Auckland, NZ, Monday night, August 8/98.
I left Rotorua this morning at 8:30, Mr. Cobb & Mr. Bain seeing me off. I arose at 7 & went to Madam Rachel bath & enjoyed 20 minutes in it, & after a good breakfast at 8, Mr. Cobb joined me half hour before the usual breakfast hour. The station is not very far from Brent’s. A bus calls for passengers & baggage, so we all went in it. The morning was very pleasant, & every prospect of a fine day, & so it turned out. I was entrusted with a little maiden of 15, Jessie Brooks, returning to Cambridge. The mother was at Brent’s, taking baths for rheumatism & Jessie had been keeping her company. She was returning to school, as the govt. examinations are approaching. She left the train at Hamilton West, the junction for Cambridge. Mr. Bain was going to wire his folk at Dunedin to expect me calling. Soon after the train left Rotorua, we passed very close the little grave yard at the foot of Ngongotaha mountain where Mr. Bainbridge lays & I saw the obelisk plainly. We were soon into the bush, & every now & again we passed through clearings on either side, felled and burnt trees laying in all shapes. At every station we stopped at were Maories on the platform, some travelling, and friends seeing them off, & when meeting friends, they rub noses as well as shake hands. No game did I see all the journey, excepting one beautiful golden pheasant, very few small birds even. Several horses & cows grazing. These belong to Maori settlers. Now & again a few black swans in swamps. I got a good snap shot of 2 old tatooed [sic] Maories, very genuine types, but European clad. I had a little persuasion to use & the little one put himself into some amusing attitudes, however, I think I caught him at a suitable moment. The train stopped [6:18] a few minutes at Putaruru station & all got out to look about, & I was anxious to get a chance & luckily I did as soon after the little one left the train. No. 10 on the film, Rotorua, will be found, the one I refer to. We crossed & recrossed a very beautiful winding stream, 2 stations, Taumangi & Tiran[1], & at the latter place, not far from the station, is a very fine hotel for anglers. This is a very grand trout stream, so I ascertained on the spot. No township at this place, only the hotel & 2 or 3 small houses. Stations are merely wood huts, little better than good coal house at home, & little signs of habitation anywhere near them. We next came to Okoroire station, where Mr. Cobb & I got out on our upward journey, & I could see the pretty hotel on the hill top not far away, as the crow flies, yet 3 miles drive. The country there aways is very pretty & I should like to go there again. From the train I saw a thrashing machine drawn by 7 fine horses, & I guess they would have a hard time as the roads are so soft & full of ruts. In summer time these must be dusty & disagreeable to travel on. As you know, I prefer a day’s rain any time to a ½ hour’s dust. The days got up very fine, & the atmosphere clear as crystal, & the beautiful range of blue mountains in the distance gave the scene from the carriage a real charm. I travelled [sic] in the one with the grid or bird cage, & we could go out to the open corridor at any time to view.
The train soon began to get heavy by the addition of trucks of cattle & merchandise. We got on 3 trucks of cattle, 2 sheep, 1 bullocks, at Matamata, & these were for Auckland. The sheep trucks are 2 storied.[2] Our truck & carriage buffers are on the outside ends, but here only one buffer in the center, so shunting is very safe & a better system than ours. We passed 2 schools at stations & children got out at both places to attend. One, they were footballing at 12:45. I weighed myself at Morrinsville junction & [6:19][3] & [sic] turned the scale at 12-10. Here passengers change for Te-aroha & Paeroa. I have a railway map for future reference, hence my jotting down what may appear useless matter, but I wish to go over the ground with you when we have leisure to talk about the journey & I can better illustrate the course by map. I lunched at Frankton junction, 20 minutes, & enjoyed it much. At Ngaruawahia is the Central Butter Factory. 2 huge cans of milk were discharged on to platform here. A fine river flows through this locality & a Maori settlement is here also. A very fine bridge crosses the river here, & the water was flowing rapidly beneath it. At Huntly, an important place, is a colliery, Tauperi Reserve Colliery Coy. Limited, & a siding transports the waggons to the main, & here were additions made to the train, & here I saw passing close by a Maori man & woman each on horseback, the woman astride. At Wairangi[4], station a quantity of sheep skins were on the platform & the guards load these into the trucks. So had they to load whatever was waiting on platforms as we drew up. Great water areas are to be seen every now & again, & much land in swamp. Canoes are to be seen occasionally. The river here is named the “Waikato”. I had tea at Mercer 5 p.m. & here were great quantities of flax spread out, also at Pokeno, not far from Mercer. At Whangarata, when the engine whistle was blown, I heard a double echo, very sharp & distinct it was. Now a fine sun set, clear silvery sky, a beautiful picture & soon the Southern + was visible.
How very beautifully the interior of the carriages are fitted up. The wood is so pretty, & so many varieties used, makes it attractive, no paint, all varnished. They have both glazed & Venetian windows, so have they on all eastern railways. Maybe I’ve told you this before. Often were to be [seen] Maori burial places & chiefs have little buildings erected over their graves, & on little hill tops. [6:20] The Maories have queer customs. At periods they have bone scraping days. The coffins are opened & the bones scraped & carefully deposited. I must tell you that Mr. Bainbridge’s remains were first interred very near to Whakarewarewa (Rotorua), but it was so swampy they were removed to Ngongotaha burial ground, & when driving to Tikiteri on the Sunday, the driver took us to the spot where they had first lain, the bush has now grown over the spot. Well now, the journey came to an end, long, long, for so short a distance, 171 miles, & takes 11 hours, but they stop at nearly every station & each only 2, 3 & 4 miles apart, & there’s very little traffic. I arrived at Newmarket station, last but one that one Auckland, at 7:40. Mr. Furness had very kindly & considerately come to meet me & we were soon in Hesleden, where I felt quite homely & comfortable after so long a railway journey. They were pleased to see me again & soon Mr. Buddle, Mr. Young, & Mr. Sanderson came in to see me, & we cracked a long while. I had to give them my impressions of the Hot Lake district, so I read my journal to them, which was better than taxing my memory. Mrs. Sanderson called for her husband on her way home from a meeting, so the company soon broke up, & good bye bade all. Mrs. Furness had, during the day, been to a dentist & was somewhat indisposed, & retired soon after receiving me into Hesleden.
[1] Both places unidentified.
[2] Sketch of sheep truck inserted here.
[3] Inserted on facing page: sketch plan of railway carriage.
[4] Unidentified.