U4- 1 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



Nelson's only railway is the short line of twenty-two miles which terminates at 

 Bellgrove, the first stage on the overland route to the west coast. The intervening 

 country has a charming aspect, and . the little townships of Stoke and Richmond are 

 particularly interesting. Taking the coach at Bellgrove, we gradually ascend the Spooner 

 Range, and from the summit obtain a magnificent view of the surrounding country. 

 Looking back, the delightful valley of the Waimea lies stretcheH out beneath, and far 

 away beyond run the Port Hills, completely hiding Nelson from view, while more remote 

 still the eye rests upon the broad and placid bosom of Blind Bay, with the French 

 Pass clearly discernible near the verge of the extensive horizon. To the left, the moun- 

 tains of Collingwood, Takaka and Motueka raise their rugged sides and bold peaks to 

 heaven. Immediately in front, and extending away to the foot of another range, lies the 

 fertile valley of the Motueka, watered by the river of the same name. Descending the 

 range, and crossing the Motueka, a run of eighteen miles takes us to the foot of Hope 

 Saddle, up one side of which and down the other the road winds about in the most 

 devious and fantastic manner, while the incidental scenery is wild and picturesque 

 enough to keep the attention of the traveller fully engrossed. Ten miles farther on the 

 Hope River is crossed, and thence it is but six miles to the comfortable hostelry 

 known as the Hope Junction Hotel. Here acquaintance is made with the Buller, one 

 of the largest rivers in the South Island, but at this point of rather limited extent, 

 seeing that it takes its rise in Lakes Rotoiti and Rotoroa, only twelve miles distant. 



The Hope Junction is the half-way house between Nelson and Lyell. Thence the 

 road leads over an undulating country, crossed by beautiful little creeks, dotted with 

 clumps of bush resonant with the songs of birds, and marked by the sites of old 

 camping-grounds, past the Owen, a tributary of the Buller, over the Buller itself at 

 Long Ford, and so on to Fern Flat, which no longer possesses the characteristics that 

 suggested its name, the ferns having disappeared before the progress of cultivation. It 

 is eighteen miles from Fern Flat to the Lyell, and the latter part of the journey is 

 extremely interesting, for the road here follows the course of the Buller, surging fiercely 

 on its rapid and impetuous course to the ocean. The country is wild and mountainous, 

 and the river scenery is enhanced at one point by a majestic cascade one hundred and 

 fifty feet high. The mining township of Lyell stands just at the point of junction of 

 the Buller River with the Lyell Creek, and it is the centre of an active quartz-mining 

 and agricultural district. Thirty-eight miles west of Lyell, and on the margin of the sea, 

 is situated Westport, an important coaling town which possesses f*ar and away the best 

 natural harbour on the west coast. The trip thither should be taken, if only for the 

 sake of the romantic scenery. Eighteen miles out of Lyell, a sharp bend of the River 

 round a jutting flank of the mountain, whose precipitous face is indented by a narrow 

 shelf of roadway, ushers us into the presence of the " Hawk's Crag," and a feeling of 

 awe pervades us as we gaze upward at the frowning mass of towering rock above our 

 head, and then downward, to where, some sixty feet below, the Buller bowls along with 

 tremendous velocity towards its rest in the ocean. Passing " The Crag," the Buller Gorge 

 is entered, and emerging thence the route lies amid milder surroundings. Westport is 

 the place of export for the practically inexhaustible coal-fields of Mount Rochfort, which 

 cover an area of some thirty or forty miles northward of the town. 



