The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 14, Issue 4 (July 1, 1939)

To Farther Shores

To Farther Shores.

If the weather is good and the real passion for cruising is in your blood you will not be content to remain even at Kawau. You will gaze northward and see the outline of the Great Barrier looming greyly through the haze. Soon your yacht's prow will be pointing in that direction. On your way you will pass Hauturu, more commonly known to unromantic white men as the Little Barrier. It is the Government bird sanctuary, and if you are tempted to effect a landing on its shores, be warned and keep away. Both nature and official restriction will rebuff you. It has no hospitality. Let it remain the place of birds and the resting place of the winds.

But at the Great Barrier there will be a welcome, both from nature and the inhabitants. Here is a place where deep harbours pierce far into the hills like searching antennae; harbours wherein a large fleet of ships could anchor and remain unseen to the outside world. It is estimated that at Port Fitzroy the whole of the British Grand Fleet could lie at anchor. Yet the entrance to this harbour is only a narrow channel which a newcomer would be well-advised not to enter after dark. Only a small number of settlers live on the Great Barrier and they are remote from both the advantages and disadvantages of modern civilisation. They are naturally conservative. (A yachting woman in trousers! Whew!) But they have kindliness and a warm hospitality for most comers.