Monday 26th February 2007. National Park.

Filthy weather this morning so Judy, Janet, Maureen and I choose not to attempt the Tongariro Crossing but instead head down to the village of Whakapapa for breakfast at Fergussons Café.

Horonuku, Te Heuheu Tukino IV, Ariki (Paramount Chief) of Ngati Tuwharetoa, gifted the peaks of Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and part of the peak of Ruapehu to the people of New Zealand in 1887. They were set aside by law as a national park. Due to the foresight of Horonuku and his people Tongariro National Park was the first national park established in New Zealand and only the fourth ever national park established world-wide.

We of this generation say to those of the future
“Behold, beyond are the fires of these mountains and the lands we have held in trust for you. Take them in your care and cherish them: they are your heritage and the heritage of your children”…

Tongariro still smokes, the ancestral fires still burn and the land lives on for all.

In 1993 this park became the worlds’ first Associative Cultural Landscape.

Such a gift prevented the land being divided up and preserved the Mana (status, prestige and integrity) of the mountains and the Ngati Tuwharetoa people. Gradually the government purchased the surrounding land and in 1907 an area of 25,000 hectares was formally gazetted as Tongariro National Park. Each Iwi (Maori tribe) has its own story to tell about how the mountains came to be and how they have continuing meaning in their lives today.

The rich biodiversity of this landscape…

Plants are the only living things that can take energy from the sun and make it into food for animals. Without plants life on earth as we know it would cease. The biodiversity of the earth changes as new species evolve and other species become extinct. Currently the variety of life on earth is shrinking rapidly. Whilst a greater variety of life forms means a more resilient, productive and healthy world; extinction rates today are estimated to be 1000 times greater than they were 500 years ago.

The kiwi is an example of such threatened species with an estimated 95% of kiwi chicks dying in the first few months of leaving the nest. Most are killed by stoats, cats or dogs…but human activities such as land clearance and logging also destroy habitat. Without help it is estimated that the North Island Brown Kiwi will be extinct by 2020.

Stoats were introduced to New Zealand in 1884 to kill rabbits and as such they are not native to this land.

Whilst adult kiwis have strong legs and sharp claws and are often able to fight off their fast moving and ferocious predators; smaller chicks cannot. The Kiwi Recovery Programme’s Operation Nest Egg takes eggs from the wild and these are hatched in captivity with the chicks released into the wild when they are strong enough to defend themselves. The programme raises the survival chances of a kiwi from 5% TO 85%.

Retaining the natural balance in the park involves halting the invasion of foreign plants and animals. Heather is an example of a plant that was introduced. In 1912 Park Ranger John Cullen believing that the Tussocklands of Tongariro should be transformed into heather moors like those in Britain introduced the plant in an attempt to provide for game bird hunting. The grouse Cullen released did not survive but the heather did and it spread to most corners of the park.

The reddish-gold colours of the Tussockland have today been replaced by the purples and browns of the heather. A difficult plant to kill off without damaging native surrounding plants; conservationists have decided to introduce another species called Heather Beetle. The Beetle was introduced in 1996 following four years of research to ensure that it would not impact on native species and whilst it will not eliminate the existing heather it will inhibit its growth and further spread.

After the Visitor’s Centre its time for morning tea at the Grand Chateau. This amazing hotel has quite a history. In 1928 the Tongariro Park Tourist Company was formed with the purpose of building a hotel. The National Park Board gave them a 42-year lease on the land at an annual rent of £75. In 1929 the Fletcher Construction Company Ltd employed 120 men who lived in the existing huts and some of the newly built cottages in the village of Whakapapa to build the luxury hotel.

Construction was in-fact completed by August and the first ever guests Keitha and Gerard White held the first party at the Chateau to celebrate. Boasting 92 bedrooms…all with central heating, telephone and hot and cold running water; 43 bathrooms; a dining room to seat 300; a cinema; a barbers shop; luggage room; cafeteria; play room and garage…it was state of the art for its time!!

The hotel was to close to guests shortly after the outbreak of war in 1939; what with restricted road and rail access and the fact that many of the keenest skiers had enlisted in the armed forces…the Chateau lay dormant. However, in 1942 it was commandeered as a hospital, not for the victims of the war but for victims of a natural disaster; housing patients from the earthquake damaged Porirua Mental Hospital.

Back in National Park Judy, Janet and I went to see the trains coming in from Wellington and Auckland on the line made famous by the Tangiwai rail disaster of Christmas Eve 1953 and had lunch at The Railway.

Dinner tonight is at the Schnapps Bar where I enjoy some Marlborough green-lipped mussels, a true New Zealand delicacy.