A Nine Weeks' Tour through Both Islands
November to April are the best months in which to visit New Zealand, and the tour should be made from north to south, as in this direction the scenery increases in grandeur till it culminates in the magnificence of the west coast sounds. For those who have traveled halfway round the world, two months in this country, as the following itinerary will show, are none too long in which to include a tour of the principal scenic attractions, and even then much remains unvisited. Auckland is reached in four days from Sydney, New South Wales, the Oceanic Line from San Francisco being at present discontinued.
North Island
| 1st day 2d 3d 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th |
Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand, with a population of about 75,000, is situated on the shores of Waitemata Harbor, the approach to which is one of great beauty. Points of inter est in the city are 'the museums of Polynesian curios, art galleries, library and parks, while out side, Mount Eden (640 feet) commands one of the finest and most extensive views in the world. There are numerous harbor excursions, while drives to the Titirangi ranges and to Waita Rerei and Nihotapu Falls afford en route the sight of some splendid kauri trees and majestic tree-ferns, over one hundred feet in height. As resting places for a day or two, the hot springs at Waiwera and Waingaro are worth a visit. From Whangarei, eight hours and a half by steamer from Auckland, excursions can be made into the great kauri forest, one tree of which is estimated to be five thousand years old, also to the great Wairua Falls, the Niagara of New Zealand. An interesting extension of this trip is one which embraces the magnificent harbor scenery of Whangaroa and Mongonui, a five days' return trip from Auckland. |
| 11th day | Leave Auckland by morning rail, through interesting pastoral country, for Okoroire Hot Springs. |
| 12th day | At Okoroire. Five hundred baths are available, while to the trout fisher abundant sport is afforded. A fine drive of thirty miles through magnificent bush brings the traveler to Rotorua. |
| 13th day 14th 15th 16th 17th |
At Rotorua. The official center of the ther- mal wonderland, and together with the Maori villages of Ohinemutu and Whakarewarewa, forming the gateway to a district 150 miles in length and at least 25 miles in width, a maze of hot springs, steaming caldrons, spouting geysers, hissing sulphurous fumaroles, various hazed boiling lakelets, mud volcanoes, etc. |
| 18th day | Leave Rotorua by coach for the buried village of Wairoa, launch across Lakes Tarawera and the hot Lake Rotomahana, the site of the lost pink and white terraces, thence walk to the great Waimangu Geyser, once the king of the district, which threw up black ashes and boiling water amid the roar of an inferno, from 500 to 1,000 feet, presenting a sight without parallel in the world; from the Waimangu Geyser proceed by coach to Waiotapu |
| 19th day | Waiotapu Valley was the principal site of the eruption of June, 1886, which destroyed the pink and white terraces on Lake Rotomahana. The surrounding ash-fields give a good idea of the widespread desolation caused by the eruption In the valley are the Sulphur Falls, the great Mud Volcano, the Boiling Lake, the Champagne Pool, etc. |
| 20th day 21st |
Wairakei (twenty-eight miles by coach from Waiotapu, four hours and a half) . Geyser Canon, lying between precipitous banks ranging from sixty to one hundred feet in height, beautifully wooded and carpeted with the choicest ferns and mosses, fairly teems with hot springs and geysers. Of these the Champagne Caldron is an enormous boiling caldron seventy feet in diameter, and in a perpetual state of ebullition. The great Wairakei is an energetic, although intermittent, geyser of great volume. Another wonder is the famous Karapiti, a great steam-valve known as the Devil's Trumpet, and looked upon as the safety-valve of the thermal district. Nature, however, fairly excels herself in the Aratiatia Rapids, a mass of foaming beauty |
| 22d day 23d |
Leave Wairakei by coach via Huka Falls and Rapids for Taupo (six miles), situated on a magnificent sheet of water of that name, dominated by the mountains Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu. Ngauruhoe is the only active volcano in New Zealand, while on the top of Ruapehu, surrounded on all sides by snow, is a boiling lake. At Taupo see Crow's Nest Geyser, Paddle Wheel Ben and other varieties of thermal phenomena. |
| 24th day | Leave Taupo by steamer across the lake for Tokaano at the base of the volcanoes; thence by stage, forty -four miles, to Waiouru. |
| 25th day | Leave Waiouru by coach for Pipiriki (eight hours, forty miles), a small settlement of Europeans and Maoris on the banks of the Wanganui River. |
| 26th day | Excursion to the upper reaches of the Wanganui River; the scenery here is of a magnificent character, the river flowing between cliffs one hundred to five hundred feet high, fringed with graceful ferns and mosses down to the water's edge. |
| 27th day | Leave Pipiriki by steamer for Wanganui (six hours, fifty-eight miles). The Wanganui River is the Rhine of New Zealand, its associations abounding in song and story of the Maori wars, and like the German Rhine, fought for by the patriotic natives against the white invaders. The scenery of its banks is of great beauty, and is now navigable to Tawmaranui, the present terminus of the railway from Wellington. |
| 28th day 29th 30th |
Wellington (seven hours and a half by rail from Wanganui), the empire city of New Zea- land, and the seat of government, with a population, including suburbs, of about 50,000. It is situated al the head of Port Nicholson, a fine and commodious harbor. A beautiful drive is the Queen's Drive and Island Bay, and there are numerous harbor excursions to Day's Bay, Sea- toun, Karaka and Worser Bay. |
SOUTH ISLAND. |
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| 31st day | Leave Wellington by steamer across Cook Strait and up the beautiful Queen Charlotte Sound, for Picton (about five hours' journey); leave Picton by rail for Blenheim (about one hour) . |
| 32d day | Leave Blenheim by coach for Nelson, seventy- eight miles through the famous Rai Valley, crossing the range at the Rai Saddle, one of the finest drives in New Zealand. |
| 33d day | Leave Nelson by rail for Motupiko, passing through the lovely Waimea plains, the hopgardens of New Zealand. At Motupiko (thirty- three miles) stage is taken to Longford via Hope Saddle Summit; the view of the mountain ranges is magnificent, many of them being snow-clad the greater part of the year. |
| 34th day | Leave Longford by coach for Westport (fifty miles). Soon after leaving Longford the Giant in Slumber, a piece of nature's sculpturing, is seen. The scenery is fine all the way to Lyell, and from Inangahua Junction to Westport via Buller Gorge the road is most remarkable. In several places it is a mere groove cut out of the face of the cliff, which rises perpendicularly out of the river, covered with a rich mantle of the choicest ferns and greenery. |
| 35th day | Return from Westport via Buller Gorge to Reef ton (forty-nine miles), the center of «.n extensive quartz gold-field |
| 36th day | Leave Reefton by rail via Greymouth for Hokitika, the picturesque capital of Westland County, commanding a fine view of Mount Cook ( 12,349 feet) and Mount Tasman (11,473 feet). |
| 37th day | Excursions from Hokitika to Lakes Kanieri and Mahinapua, perfect gems surrounded by noble mountains, the waters producing most wonderful mirrorlike reflections. |
| 38th day | Kumara (fourteen miles by rail from Hokitika) is a thriving mining town, at one time the center of the largest hydraulic mining systems in the world. |
| 39th day | The drive from Kumara to Bealey through the famous Otira Gorge is one long to be remembered. The road follows the tortuous course of the mountain torrent, scales the sides of the ranges and zigzags through snow-capped, rugged country of the wildest description and awful grandeur. |
| 40th day 41st 42d |
From Bealey the stage route is continued to Springfield, and the afternoon train caught for " Christchurch. Christchurch, the "city of the plains," is the second city in the colony, with a population of 57,000, and is situated on the River Avon, eight miles from the coast. It is a beautiful English city with parks, gardens, two splendid cathedrals, and charming residences on all sides. The surrounding country, the Canterbury plains, is the richest and most fully developed land in New Zealand. |
| 43d day | Leave Christchurch by train for Fairlie via Timaru (six hours and a half). |
| 44th day | Leave Fairlie by stage for Pukaki, an easy day's journey through country of no special in: terest. |
| 45th day 46th 47th |
Mount Cook (Aorangi), "the cloud piercer" (12,349 feet), is reached by stage from Pukaki, the road affording views of the most magnificent Alpine scenery, including several glaciers. Among the latter is the great Tasman, one of the largest of its kind in either hemisphere, outside the polar regions, being eighteen miles long and two miles wide. The Hochstetter, a tributary glacier, descends into the valley of the Tasman in a magnificent cataract of broken ice, 4,000 feet high and over a mile wide. From the Hermitage, the government hotel, the Hooker and Muller glaciers are immediately accessible, even for ladies, while thundering down from Mount Sefton avalanches can be seen continually. |
| 48th day | Return from Mount Cook to Pukaki. |
| 49th day | By stage from Pukaki to Omarama ( thirty - two miles). |
| 50th day | Stage from Omarama to Pembroke (sixty miles) through open country and extensive sheep stations. |
| 51st day | Pembroke is situated on Lake Wanaka, a beautiful piece of water, well wooded and containing many islands. A steamer makes a daily round of all the principal attractions. |
| 52d day 53d 54th |
Queenstown, on Lake Wakatipu, is reached by '' stage from Pembroke (forty-two miles). The " scenery is grand and varied; numerous excursions can be made both on the lake and to the mountains, notably to Glenorchy at the head of the lake |
| 55th day | Leave Queenstown by steamer for Kingston, thence by rail for Lumsden. |
| 56th day | Leave Lumsden by stage for Lake Te Anau, the largest of the southern lakes, covering 132 square miles, and surrounded by mountains covered with dense forests right up to the snow line |
| 57th day | Leave Te Anau Hotel by steamer for the head of the lake, thence by foot up the Grand Canon of the Clinton ("greater Yosemite"), where cloud-piercing, snowy peak after peak comes into view ; this walking tour overland to Milf ord Sound is without doubt the most magnificent stretch of scenery in the whole length and breadth of the country. The valley is ascended by easy grades to McKinnon Pass, thence to the top of the Saddle (3,500 feet), from which point is one of the most magnificent Alpine scenes in the world. A descent is now made to Beech Huts and Sutherland Falls (1,904 feet), thence by boat on Lake Ada to Milf ord Sound. |
| 58th day 59th |
Milf ord Sound is the crowning glory of this south sea wonderland. Castle Rock, in this vicinity, is a single shaft of black, polished granite, symmetrical as a pyramid, rising out of a deep, wild gorge without a break or blemish for more than a mile and a quarter in vertical |
| 60th day | Return from Milford by same route to Lake Te Anau. |
| 61st day | By stage to Manapouri, a couple of hours' drive. |
| 62d day 63d |
Excursions on Lake Manapouri, without doubt " the most beautiful of the southern lakes, covering an area of fifty square miles, delightfully broken up by numerous islands and arms running in all directions. The lake is entirely surrounded by mountains rising to 7,500 feet above sea-level. |
| 64th day | Return from Lake Manapouri to Lumsden by stage (fifty-five miles) , and thence by rail to In- vercargill, a town of 10,000 inhabitants, and connected by rail (eighteen miles) with Bluff, from which point steamer can be taken to any point north, or by weekly service with Melbourne ( Australia), via Hobart. |
NOTE. — Owing to the varying in time-table of stage connections throughout this trip, two months, at least, should be reserved for the above comprehensive tour of New Zealand, to see the varied and charming scenic resorts embraced in the itinerary to advantage.
