Lure of the Trail – Programme 13 – Urewera Country
In the late 1930s the New Zealand Department of Tourist and Publicity produced a series of radio programmes to encourage New Zealanders to holiday within New Zealand rather than travelling overseas.
This series, entitled “Lure of the Trail”, was produced by Radio Features Ltd and aired on the National Commercial Broadcasting Service stations 1ZB (Auckland), 2ZB (Wellington), 3ZB (Christchurch) and 4ZB (Dunedin).
In this episode our narrator travels the then recently new road from Wairoa, on the East Coast of New Zealand’s North Island, to Rotorua, now New Zealand State Highway 38.

Image: Koru Enterprises
Leaving Wairoa we travel inland to arrive at Lake Waikaremoana, where we stop to take refreshments at the Lake House.

Travelling on, the road enters the rugged Urewera Country, now the Te Urewera National Park.

Travelling in this area was tougher back in the early days….

Breckon, Arthur Ninnis, 1887-1965. Ref: PA1-o-042-49-4. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22767104

Ref: 1/2-030862-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22889133

There’s more about Lake Waikaremoana in Lure of the Trail Programme 11
These records were found in a library sale in New York by one of our supporters, who donated them by hand during a cruise to New Zealand!
The recordings are 12″ 33⅓ rpm records that play from the inside out.
In the 1980s a similar media campaign was run using the catchphrase, “Don’t leave town till you’ve seen the country”, a slogan which is still part of the Kiwi vernacular today.