Our scribe wrote, it was “hard to imagine what the settlers and newspaper proprietors would do without the services of these obliging and careful coach drivers who execute scores of commissions on each trip”.
It was here that the driver dispatched a homing pigeon bound for the company’s Napier stables with a message tied to its leg.
Proceeding onward, the passengers got a clear view of the old Armed Constabulary Redoubt, now used for Te Hāroto Station accommodation.
Gathering speed, the horses cantered past Te Hāroto Pā, before the road snaked its way “through some very pretty bush”.
Once the Turangakuma summit was reached, the coach descended rapidly to the foot of the Waipunga River “known as the double crossing”, then onward through “an avenue of slim and stately pine trees” past a Māori settlement, finally rounding a pumice cliff “white as chalk”.
After passing Stoney Creek the coach navigated a winding road which ran “up and down the sides of a ravine” to finally emerge in front of the Tarawera Hotel, where they halted for the night.
The small village of Tarawera had been a place of importance, previously comprising 15 houses, a post and telegraph office, store, hotel and an Armed Constabulary Depot. The remains of the barracks and redoubt could be seen on the opposite side of the road, a little beyond the hotel.
Once the passengers had enjoyed a sumptuous repast, the landlord regaled his visitors with stories of his “rollicking” life in the area during the Armed Constabulary days.
He mentioned how “grog” was smuggled into the camp in “tins labelled sardines” and that, just recently, while digging a new garden a “rum keg” was revealed – to his chagrin the contents had evaporated.
Our reporter was very impressed with the Tarawera Hotel, declaring it clean and comfortable and the food “something to remember”. Reflecting, he emphasised that throughout the journey “the meals have done credit in excellence of cooking, to any high-class city hotel”.
The coach promptly left Tarawera at 7.30am the following day and was quickly “again on the upgrade”.
The first point of interest was Te Nganaire or ‘the Nunneries’ where, in times of danger, local Māori hid their kaumātua, wāhine, and tamariki.
In the gully below meandered the Waipunga River, while on the other side of the road were the remains of an Armed Constabulary camp, where soldiers lived while constructing a “government” road which ran for “many miles” along the ridgeline. It was abandoned when “a break in the hills which was impassable” made it impossible to continue.
Close by, on the top of a high hill, perched a “big Māori pah” which our scribe named “Nga-Kau-o-Hinekuku” and here, on the side of the road, was a koroua/elderly man waiting patiently for his galvanised bath.
Disappointed that Ted Sinclair hadn’t brought it, the koroua gave him “a severe scolding” whereupon our driver promised that it would arrive on the next trip.
Leaving the pā behind, the passengers were again subjected to a series of steep hills coupled with magnificent views, particularly that of the Runanga Falls, which were caused by “two considerable streams precipitating themselves over the cliff to the plain hundreds of feet below”.
From here the journey was downhill until the coach reached the “Kaingaroa plains, a peculiar formation of pumice terraces” on which grazed “mobs of wild horses”. Surprisingly the horses took “little or no notice of the coach” but reportedly, if “a horseman came by” they galloped “off like the wind”.
The Rangitaiki hotel was finally reached at 11.10am, whereupon the horses were changed over, and the passengers had lunch. Our reporter disparagingly commented that the area was “desolate, so bleak and wind-swept that not a plant or tree” would grow and there was “no sign of civilisation anywhere save for the hotel”.
The drive from here to Taupō was “monotonous in the extreme” with only pumice and flowering mānuka, providing the pleasing effect of an “avenue of tall slim trees”. The barrenness of the landscape was eclipsed when Mount Tongariro suddenly sprang into view and the “broad bosom of Lake Taupo unfolds itself to the eye”.
Suddenly the passengers were overcome with “a pronounced smell of sulphur” as the coach drove along “Lake Beach up past the Terrace Hotel and on towards Taupo” until the Spa Hotel was reached - “surely the nearest approach to an earthly paradise to be found in the Southern Hemisphere”.
It was here the coach stopped for the night before travelling on to Rotorua. Those passengers not continuing, unanimously agreed that they were indebted to their driver Ted, who throughout was “thoughtful, courteous and obliging” with a “perfect storehouse of…interesting information”.
In conclusion the reporter bemoaned those who refused to travel by coach between Napier and Taupō, fearing it would be “rough and fatiguing”. He further stated that an excursion with the Crowther and Macauley’s Coach Service ensured that the trip was “so easy-running that one’s seat, even over the roughest country, is as comfortable as a rocking-chair”.
Added to this was the adventurous nature of each expedition, interesting encounters along the way, and the unrivalled “beauty and grandeur” of the landscape.
