a5 
Farewell to Te Paki—90-Mile Beach 
| Again. 
A Thrilling Moment, and—Disaster. 
On Sunday, April 23, the party bade 
good-bye to their hosts. It was not pos- 
sible to express in adequate words their 
deep gratitude to Mr Keene and Mr and 
Mrs West Hill for the extraordinary cour- 
tesy and kindness with which they had been 
overwhelmed. The car ran down the sandy 
bed of the creek and emerged on the 
Ninety-mile Beach for the run home. A 
steady 35 to 40-mile pace was made, and 
elated with their successful visit to the 
northern-most points of New Zealand the 
party settled down to the enjoyment of the 
wonderful beach run. Disaster overtook us 
with extraordinary swiftness. ‘Twenty miles 
south of Te Paki a rocky point, washed by 
the half-tide, juts cut on to the beach; a 
sandy spit connects this point with Mango- 
nui Bluff, a surf-swept piece of grass-clad 
land surrounded on three sides by sea. Krom 
the rocky point a salt-water channel, couged 
out by the recent gales, invisible to those in 
the approaching car, runs to the sea, As 
the car raced through the channel the water 
rose ta the magneto and the engine stopped. 
Two successive incoming waves washed over 
her, receded, and left her sinking in the 
sand. Within a few minutes she was 
immovable. No timber was available to 
chock her up, and no means of haulage was 
procurable in that lonely spot. In a few 
hours the rising tide, augmented by the 
westerly gale, submerged the car, over- 
turned her, and threw her on to the rocks, 
and during the night the force of the gale 
hammered her to pieces, 
The party settled down to bivouac for the 
night under some friendly flax. We 
accepted the position with equanimity, real- 
ising, however, that it would probably be 
many hours before assistance reached us, 
and that it must be sought for, as no one 
could be aware of our plight. We des- 
patched Williams to search for the nearest 
habitation, not knowing how far he would 
have to go, but considering it quite possible 
he might have a ten miles tramp before 
