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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]

Harbour Excursions

Harbour Excursions.

Port Chalmers is by no means so well adapted as Auckland, or even as wellington and Lyttelton harbours, for excursions of pleasure. At low water large areas of mudflat are exposed, or lie covered by only a few inches of water; and the deep channels between these dangerous patches require careful navigation. There is therefore comparatively little done in the way of regular excursions; but in spite of this it is possible with the help of a competent pilot to make some delightful trips round and about the harbour. Bracken, in his enthusiastic verses, has lauded the charms of “Dunedin from the Bay,” but there is much besides the picturesquely situated town to attract the attention and admiration of the tourist on such a voyage. In both the Upper and Lower Harbour there is a great variety of bays and inlets, which, in many cases almost land-locked, all seem to have a special beauty of their own. Koputai Bay, once a great centre of native tribal life, is one of the most charming of these little recesses; while Carey, Deborah, Hamilton and Dowling Bays are all worthy of notice and inspection. Turning at Harrington Point, and running back past the Maori Kaike, the page 44 tourist passes Portobello Bay, the Quarantine Island, Broad Bay, and Green Island, and so eventually gets back to his starting point in the Upper Harbour. Any or all of the localities mentioned are spots such as picnic parties delight to frequent; and though the harbour cannot be so beautiful as when the original forest clothed all the surrounding hills from summit to water-line, yet an excursion to any of these points of interest is well repaid. “Scotchmen,” writes the editor of “Picturesque Dunedin,” “compare our harbour to the famed Kyles of Bute, Australians to some views in Sydney Harbour; but the concurrent testimony is that a fairer view of nature's handiwork is rarely to be seen.”