Whakapapa is highest NZ town

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 7, Issue 353, 11 September 1990, Page 6

Whakapapa is highest NZ town

ln spite of its size and isolation, Whakapapa Village manages to play a vital role in the central North Island. Former Tongariro National Park Interpreter Simon Noble looks at the history of the village which has come to assume an important role in the Ruapehu District.

The highest permanently occupied settlement in New Zealand, Whakapapa is perched at 1150 metres above sea level right at the point where the Ruapehu ring plain ends and the real mountain begins. It is one of the few communitites found inside national park boundaries. There are no private dwellings, only accommodation for staff at the Chateau, Ruapehu Alpine Lifts, the Skotel and the Department of Conservation. There are no factories or farms to service and the sole reason for the village's existence is to look after the park's visitors. So how did Whakapapa get there? What are its origins? In the early days of Tongariro, from its beginnings in 1887 to 1901, two factors characterised visits to the volcanoes. Passed by Firstly, most people passed the mountains by rather than actually staying there. Secondly, almost all these visits were along the southem and eastern side of the mountains between Ohakune and Tokaanu along the Desert Road. It was not until the Ketetahi and Waihohonu huts were built between 1901 and 1904 that people could comfortably base overnight activities in the park. Although these Tourist and Health Resorts Department huts were the first accommodation for visitors, the first building was part of a sheep run rather than tourist accommodation. It was very inaccessible and as E.S. Dollimore notes in his 1959 unpublished papers, "Traffic into the park country from the west was negligible... until the opening of the Main Trunk Railway..." The last spike was driven on the Main Trunk Railway on November 6, 1908. This

caused a fundamental change in the whole transport scene through the central North Island, taking the emphasis off the Whanganui River, Waiouru, Desert Rd, Tokanu Route and placing it on the central King Country. The way was clear for development to begin on the western side of Ruapehu: all that was needed was some sort of incentive. Christams camp At Christmas 1912, William Mead and a group of others established a camp at Taranaki Falls and spent several days exploring the mountains. "But for future camps we settled on the Whakapapanui as the best site as it was closer to the snow on the glacier," wrote Mead. The real incentive came in July 1913 when Mead and Bemard Drake pioneered skiing in the park after three days on their enormous awkward skis. Without instruction they toured the slopes below the Whakapapa Glacier, retuming satisfied that the Whakapapa area was much better than any area on Ruapehu for skiing as well as summer parties if it could be given road access and huts. Prison labour Access was still largely by horse or foot from Waihohonu Hut or the Waimarino Railway Station. In 1915, Mead noticed the work was under way on the Waimarino to Tokaanui Rd. The work on the road was undertaken largely by prison labour based at a camp on the Mahuia Stream, the site of the modern Mahuia campsite. Mead went to war shortly afterwards but was sent home in 1917. He found skiing enthusiasts had convinced the Tourist De-

partment to buy one of the prison huts. It was intended to move the hut to the present Whakapapa Village site, but Mead was unable to find a good ford across the Whakapapanui. The hut was dragged further north and into the Mangatepopo Valley to become the first Mangatepopo Hut. Mead tried to convince the general manager of the Tourist Department

that with the Waimarino -Tokaanu Rd under construction a cart track to the Whakapapa site would be fairly cheap. A team of builders called Bill Salt and 'Captain Downes' built the track at a cost of 500 pounds. The Chateau was built and more people could stay in the village in the first-class accommodation it offered.