Mt Cook National Park & Twizel, New Zealand
August 27th 2008 22:21
Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park is situated in the South Island of New Zealand near the town of Twizel. Aoraki/Mount Cook village lies within the park. The area was formally gazetted as a national park in October 1953 and consists of reserves that were established as early as 1887 to protect the area's significant vegetation and landscape
The park covers a little over 700 kmē. Glaciers cover 40% of the park area, notably the Tasman Glacier on the slopes of Aoraki/Mount Cook itself.
Of New Zealand's 20 peaks over 3,000 metres, all except Mount Aspiring lie in the park. These include New Zealand's highest mountain, Aoraki/Mount Cook, at 3753 metres. Other prominent peaks include Mount Tasman, Mount Hicks, Mount Sefton, and Mount Elie de Beaumont. The mountains of the Southern Alps in general are young, less than ten million years old, and are still building. Uplift in the region of the national park is at the rate of 50 centimetres per century.
The park is also part of Te Wahipounamu South Westland World Heritage Site in recognition of its outstanding natural values.
Most of the park is situated above the tree line so that the plant life consists mainly of alpine plants such as the Mount Cook lily, (Ranunculus lyalli), which is really the largest buttercup in the world, large mountain daisies and wild spaniard or spear grass. Birdlife consists of species like the kea, the only alpine parrot and the well-camouflaged pipit. Introduced chamois, Himalayan tahr and red deer can be hunted.
The park is popular for tramping, skiing, hunting and mountaineering. Department of Conservation administer activities in the park. Popular species with hunters include red deer and Himalayan tahr. (net sourced)
With overcast skies still covering Lake Tekapo, I set off towards Mt Cook National Park, in the hope that the weather might be a little clearer although as you can see from the following pics, that wasn't the case. Mt Cook village is rather small with the main point of interest being the amazing Hermitage complex. This consists of hotel rooms, dining area's, alpine centre which showcases Sir Edmund Hillary's exploits and achievements. There is a nice cafe area overlooking the Hooker Valley and the food and coffee was good and priced in line with elsewhere.
Alpine Centre
Sir Ed
A very murky day
After leaving Mt Cook, I took a drive to Twizel to get some petrol and snacks.
Twizel is a town located in the Mackenzie Basin (part of the Mackenzie District of the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island). Its residential population is 1,000, but in summer the population more than triples.
Twizel was built in 1968 as a greenfields project to service the Upper Waitaki hydroelectricity Scheme and was intended to be removed once the project had been completed. However, in 1983 its residents successfully fought to save the town. At the height of the project in the 1970s, the population peaked at around 6,000.
Prior to 1968, where Twizel now stands was farmland. The town was laid out in a 'Scandinavian' fashion, where the shops, school, and recreational parkland formed a hub in the centre of the town, around which the residential area lay. This design style also features looping roads and pedestrian ways, making it usually far more direct to walk than use a car. A previous version of this layout had originally been tried at Otematata. Originally, it was intended that the houses for the engineers would be built near Lake Pukaki but they were eventually built in Twizel. Accommodation was highly segregated, however. In addition to singlemens' quarters in the middle of town, there were a series of different houses available, with the smallest for workers, staff houses for teachers and professionals, and the largest for engineers and other high status residents. Most houses were prefabricated, and intended to be portable. Some were brought from Otematata, and some were moved to Clyde for the next hydro project.
Because the original intention was for the town to be reverted to farmland, there were many 'temporary' features to the town. For example, instead of putting in kerbing, channels, and footpaths at the edge of the road, a single expanse of seal was contoured in a very flat 'W' shape. That is, the seal was highest at the outer edge (footpath) and in the middle (centreline), with a lower area serving as a channel and delineation between the roadway and footpath.
Twizel is a now a service and tourist town for visitors to the area. Nearby Lake Ruataniwha supports sailing, water skiing and prominent rowing events, such as the Maadi Cup, while the Ohau Skifield and the Round Hill Ski Area attract winter tourists.
The area boasts one of the world's cleanest, driest and darkest skies, and has long drawn astronomers to Twizel and the surrounding area, with several existing astro-tourism ventures, such as at Lake Tekapo and Omarama catering to their needs, while two additional observatories are under development, in Twizel and at Mount Cook Village.
(net sourced)
pics by Heath
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