OHINEMUTU TO WAIRAKEI.
Te Hemo Gorge--Mount Horohoro--Paeroa
Mountains--Orakeikorako--Atea-Amuri--Pohaturoa--The land of
pumice--Te Motupuke--The glades of Wairakei.
Having visited the various lakes and other localities of interest
around Ohinemutu, I started with my guide for the extensive geyser
and hot-spring region of Wairakei, situated about fifty miles to the
southward of the former place. As this part of the Lake Country was
but little known, I determined to examine its many thermal phenomena,
and afterwards to make it the final starting-point for my journey of
exploration through the King Country.
Our course lay along the Taupo road, which traverses a flat country
up to the base of the hills which form the basin-like formation
surrounding Lake Rotorua. We passed through Hariki Kapakapa, a locality
of warm springs and boiling mud-holes, that spluttered and hissed at
us as we rode along; while on our left dense volumes of snowy-white
steam, rising from the base of the range of bare hills, marked the site
of the great geysers of Whakarewarewa. From this point the road wound
up the mountains to the Hemo Gorge, about two and a half miles from
Ohinemutu. Looking back from the summit of the gorge, a splendid view
was obtained of the Rotorua country, with the broad lake shining like
a mirror beneath the morning sun, and the island of Mokoia rising from
its centre radiant with vivid tints of green and gold. The ascent to
the gorge was very steep, and while the fern-clad hills rose high above
us on our right, on our left was a deep precipitous ravine, at the
bottom of which a mountain stream rushed along its rocky bed to join
the waters of Rotorua, while on its further side the rugged mountain
known as Parikarangi rose high above the surrounding hills.
Beyond this point the country opened out into broad valleys, fringed
with conical-shaped hills, while in front the bold mountain mass of
Hapurangi, swelling like an enormous dome from a grassy plain, formed a
conspicuous feature for many miles around, until the gigantic mountain
of Horohoro towered above a broad pumice plain.
In appearance Mount Horohoro was one of the most remarkable mountains
I had seen in the North Island. It rose in the form of an enormous
wall, or long barrier of rock, to a height of 2400 feet above the
level of the sea. Its summit, formed by a broad plateau, was clothed
with a dense forest at its base, green, fern-clad slopes rolled down
to the plain beneath, above them the thick bush[35] clustered like a
dense fringe, as it mounted, tree above tree, to the topmost heights;
while here and there enormous patches of grey rock, rugged and bare,
stood out in conspicuous relief from the dark foliage of the varied
vegetation. At its southern end the stupendous mountain ended abruptly
in the form of a bold bluff, at the top of which was a curious mass of
stone like a gigantic pillar, famed in Maori legend as "Hinemoa's rock."
Across the Niho-o-te-kiore plains to the south-east of Horohoro rose
the Paeroa mountains to a height of over 1000 feet, hot and quaking
with internal fires, boiling mud-pools, and coiling jets of steam that
burst with a hissing sound from the deeply-scarred hills. The base
of this range, where the thermal action was greatest, was formed of
a burnt, fiery-looking earth, broken here and there into enormous
fissures, and dotted about with boiling pools and deep holes of hot,
seething mud, while clouds of vapoury steam burst forth from the
highest peaks.
Our route continued across the plains to the native settlement of
Orakeikorako, where the swift Waikato wound with many bends through a
terraced valley, backed by tall, forest-clad mountains in the distance.
Here both sides of the stream were thickly studded with countless
steam-jets and hot springs, which produced a singular and beautiful
effect as they bubbled and hissed above the sparkling course of the
clear, rolling river, whose banks were fringed with thick, clustering
masses of pure white silica. Here, too, every foot of ground told of
a fiery, subterranean heat. The very rocks around were coloured with
the most delicate tints, formed by the chemical deposits of the hot
mineral waters, while the great geyser Orakeikorako, from which the
village derived its name, just as we were leaving, threw up a column of
boiling water to a height of fifty feet, as if to salute our departure.
It burst forth, without any previous warning, from a funnel-shaped
aperture within a few feet of the margin of the river.
From Orakeikorako we passed over pumice plains fringed with rugged
mountains and deep gorges. Some of the former were very quaint and
fantastic in shape; not a few rose up in the form of pointed cones,
while some were flat-topped, with deep sides, from which the white
pumice gleamed with a dazzling intensity. The country fell with a
gradual incline into the valley of the Waikato; and, after descending
into a clear stream by a steep, narrow pass, just wide enough to
allow our horses to move along, we crossed the eastern spur of Mount
Ngautuku, and reached Atea-Amuri.
Here the Waikato, deeply and beautifully blue, wound through a rocky
valley, fringed with bold mountains which rolled away as far as the eye
could reach along the course of the stream. At the crossing-place the
whole volume of the river rushed over enormous rocks with a roar like
thunder, while on the south bank of the stream, and right above the
seething waters, a gigantic pinnacle of rock, called Pohaturoa, towered
in solitary grandeur to a height of 400 feet. This curious natural
monument was a striking feature for many miles around. It sprang from a
level base, with steep, rolling, buttress-like sides, above which its
adamantine walls shot perpendicularly upward to its rounded summit.
Around it, in every direction, lay enormous boulders, some of many tons
in weight, but all scattered about in the direst confusion, as if a
regiment of giants, offended at its defiant look and colossal form, had
endeavoured to hurl it from its pedestal by a shower of stones, but,
giving up the task as hopeless, had slunk off, leaving their ponderous
missiles upon the field. In former times the summit of this impregnable
rock was occupied by a tribe of the Arawas, who built a formidable _pa_
there, whence they kept watch and ward over their surrounding lands.
[Illustration: POHATUROA.]
From the deep, trough-like valley of the Waikato we mounted to the
great table-land of Taupo, and rode over level plains where the
snow-white pumice gleamed bare and desolate beneath the fierce rays of
the sun.
Pumice, pumice, nothing but pumice, rolled away as far as the eye could
discern, now stretching out in a broad and flat expanse, now rising
in the form of hillocks, now towering high in the shape of conical
mountains, now winding away in deep ravines--white, bare, and sterile
as a boundless desert, save when the stunted tussock grass struggled,
as if it were for life, with enormous stones and boulders fashioned
from the white, porous rock, or where a crystal stream shaped its
devious course beneath a dense growth of broad-leaved flax and waving
_toetoe_ grass. At one point of the road we passed a tall peaked
mountain, with pumice sides, which rose from the bottom of a deep
gorge, like the bed of an ancient river, while right opposite to this,
on the slope of a hill, was a curious rock, shaped like a mushroom.
Through a level tract of country we reached the native settlement of Te
Motupuke, with densely wooded hills in the background, which stretched
out to the tall summit of Otuparataki. The forest-crowned peak of
Puketarata soon rose up on our right; and passing the Maori settlement
of Ouranui, we reached the steaming hills and glades of Wairakei.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 35: This term is applied by the colonists to forest country.]