Southern Wilderness New Zealand

Nelson Lakes - History

History:

Maori legend tells us that there was a powerful chief, magician, and sorcerer named Rakaihaitu. Long long ago, before the great migration of the canoes, he came to New Zealand in his canoe Uruao, and journeyed around the coast. But when he landed near Nelson, Rakaihaitu decided to find a way overland through the rugged heart of the South Island. He and his followers set off across the plains and reached the beautiful wild country of the Buller region and the start of the mighty chain of mountains. The chief took his great Ko, his digging stick and began to dig enormous holes in the ground. He worked long and hard, and eventually the holes filled with water, and became the known as Lake Rotoiti and Lake Rotoroa. Rakaihaitu then continued his journey South digging and naming all the great lakes of the South Island. Eventually he reached Foveaux Strait and settled there, and the tribes in that area trace their ancestry back to him.....

Despite their beginnings in Maori mythology as being the first South Island lakes, Rotoiti and Rotoroa do not seem to have ever been settled by the Maori people. However the lakes and rivers of the area, rich with eels and mussels were popular fishing grounds and stop over points for parties travelling en route from Tasman Bay to Canterbury or the West Coast.

The tribe of Ngatitumatakokiri was the dominant power of the area for a long time, with a rich resource of knowledge and an intimate understanding of the trails, rivers and lakes of the area. But this was all but destroyed over a number of years as first pressure from the West Coast tribes and then by warring tribes from the North Island who put the newly acquired musket to deadly effect.

The Europeans in general when they first arrived viewed the Nelson Lakes as everything they did not want in a new country. They were looking for warm open pastoral lands, and instead found mountainous country covered with thick forests. The Nelson Lakes also marked the start of a mighty chain of mountains which rain southward unbroken for 500 kms; the Southern Alps.

However this didn't stop the enterprising settlers, and in 1848 a gentleman by the name of George McRae took up the 3500 acre block known as the lake run, by Lake Rotoiti.

Over the years there have been some farming enterprises around the area, but as a whole the mountains and valleys have remained virtually untouched.

Today the park is crisscrossed with un-crowded tracks, which take you into areas of vast beauty in a relatively short space of time