Paparoa Range

• 1. Introduction

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  The Paparoa Range was the first piece of New Zealand ever spotted by a European. Abel Tasman's two ships, the Heemskerck and the Zeehaen, were believed to be off Punakaiki on the 13th of December 1642. Tasman had 110 men under his command and called the land he'd found Staten Landt. He would sail on without knowing what lay inside those mountains. What drew scientists, miners, and adventurers to the Paparoa Range in the centuries that followed? And how did a tradition begun by one geologist fill an entire mountain range with the names of history's greatest scientists?

• 2. Scientists on the Peaks

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  Julius von Haast started the tradition of naming Paparoa Range peaks after scientists. The list he set in motion is remarkable. Mount Faraday honors Michael Faraday; von Haast chose that name himself. Mount Davy commemorates Humphry Davy, another of his choices. The Buckland Peaks recall William Buckland.

  Mount Curie carries the name of Marie Curie, and Mount Mendel honors Gregor Mendel. Mount Pasteur recalls Louis Pasteur, and Mount Einstein honors Albert Einstein. Mount Rutherford carries Ernest Rutherford's name. Mount Fleming remembers Alexander Fleming, Mount Lavoisier honors Antoine Lavoisier, and Mount Euclid, Mount Copernicus, and Mount Galileo complete the list.

  Mount Kelvin stands apart slightly in this company. The botanist William Trownson chose that name, honoring the physicist William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin. Von Haast had no hand in it. The Papahaua Range, north of the Buller Gorge, is a geological continuation of the Paparoa. It belongs to the same rock system, but lies beyond the point where von Haast's naming tradition ended.

• 3. Coal and the Fell Railway

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  The Blackball Branch, also called the Roa Incline, was built to reach coal mines in the Paparoa Range. The Rewanui Branch served the same purpose. Both lines are now closed.

  The Fell mountain railway system gave both lines their most distinctive quality. On the steep Paparoa inclines, it assisted braking as trains descended. The application was not a complete use of the system. The North Island's Rimutaka Incline represented a fuller deployment of the Fell technology.

  The southern portion of the Paparoa Range falls in Grey District, and the northern portion in Buller District. Some peaks sit directly on the boundary between the two.

• 4. The First Traverse

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  In mid-1986, Trevor Johnston and Kevin Dash set out to walk the Paparoa Range from north to south. They became the first people known to have traversed its full length. Both men were Grey Valley residents, and their route covered terrain that no one had completed in that direction before.

  Their experience became the basis for a book called Touch the Wilderness. Mount Uriah, the highest peak in the range, rises to 1525 metres. Several other summits in the Paparoa Range exceed 1200 metres. The range they covered runs along the coast between the Buller and Grey Rivers.

• 5. National Park and Ecology

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  The fern Blechnum discolor forms one of the notable layers of the forest floor across the Paparoa Range. Numerous species of both flora and fauna live throughout the lower slopes and the valleys below the higher peaks.

  The Paparoa National Park was established in 1987, covering part of the range. It carries the country's highest level of protection. Some of the range extends beyond the park's formal boundaries. In 1995, the Cave Creek disaster occurred within the park.

  The Inangahua River flows along the eastern edge of the Paparoa Range. It marks the point where these mountains give way to the valleys of the South Island's interior.