Page:Rambles on the Golden Coast of New Zealand.djvu/180

140 indicate that we are once more amongst civilisation and cultivation. We find ourselves in Fern Flat, and it may be curious to note that the very thing which it took its name from, viz., fern, has now altogether disappeared before the hand of the husbandman. Here there are two accommodation houses, one kept by O’Loughlin, recently tenanted by the well-known Alf Smith, the other by S. Oxnam, which has been established ever since the settlement of the locality. There is some excellent agricultural and pastoral land in this district, which supplies the settlers with sufficient sustaining elements. It was somewhat surprising, in this out-of-the-way place, to notice a neat and well laid out race-course. They have their yearly carnival, occupying two days, during Christmas. The wild men (as they are called) from Matakitaki, and all the miners about, roll in to the sport, and frail mortals finish up the jollification poorer but wiser men. Having enjoyed themselves, they go away, and work contentedly for another year. About five miles from the race-course, or eight miles from Fern Flat, the Long-Ford, or the crossing of the Buller River, is reached. Here you leave the Nelson road to the left, and cross the river to go to Glenroy and Matakitaki, so called from the width and shallowness of the river at this point. Just before arriving at the Long-Ford, going from the Lyell to Nelson, there is a narrow bridle track cut leading from the right-hand side of the road towards the river. By following this track for about three-quarters of a mile, a Telegraph Office is reached, situated cosily in the middle of the bush. This office is of much benefit to travellers along the road. To arrive on the Nelson road again one need not return to the bridle track, but in front of the Telegraph Office is a road, which, after following for about a quarter of a mile, brings you on the main line.

Keeping the Buller River to the right, the road being very fair for travelling, the scene is unchanged until you arrive at the Owen River, a tributary of the Buller, ten miles from Long-Ford. This is crossed by means of a well-constructed and substantial bridge. There is a small temperance accommodation house kept by John Oxnam. The country about is somewhat unbroken. Around the homestead, Oxnam has some very good land laid down in English grass and clover.

About nine miles from the Owen, the half-way halting place for stage coaches between the Lyell and Nelson is reached, called the Hope Junction Hotel. This is really the most comfortable resting place on the whole route. The coach leaves here about 5 a.m., so as to arrive at Belgrove in time to catch the mid-day train, which reaches Nelson at 2.30 p.m., on Wednesdays and Saturdays. About two miles from the Hope Junction Hotel, you lose the Buller River to the right, where, about twelve miles back, it takes its rise in Lakes Roti-iti and Rotorua, near Kerr’s Station. From the Nelson road to the lakes there is a very good track, and many of the Nelson residents at Christmas time leave the busy life of Sleepy Hollow for a few days’ vacation at Kerr’s Station, where fishing, pig hunting, and other sports are indulged in.

The country along the road from the latter hotel is of an undulating nature. Small creeks, beautiful and clear, meander along here and there. In the sides are marks of old camping grounds, where the weary and footsore travellers drank and slumbered. Now