Radio NZ - Everest Conquest turns 60

electronically dispatched 28th May 2013

About this time back in 2010 I put in a bid to Mark the Hillary Conquest of Everest with place names on Mount Cook
But it got lost in the media backwaters. Basically some of us would have liked to change what is known as High Peak of Mt Cook to Hillary Peak.
And as homage to Maori history, rename the Mount Cook Range the Aoraki Range into the Bargain.. The whole thing came unglued when Hillary Ridge got Gazetted
So now there is no big event for the Big 60th.

However they took a look at the Aoraki Range suggestion and replaced it with the tongue twisting Kirikirikatata range and that was gazetted in April as a duel name this year.  So Hillary did have some effect on the summit of Mount Cook albeit through Ngai tahu’s back door...

The media was a bit busy with my Tolkien Mountain Geographic Board saga then so probably couldn’t cope with more than one story at a time.

I still think that it would have been easy to replace the three purely descriptive names on Mount Cook’s Summit like so: Low Peak to Lowe Peak, Middle Peak with Mallory Peak and High Peak with Hillary.... It would have been good to slip Tenzing in too somewhere on a feature...

Too bad it would have made a great 60th anniversary moment But then the Geographic Board members are not selected for theatrics... ?

Mountain Scene: Queenstown Tree Poisoning

Letters to the Editor the Mountain Scene Newspaper 9th May 2013

Sir,
I use to live in the Queenstown Area in the Golden days of 1971 before there was such concepts as Airpoints Monorails, Condominiums or Wilding Pines.
I those days the Conifers in the Town Belt where considered part of the nice Ambience of the place as was the Old Gold Rush heritage Buildings and the Humble Holiday Batches that followed.

Every time I visit Queenstown Now I feel Sickened at the damage that has been inflicted on the Town due to Gross Stupidity and Lack of Vision.

Mark Wilson Is correct, the Dead Trees on the Town Skyline are an example of this. And it is going to take Decades before nature can correct this Blunder, That this same scenic Vandalism is taking place in Skippers and Roaring Meg. It is just mind numbing!

Ironically it is Wilding Humans that are the worst thing Queenstown has to deal with Not Trees.. The Hills today are “Blemished” with truly unsympathetic architecture sprouting willy-nilly everywhere...  and now The Once Beautiful Edwardian Style 5 mile shopping Centre Project has turned into something akin to an oversized somewhat skewed out Shipping Container on Steroids!

As for Wilding Pines... Let’s not get obsessive and Panic.. If you can’t be bothered aborting them out as seedlings than you are just too late.

Find some other more worthy Battles: Broom, Gorse, Wasps.

As for Tourists, 99 percent are not botanists and never heard of Wilding Conifers or even care for that matter. Unless they are all Poisoned and Dieing

ODT: Queenstown NZ's Best New Hope

Sent Monday 6th May 2013 - Public Opinion Otago Daily Times.

I have just come home from a visit to the Glenorchy / Kinloch  area and I was curious to see what effect all the Years of Film and Now Television was had on the area,
I have to report that They are a bit slow keeping up with the flow Especially in the Case of the Road to Paradise that People not only associate with The BBC TV Series “Top of the Lake” but it leads to Mt Earnslaw the South Island Mountain most associated with the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit Movies which is almost undrivable to ordinary cars. Personally I think this area is going to need some sort of “Make Over” are I wonder if it might even be wise to upgrade the Earnslaw Burn Valley Track to a (Gasp Horror) scenic Drive.. It is a Valley with the most intensive Glacier and Waterfall experience you can have in one spot and it's a Day out from Queenstown. Much nicer than any Monorail of Tunnel trips and it would add an extra day stay to the Queenstown experience instead of taking business off of the Te Anau region.
Best of all, No National Parks would be Harmed! Tourist Paradise? Maybe, but at the moment the Road to Paradise is paved with Pot Holes..

Tolkien's Mountain NZ on Google Maps

There is now a Map of the Lost Tolkien Mountains of Fiordland New Zealand
in the Spectacular Earl Mountains Near Milford Sound.

http://goo.gl/maps/fH1Yc

New Zealand: Stonehenge Awarua, Southenge. Aotearoa.

Before Anyone thought of Building a Plywood Stonehenge near Masterton NZ
there was a plan in Southland at the very bottom of the South Island to build a perfect working Replica of the Ancient British Stone Circle known as "Stonehenge" which is in fact in a semi ruined state.

There where many good reasons for picking Awarua South of Invercargill firstly the Latitude was near perfect for the Alignments the Grey and Blue Stone Natural Slabs for Construction exist in quantity in the surrounding area, The Awarua Plains are as flat as Salisbury and though the Ground is not chalk it is tight packed white quartz shingle and would make a perfect recreation of original Stonehenge ditch-works and Avenue.

This Project was conceived by Mr Aaron Nicholson of Manapouri who helped set up a fully functional incorporated society to promote the Idea called the Stonehenge Society of New Zealand.

For a time the project was very promising with endorsements from not only prominent Southlanders and New Zealand media but also English Heritage in the UK.

However when it was time for a TV interview the Project Spokesman had to cancel due to a parental bereavement on the very same day.

Then things started going wrong,  a meeting with English Heritage Head at Stonehenge England and our Benefactor went wrong through bad luck.

and then The People from the North Island that had been approached to advise The Stonehenge Society
on astronomical Alignments announce to the world they where Going to build their own Stonehenge.

Meanwhile the Invercargill City Council found that they had enough to deal with setting up their now famous Zero Fees Polytechnic scheme.  and the Window of opportunity closed for Neolithic Monuments.

The Society Drifted apart and the story has become a mere memory.

JRR Tolkien - New York News

New York Paper cuts and Pastes NZs Dominion Post ?

Frank Cabot - Freestone Hill - Manapouri

Francis H Cabot 2011 Death Notice in the New York Times.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/28/nyregion/francis-h-cabot-86-extraordinary-gardener-dies.html