Good weather sees Tongariro National Park summer programme numbers up

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 570, 24 January 1995, Page 1

Good weather sees Tongariro National Park summer programme numbers up

The highlight of Ohakune' s Tongariro National Park summer programme was the Ruapehu Crater Lake trip, said conservation officer Karen Hawke last week, after the programme came to an end. She said the hike was a long one with some slower members of the party and tough conditions. There was a soft layer of snow on top of slick ice meaning they had to cut steps for the hikers. "It took us until 3pm to get to the top, but it was quite a sight with the lake steaming and bubbling." All but three of the programme' s trips were fully booked and with only two bad weather day s thi s year' s programme was deemed successful. Hauhungatahi and the mountain bike trip were not fully booked. Miss Hawke said the new trips were the most popular, such as the Railway Rambling trip which took people along the Main Trunk Railway Line from Ohakune to Horopito. The total attendance was 445 people on 28 trips, with the easier trips the most popular. "There' s more time to stop and talk about things." Many people were doing their own thing, with 3000 people recorded through the visitor centre. Also very popular was the children' s programme. "We even had a few locals," said Miss Hawke. Local man Gerry Tamatea led the programme, taking children on little field trips, swimming and walking. One trip to Ohakune Lakes Reserve involved making little waka (canoes) out of sticks and leaves. She said they would look at extending the children's programme next year and promoting it more, especially locally. Whakapapa stiil at it ^ Meanwhile Whakapapa Visitor Centre's pro-^^r gramme still has a few weeks to run, finishing on .6 February. I 217 With a great run of weather their pro- pept gramme has also been going well. ^ The Tongariro Crossing is 'always popular' saidYvonna Chrzanowski. She said with the enquiries they get they

could run it every day. However she also said the shorter trips were better in that the guides had time to give out more interpretive information. More and more, the participants in the programme were overseas visitors and not just Kiwis she said. Germans, South Africans and British were the most common. Trips still to run at Whakapapa that still have vacancies include the Makatote Gorge; Saddle Cone, New Zealand's most inland gull colony; Creatures of the Night; Tall Trees (Ohinetonga Scenic Reserve); Whakapapa Headwaters. Miss Chrzanowski said only three activities had been cancelled due to the weather. She said the evening talks were very popular with an average of 60 people at each. "Once again the Success of our programme is due to the efforts of staff and volunteers who help organise and guide on the activities," said Miss Chrzanowski. She said people who want to help next year can contact the field centres . at Whakapapa and Ohakune. New activities that proved popular were a horse trek, raft trip, kiwi monitoring trip, and the fire fighting demonstrations. Free activities were run to promote public awareness and knowledge of Department ofConservationrolesin conservation issues.