Te Kahui Te Araroa Take care visiting natural areas This park includes part of Te Araroa, a walking trail from Cape Reinga to Bluff: www.teararoa.org.nz. River crossings Kaupeka Caution: The section of track between Bush Stream and • Always treat rivers with respect Coal River is mostly unformed and requires backcountry experience, • Never cross a dirty or flooded river Conservation river crossing and navigational skills. The last section of Te Araroa • River currents are often stronger than they appear follows the Richmond Trail down to Lake Tekapo. • Water levels can rise rapidly due to rain in the headwaters; it does Park Remember – your safety is your responsibility not need to be raining at the crossing place • Braids of the river can shift and there may be soft, sinking sand Follow these five simple rules to help you plan and prepare before South Canterbury engaging in outdoor activities: • If in doubt, stay put until conditions improve or turn back 1. Plan your trip Avalanche 2. Tell someone Be aware of avalanche run-out zones from June to November. 3. Be aware of the weather We recommend carrying avalanche transceivers 457khz, and 4. Know your limits probes and shovels in avalanche terrain. 5. Take sufficient supplies Communication Visit www.adventuresmart.org.nz rt e Cellphone coverage cannot be relied on in the park. The use w to learn more and to log your intentions El n- Ph rau of satellite phones, mountain radios or personal locator beacons with your trusted contact. oto: lieb B Gott can all provide increased personal safety. Check, Leave no trace Further information • Plan ahead and prepare Clean, Dry If you need any further information or to report any incidents, issues Stop the • Be considerate of others or sightings of conservation interest, contact the DOC office at either spread of • Respect wildlife Twizel or Geraldine. didymo and and farm animals Te Manahuna/Twizel Office other aquatic pests. • Travel and camp Phone +64 3 435 0802 Remember to Check, on durable ground Raukapuka/Geraldine Office Clean, Dry all items before • Leave what you find Phone +64 3 693 1010 entering, and when moving • Dispose of waste properly between, waterways. • Minimise the effects of fire Dial 111 in an emergency Published by: Department of Conservation Te Manahuna/Twizel Office Private Bag, Twizel 7944 New Zealand May 2014 Editing and design: Publishing Team, DOC National Office This publication is produced using paper sourced from well-managed, renewable and legally logged forests. All photos, unless otherwise credited, are copyright DOC. Te Kahui Kaupeka Conservation Park encompasses Native plants you might see Activities spectacular scenery of ice-steepened mountains The pre-human vegetation was likely to have been mountain tōtara The park caters for a wide range of recreational activities including and broad glaciated valleys in the Two Thumb and mountain beech/tawhairauriki at lower altitudes with tall tussock tramping, fishing, skiing (two ski areas in the park), ski touring, Range. These separate the upper Rangitata River grasslands and boulderfield species at higher altitudes. Burning has mountaineering, hunting, and mountain biking. For more detailed from the Godley River catchments. The Two Thumb reduced most of the forest cover and the park is now largely covered information check with the DOC offices at Twizel or Geraldine. in spectacular tall snow-tussock grasslands which create its distinctive Range starts in the central Southern Alps/Kā Tiritiri golden landscape. Hunting o te Moana icefields, running south to end in the Forest remnants of mountain beech/ tawhairauriki and occasionally Recreational hunting is allowed on public conservation land within mountains of Burkes Pass. red and yellow mistletoe/pikirangi occur in the steeper valleys on the Te Kahui Kaupeka Conservation Park. A DOC permit must be carried eastern side of the Sinclair Range. Other remnants, particularly in the at all times. Tahr are the main hunting opportunity, though red and Tangata whenua – the first people of the land upper catchments of the Rangitata, seem more typical of the fallow deer, chamois, pig and Bennett’s wallaby are present in low Rākaihaitū migrated with his people from Hawaiki, their waka West Coast forest with mountain tōtara, celery pine/ numbers. Information on hunting on public conservation land and landing in Whakatū/Nelson. From here the Waitaha people explored, mountain toatoa and cedar/pāhautea. hunting permits is available at www.doc.govt.nz /canterbury-hunting. inhabited and named the land. The park provides habitat for the locally endemic Dogs Te Kahui Kaupeka / D’Archiac takes its name from the ‘gathering Dobson’s speargrass/taramea (Aciphylla dobsonii) Dogs are permitted in Te Kahui Kaupeka Conservation Park. place of the waters’. From the mountain the rivers flow in all and Hebe buchananii. Please be responsible for your dog – do not let them roam, disturb directions. Two of those rivers, the Rangitata and Waitaki, form other users or enter huts. the boundary of Aoraki. … and native animals The lakes, mountains Many native birds once lived in this area, including Access and rivers are under Haast’s eagle/pouākai, moa, takahē, South Island goose, the guardianship kākāpō and adzebill. Many are now extinct. A mix of exotic Eastern – Mesopotamia of Kāti Huirapa. and native birds remains spread through the mosaic of habitat types Access to the eastern side of the park is via Rangitata Gorge Road. On Takapo/Lake Tekapo ranging from alpine peaks to the braided rivers bordering the park. Four-wheel drive access is possible beyond Bush Stream car park, the island Motuariki is Notable birds include black stilt/kakī, blue duck/whio (in the tributaries up the Rangitata and Havelock rivers. important to Kāti Huirapa of the upper Rangitata River), New Zealand falcon/kārearea, rock wren/ Note: Drivers must take great care on these demanding rivers as the as it is the site of a kāika/ pīwauwau, wrybill/ngutu pare and kea. track is not marked or defined. River-crossing and four-wheel driving village built in the times Three species of lizard/ngārara known in the park are the common skills are essential. of Rākaihaitū. skink, McCann’s skink and the Southern Alps gecko. Western – Two Thumb Range and Sibbald Range European history There are eight species of grasshoppers/kōwhitiwhiti in the Two Lilybank Road from Lake Tekapo provides access to Boundary Pastoral farming dominates the more recent land history and Thumbs Range, including New Zealand’s largest grasshopper, the Stream, Roundhill Ski Area road and Coal River. From the a number of ‘retired’ high country runs have helped form the park. rare Sigaus villosus. Lilybank Road end, four-wheel drive One of the runs, Mesopotamia, was first occupied by Samuel Two species of wētā occur, the large mountain stone wētā (Hemideina is needed to access the Macaulay Butler, author of Erewhon. Spending the winter of 1860 in the upper maori) and the alpine scree wētā (Deinacrida sp.). and Godley riverbeds. Rangitata before stocking his run he wrote, ‘We fear it may be snowy Southern – North Opuha … but shall have to see it though next winter before we can safely put From Fairlie follow Clayton Road sheep upon it.’ towards Fox Peak ski field for easy Butler built his original hut at the confluence of Forest Creek access onto the tops. and Butlers Creek, before moving to the site of the present-day Mesopotamia Station. Public access easements Drowning was so common in early colonial times it was known as Please: ‘the New Zealand death’. One victim was Dr Andrew Sinclair who • Stay on the marked track was exploring with Dr Julius von Haast. Sinclair drowned crossing • Leave gates as you find them the Rangitata and is buried on Rangitata Flats (see map). • Do not disturb stock A N C A L O M O U E T T D O W Y I St Winifred Hut R O I 9 bunks (CMC) T I P R I E T T A A Mt McMillan K H 1883 K / C K U S R Mistake Flat Hut Curtis Memorial Hut l y P A M A L P 6 bunks 4 bunks R d L r 7 H A e B e N A iv N R N Mt D’Archiac/ R a E O es G R Te Kahui Kaupeka rb v H I Gl Fo E i T T s R e v U A 2875 rbe O th Fo Forbes Murphys l e N Sou A o S Biv 2 bunks Biv 2 bunks c r K N k O Godley Hut Carneys O G R C 8 bunks (NZ Alpine Club) 2 bivs 4 bunks iv E k T am e e re Mt Forbes e r M St Cr / ration 2583 / Carneys I Sepa K T A Eade Memorial Hut m E k a e Growler Hut R e re 4 bunks (NZDA) r C C O t amp 8 bunks S R A on A nn r 11 a Ki R le n Red Stag Hut Mc w ro g 4 bunks U G i The ta (NZ Deerstalkers Assoc) H eam Private ta Str E a hut Mt Sibbald lm Alma A R 2811 2510 P A C K M O U iv S L N O 2450 B T A e Achilles I N I Mt Chevalier R R r B 2540 A 2404 A Dog Kennel N B G Biv 2 bunks E A Tantalus Black Macaulay Hut 2454 Birc L h C h 14 bunks r c The Thumbs ee D Z O N k n (Mackenzie 2545 B A R A N ra R A G Alpine Trust) B B E Mt Brabazon th or 1792 N m a R e Crooked Spur 1 m r / m t a Hut a A S e 13 E e r 12 t r 8 bunks ARAROA B L t e S u N G TE sh Stream i S g Dr Sinclairs l r b y a N b k G o e um A grave a W G h A n T Mesopotamia Mt Erebus E R Mt Sinclair k t o R R 2311 r s w T O 2065 A S a N t e a E G P E t I v T i h o i t B A r G T n o A E R N N M 2 G O H A R G U E R y U R H O a A l R D L u T i ly a A R Stone Hut I b n ank tatio c k S a 8 bunks A e O E e L r M C T C W t G 8 s N re T o o I F 3 d S l Stag Saddle e Royal Hut Private y 1925 Bullock Bow 8 bunks Saddle hut 1692 R A i O v 4 R Private e A R hut r 5 A Historic Richmond k TE e Shelter e Track times r C E Emergency s G Te Araroa – 2–3 days: r N shelter