January 1993
When the world finally "discovered" New Zealand via the movies, I was not surprised. On my visit the country very much looked like a like a film set no matter where I turned. The South Island's mountains that march down its West Coast are a prime example of a very pristine beauty that is partially accessible yet not spoiled by an overly large population. New Zealand's mountains felt very much like the Canadian Rockies, but were even emptier. The very best thing about the Southern Alps of New Zealand was that most of them were only visitable on foot. When much of the world came to know New Zealand via Lord of the Rings, that fantastic scenery was already familiar to me.
The mountains are inaccessible and retain their natural vegetation. A large proportion of the range is well protected as part of various national parks, notably the Westland Tai Poutini National Park, Mount Aspiring National Park, and Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park or protected areas such as Lake Sumner Forest Park. Indigenous plant life is affected by introduced animals such as red deer chamois, and Himalayan tahr all of which have at times been targeted for culling, while the birds and reptiles are vulnerable to introduced predators.
(Wikipedia)
Trekking (or tramping) in New Zealand was serious stuff. Hikers had to take everything with them, but the pay off was all the beauty and solitude. Another bonus to hiking in the Southern Alps was that New Zealand has no "man eating predators" - no stumbling across a bear or a mountain lion (or a tiger or a leopard). Brian and I, however, were not prepared for any kind of hike in New Zealand and felt completely satisfied that we had done a big trek in Nepal. I think for anyone into hiking and camping, New Zealand's Southern Alps must be something of a "holy grail" in terms of a remoteness that still retains a modicum of safety and "civilization".
Of mountain ranges I have visited, even though New Zealand is small, its southern mountains keep a place near the top (like the Canadian Rockies, the Himalayas, and Torres del Paine) in my "best mountains ever visited". I am guessing in a rapidly changing world that those antipodal mountains will be some of the last to retain their unblemished beauty.
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