Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Track and hired Harry Birley of Glenorchy to establish a route. In 1912 Birley 'discovered'
Lake Mackenzie and the next year began cutting a track.
The famous track had reached Lake Howden by the outbreak of WWI, but the final por-
tion wasn't completed until the road from Te Anau to Milford Sound was built by relief
workers during the Depression - until then a tramp on the Routeburn meant returning on the
Greenstone.
The first move to make Mt Aspiring a national park came in 1935, but for all its beauty
and popularity with trampers and tourists, the park wasn't officially gazetted until 1964.
Its legendary beauty landed the park and surrounds starring roles in the
Lord of the Rings
trilogy. The Mavora Lakes area, in particular, stole the limelight, being the scene of Silver-
lode and Anduin rivers, Nen Hithoel, the edge of Fangorn Forest and south of Rivendell.
Environment
The landscape of Mt Aspiring National Park is largely glacial in origin. During the ice ages,
massive glaciers carved into the metamorphic and sedimentary rock. As they retreated they
left a sculpted landscape of U-shaped valleys, small hanging valleys and rounded cirques
and ridges. The park still contains more than 100 glaciers, ranging from the large Bonar
Glacier on the flank of Mt Aspiring to the smaller ones that hang from the sides of the
Matukituki Valley.
Beech forests dominate below the bushline, with each beech species favouring different
growing conditions. The red beech thriving in the sunny valleys makes for semi-open
forests and easy tramping, unlike the Fiordland forests with their dense, close understorey.
Look out for ribbonwoods - one of NZ's few deciduous trees. These are the first to colonise
open areas caused by slips and avalanches. At higher altitudes you will find silver or moun-
tain beech, while west of the Divide there are rainforests of rimu, matai, miro and kahikatea.
In between the valleys are blooming mountain meadows that support one of the greatest
ranges of alpine plants in the world. In alpine areas there are beautiful clusters of snow berry
and coprosma in subalpine turf. In the Route Burn Valley, look for mountain daisies, snow
grasses and veronica. Another beautiful plant of this region is the NZ edelweiss.
The forests are alive with native birds, including fantail, rifleman, bellbird, pigeon and
cute South Island robin and tomtits. Along the rivers you may see whio (blue ducks) and
paradise shelducks, and towards evening moreporks and native bats, NZ's only native land
mammal. In alpine areas look out for the threatened rock wren and unmistakable kea.
