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

Excursions By Rail

Excursions By Rail.

Apart from the Lakes district, which demands separate notice, there are many portions of Otago and Southland which richly reward the tourist for any time that he may care to spend over them. The northern district, of which the chief town is Oamaru, seventy-eight miles by rail from Dunedin, contains much in the way of scenery to interest the traveller. The northern express, which leaves daily at 11 o'clock, runs along the picturesque but dangerous Blueskin Cliffs to Seacliff, and thence down to Merton, through some of the finest bush scenery still to be met in that portion of the province. Moeraki—fifty-six miles from Dunedin—is a beautiful watering place, and the great spherical cement boulders on the Kartigi Beach should not be missed. At Hampden or Otepopo—fifty-seven miles from Dunedin—there is much typical pastoral country intersected by rivers running through beautiful patches of native bush. Near Cormack's siding—seventy-three miles from Dunedin—is a huge deposit of diatomaceous earth peeuliarly interesting to geologists, and the quarries of the famous Oamaru lime stone are also worth inspection. Near Enfield the railway line runs through the crater of a great extinct volcano, which was later a large lake. A mile away is a swamp, where a huge deposit of moabones was found in 1891.

Palmerston.Appleby.photo.

Palmerston.
Appleby.photo.

Oamaru itself is a remarkably well built town with broad and well-laid streets; while the scenery along the coast is strikingly bold and impressive. Going north-west from the Pukeuri Junction—six miles from Oamaru—the tourist follows a line to Kurow—forty-two miles. From this township, situated in bleak and desolate country, a coach road runs north of Pukaki—sixty-three miles—and so to the Mount Cook Hermitage—103 miles. At Otekaike on this line—thirty- page 45 four miles from Oamaru—are some ancient Maori rock paintings said to be the work of the Nagpuhi who inhabited New Zealand when the Maoris arrived from Hawaiiki. The coach journey from Kurow to Mount Cook falls chiefly within the limits of Canterbury, and it is sufficient to say that it covers not the least interesting portion of the journey to the great Alpine region.

On the south side of Dunedin, the traveller may find considerable interest and entertainment by taking a trip up the much debated Otago Central line. This journey may now be extended for over 106 miles, but the major part of the country is desolate enough. The Wingatui viaduct is an engineering work of which the constructors of the line are justly proud. Though much of the country along this line is wild and barren, the Taieri and Maniototo Plains include some of the finest agricultural land in the colony, which affords a striking contrast to the bare hills around.

On the main south line from Dunedin, a trip to the Lower Taieri, including Waihola Lake, is a delightful experience; and the voyage from Henley to the mouth of the Taieri river, past the famous “Maori Leap” by steam launch, is one of the favourite holiday excursions of Dunedinites.

The Catlin's or Owaka district, in the south-east of the province, is now being rapidly opened by the railroad, and it will in time attract a large share of the tourist population that annually visits New Zealand. Owaka is seventy-two miles from Dunedin, nineteen miles from Balclutha, where the traveller changes trains, and 106 miles from Invercargill. The district is described in the Government Tourist Handbook as one of the prettiest places in the province. There is a large area of forest still almost untouched, and the tourist may occupy himself with shooting in the open country, boating on the Catlins Lake and fishing in the rivers. The Owaka river is famous as a troutstream. In the bush on Osborne Hill near the river are to be found some relies of Maori antiquity in the shape of half finished canoes decaying in the undergrowth. A trip to the Catlins river heads, and thence to the Blowhole and Tunnel Island, fills an interesting day. The Cathedral Caves on Chasland's Beach, twenty-six miles from Owaka, should on no account be omitted. The trip occupies two or three days, but the beauty of these little known sandstone caverns renders them well worth the trouble. The Tautuku Peninsula, an old whaling station, lies close at hand, with many relies of its departed industry. To the north and west of this charming piece of country there still stretches the Tautuku Bush, one of the largest fragments of the original forest country of Otago yet uncleared.

Cook's Rock, Akatore.

Cook's Rock, Akatore.

But infinitely the most interesting part of Otago to tourists must be the Lake district and the Alpine country. The Southland Lakes are described separately in the Southland section, which also deals with the wonderful West Coast Sounds. But the Otago Lakes were known to fame before Te Anau and Manapouri became famous as tourist resorts; and Wakatipu, Wanaka and Hawea need not fear comparison with any similar scenery in any quarter of the globe. The centre of the Otago Lake district is Queenstown on Lake Wakatipu, and this can be reached in a variety of ways. The most attractive route is perhaps via Invercargill and the Waimea line, but from Dunedin the most direct approach is by rail to Kingston—174 miles—or the foot of Lake Wakatipu passing by Lumsden—137 miles—where the road diverges towards Te Anau and Manapouri. A second way is to go by train to Lawrence—fifty-four miles—in the Tuapeka goldfields, and thence on by coach via Roxburgh, Alexandra, Clyde and Cromwell—131 miles to Queenstown. This train journey takes the tourist through the Taieri and Tokomairiro Plains, agriculturally the best land in the province, and then through some of the most famous mining districts in Otago. A third way is to go up the Otago Central line as far as Kokonga—seventy-four miles—and go on by coach to either Wanaka or Wakatipu—139 miles away. Queenstown is 154 miles from the point where the coach journey begins. Pembroke on Lake Wanaka is about forty-one miles from Queenstown by coach road; and Lake Hawea is about ten miles further on Queenstown thus forms, as before mentioned, the natural centre of the Otago Lakes country, and from this point an astonishing variety of shorter trips may be made in various directions to allow the tourist to climb mountains, explore glaciers, and inspect lakes and waterfalls. From Kingston, at the southern end of the lake, to Queenstown, is water trip of twenty-five miles From Queenstown on to Glenorchy at the head of the lake is another thirty-five miles; and from Glenorchy and kinloch on opposite sides of Wakatipu, all the most beautiful Alpine country of Otago lies within easy reach. The Routeburn Valley and Lake Harris Saddle, the Dart Valley, Rere Lake, Paradise and Diamond Lake, the page 46 Rees Valley, and Mount Earnslaw are names never forgotten by those who have been fortunate enough to become familiar with this Alpine wonderland. Even Wakatipu alone, though bare and stern compared with Te Anau and Manapouri, is, with the towering ridges of the Remarkables, a lake of rare and marvellous beauty. Mr. Green, who first vanquished Mount Cook, has left it on record that the only lake which can surpass it in Europe is Lucerne; but many of its admirers will not admit even this exception. Yet Wakatipu is only the approach to a series of scenes which far surpass it in variety and splendour.

The Government of New Zealand has wisely made every exertion to attract tourists by rendering the Lakes trip as easy and economical as can reasonably be expected. Special excursion fares are arranged during the summer season—from December to the end of March—; and, as the ordinary train service on either the Otago or Southland lines leads ultimately to the Lakes, it is possible to reach them with a minimum of inconvenience and delay at any season of the year. The steam service on Lake Wakatipu has just been reorganised by the Government, and an attempt is being made to connect the Canterbury and Otago Alpine districts by encouraging trips along the Pembroke route to Mount Cook, and over the Haast Saddle to Westland. But within its own limits Otago provides the tourist with ample opportunities for exploration and adventure, in the midst of scenery that neither the Swiss Alps nor the Rocky Mountains nor the Himalayas can surpass. In addition to its scenery Otago offers many inducements to tourists from other lands in the way of sport. The Acclimatisation Societes of Southland and Otago have done much by their self-sacrificing labours to render the southern half of the colony a sportsman's paradise. The two forms of amusement most attractive to the stranger are deer-stalking and fishing. As to the former, it is now generally understood that New Zealand can provide deer-stalking that would soon make the fortune of landholders in Scotland or Norway if it were available there. Fallow deer are mostly to be found in the Blue Mountains near Tapanui—within 100 miles of Dunedin by train—; and they may be shot during April or May. Red deer in large numbers roam the mountain country round Lake Hawea, and may be killed from the middle of March to the middle of May. Some splendid bags have been made by both local and foreign sportsmen, and for a low licensing fee the tourist may enjoy sport that the American millionaires who buy up Scotch hills and moors may often sigh for in vain.