21, 22, 23

Little Barrier Island, 75, 186, 191, 192

Mackay, Miss, 21

Manapouri, 177, 179, 187, 192, 232

Mannering, Mr., 170, 171

Manuka, 37, 55, 95

Maori--their belief in fairies, 77, 78, 79 boys, 96 burning of forest, 103 cannibalism, 126 canoes, 198 chief, 141 children, 44 cooking, 153 of Cook’s Strait, 215 dogs, 57, 220 drink, 44 fairy-tales, 80 fight, 192 their food, 83 gentleman, 128 guide, 134 guns, 84 their health, 43 history, 199 Horo-Horo, 126 hunters, 184 karaka, their use of the, 97, 98 kindness, 210 Lake Taupo, 116, 122, 123 their lands, 44 as minstrels, 130 myths, 76 their numbers, 43, 218 offerings to Tané, 77 their outlook, 45 poem, 131 prophets, 159 their qualities, 45 race, 129, 158 ruins of stockade, 118 solitary family, 195 tradition, 115 travellers, 125 tribe, 40, 157 villages, 152 warrior, 158 woman, 133 women, 100

Matai, 87

Matipo, 37

Mayor Island, 118, 119, 120

Meat, 13, 14, 16 freezing, 14

Middle class, 25

Milford Sound, 180, 181, 182, 183, 200

Mistletoe, 94

M’Kinnon, Quintin, 193

M’Nab, Mr., 24, 198

Moa, 184, 199

Mokoia, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159

Moriori, 190, 212, 213, 214, 216, 217, 218

Motor-driving, 49

Mount Cook, 163, 175 Ruapehu, 95 Tasman, 164

Mountain-lily. See Shepherd’s lily

Murchison glacier, 176

Music, 21, 49

Mutton, 13, 16, 34, 41, 58

Mutton-bird, 84, 206, 213

Names of lakes and mountains, 178

Napier, 232

National parks, 183

Native pigeons, 62

Nei-nei, 100

Nelson, 28, 74, 142, 177, 233

Newspapers, 22, 23

New Zealand harriers, 69

Ngaitahu, 199, 202, 203

Ngata, Mr. Apirana, M.P., 45

Ngatimamoe, 199, 203

Ngatoro, 115, 116, 146

Ngauruhoe, 116, 128

Nikau, 37, 88

Ohinemutu, 118, 133, 145, 152

Orchids, 94

Otira River, 233

Over-sea trade, 10

Palm-lily, 37, 88

Palm-tree, 86, 99

Panax, 88

Paradise duck, 64

Parrots, 62, 96

Parrot’s-beak, 94

Passion-flower, 94

Pelorus Jack, 66

Picton, 233

Pigeon, 84

Pigs, 233

Pink and White Terraces, 136, 137, 150, 164

Poetry, 21

Pohaturoa, 126

Pohutu, 151

Pohutu-kawa, 37, 87, 91, 192

Polack, 158

Polo, 49, 70

Pomaré, Dr., 45

Potts, Thomas, 24, 57, 104, 213

Products, 10

Provinces, 18

Pukeko, 63

Pumice, 120, 121, 124

Puoho, 201, 202

Puriri, 88, 90, 91, 93

Rabbit, 53, 59, 185

Rata, 76, 77, 87, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 187, 191, 223

Rauparaha, 190, 199, 201, 203, 215, 217

Recreations, 49

Red-deer, 60

Resemblance to Scotland, 2

Resolution Island, 186, 187, 196

Rewa-rewa, 88

Ribbon-wood, 95, 161

Riding, 49, 68

_Rifleman_, the, 219

Riggs, Captain Abimelech, 199

Rimu, 77, 87, 91

Roa, 184

_Rodney_, the, 215

Ross, Mr., 24, 130, 170, 174

Roto-ehu, 121

Roto-iti, 121, 144, 156

Roto-kakahi, 121

Roto-ma, 121

Roto-mahana, 118, 120, 121, 133, 136, 137, 140, 141, 143, 145

Roto-roa, 179

Roto-rua, 66, 67, 117, 121, 126, 133, 136, 145, 147, 148, 149, 151, 153, 154, 156, 175, 234, 235

Rua, 159

Ruapehu, 118, 119, 125, 126, 140

Salmon, 65

Saw-miller, 110, 112, 114 mills, 101, 102, 103, 105, 106

Scenery, 5, 6, 10, 52

Scenic reserves, 105

Selwyn, Bishop, 3, 128, 158, 214

Settlement, 8, 41, 160

Settlements, 18

Settler, 42, 106, 107, 162

Settlers, 49, 108, 128, 142, 207

Shand, Mr., 24, 214

Sheep, 11, 15, 45, 53, 56, 58, 59, 98, 103, 107, 109, 144, 163, 170, 220 stations, 33

Shepherd’s lily, 95, 161

Shipping companies, 15

Shipwrecks, 224

Shooting, 49

Smith, Mr. Percy, 24, 104, 116, 119

Snares, 205, 206, 207

Snaring, 83

Societies, 25

Society, 24

Sophia, the guide, 141, 147

Sounds, the, 179, 180, 182, 193, 195

Southern Alps, 14, 59, 163, 165, 233

Sparrows, 185, 187, 188, 191

Spearing, 67, 83

Sport, 50, 52, 66, 67, 70, 71, 149

Stack, Canon, 78, 199

State sanatorium, 153

Station, 35 hands, 39, 58

Steamship companies, 10, 19

Stewart, the sea-captain, 212, 228, 229

Stitch-bird, 192

Stoats, 59, 60, 185

Supplejack, 99

Sutherland Falls, the, 181, 182, 192 Falls to Milford Sound, 233

Takahé, 184

Tané, 78, 83

Tapu, 197

Tarata, 95

Tarawera, 120, 121, 136, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 145, 151

Tasman, 194, 195, 208, 209 glacier, 175, 176 Sea, 5

Taupo, 116, 119, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 133, 134, 148, 149, 153, 235

Tawa, 87

Te Anau, 177, 178, 179, 187, 192, 233

Te Heu Heu, 127, 128, 129, 130, 137, 158

Te Kanawa, 81, 82

Te Kooti, 219, 220

Terrace, 140, 143

Terraces, the, Pink and White, 136, 137, 150, 164

Te Waro, 151

Thermal Springs District, 118

Three Kings, the, 204, 208

Tikitapu, 121

Timber, 101, 103, 106, 108, 113, 125 cutting, 13

Titoki, 91

Toé-toé, 37, 95

Tohunga, 82, 158

Tongariro, 116, 119, 126, 127, 137, 146

Totalisator, 71

Totara, 77, 88, 90

Tourist Department, Government, 24, 175, 231

Towns, 19, 20, 22, 24, 28

_Transactions of the N.Z. Institute_, 24, 116, 200

Tree-felling, 109, 111 ferns, 38, 88, 191, 223

Tregear, Edward, 24, 77, 158

Trout, 66, 67, 109, 149

Tuhawaiki, 190, 202

Tukoto, 146, 147, 158, 159

Tutu, 95, 98

Union Steamship Company, 9

University, 18

Uriwera, 159, 235

Vegetable sheep, 58, 99

Veronicas, 37, 161, 223

Vogel, Sir Julius, 102, 104

Volcanoes, 6, 120, 234

Von Haast, 163, 166, 193 Hochstetter, 90, 164

Waikarémoana, 234

Waikato, 81, 123, 126, 150, 190, 232

Waikité Geyser, 150, 151

Waimangu, 150

Wairakei, 149

Wairoa, 145, 146

Wakatipu, 177, 178, 194

Walkenshaw, Clementina, 228, 229

Wall, Arnold, 21

Wandering albatross, 38, 206

Wanganui, 105, 125, 128, 234

Weasels, 59, 60, 185, 186

Webb, 74

Wekas, 188, 189

Wellington, 19, 28, 74, 132, 231, 232 Harbour, 234

Whaka-rewa-rewa, 147

Whangarei, 75, 234

Whangaroa, 75, 234

White Island, 115, 116, 117, 119, 140

Wild cattle, 54 dogs, 56 ducks, 63, 205 ducks--flightless, 184, 204 fowl shooting, 62 goats, 52, 53, 54, 104, 191, 223 parrots, 84 pigs, 54, 55, 109

Wood-fairies, 76 pigeon, 63

Wool, 10, 11, 12, 15, 34, 221

Working gentlemen, 48

Wreck of the steamship _Elingamite_, 209

Yachts, 74

_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_.

MAP ACCOMPANYING “NEW ZEALAND,” by the Hon. W. PEMBER REEVES and F. & W. WRIGHT. (A. & C. BLACK, LONDON). _F. W. Flanagan, delt. Sept 1882._

Transcriber’s Notes

The changes are as follows:

Page viii in the index—Aratiatia changed to Ara-tia-tia.
Page 6—pine-woods changed to pine woods.
Page 10—over sea changed to oversea.
Page 31—axe-men changed to axemen.
Page 35—outdoor changed to out-door.
Page 71—network changed to net-work.
Page 100—lancewood changed to lance-wood.
Page 107—grass-seed changed to grass seed.
Page 124—ARATIATIA changed to ARA-TIA-TIA.
Page 187—sand-flies changed to sandflies.
Page 194—bushrangers changed to bush-rangers.
Page 207—bathing pool changed to bathing-pool.
Page 215—sea birds changed to sea-birds.
Page 215—shell fish changed to shell-fish.
Page 232—mountain-lakes changed to mountain lakes.