LAKE WAIKARE-MOANA

More often the tourist gains the volcanoes and thermal springs by coming thither southward from the town of Auckland. And here let me observe that Auckland and its surroundings make the pleasantest urban district in the islands. Within thirty miles of the city there is much that is charming both on sea and land. Nor will a longer journey be wasted if a visit be paid to the chief bays and inlets of the northern peninsula, notably to Whangaroa, Whangarei, Hokianga, and the Bay of Islands. Still, nothing in the province of Auckland is likely to rival in magnetic power the volcanic district of which Roto-rua is the official centre. To its other attractions have now been added a connection by road with the unspoiled loveliness of Lake Waikarémoana and the forest and mountain region of the Uriwera tribe, into which before the ’nineties white men seldom ventured, save in armed force. Rising like a wall to the east of the Rangitaiki River the Uriwera country is all the more striking by reason of the utter contrast it affords to the desolate, half-barren plains of pumice which separate it from the Hot Lakes. These last and their district include Taupo, with its hot pools and giant cones. But the most convenient point among them for a visitor’s headquarters is undoubtedly Roto-rua.

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