Aotearoa III - Te Wai Pounamu Trivia Quiz

Answer: Golden Bay

There's now a memorial to Tasman's landing near the place in Golden Bay where he dropped anchor. Bear in mind that the Zeehaen was only 100 tons, and the Heemskerck was only 60 tons - smaller than some deep sea trawlers today and infinitely less seaworthy.

These were brave men. Tasman's expedition was something of a democracy, with a council making decisions about where they would go. Tasman had been intending to take on water at Golden Bay, but the murders saw the two ships raise anchor and sail off to the north.

The council decided not to attempt landing in New Zealand again. So after a month of tacking north against largely head winds, they made another attempt to take on water on one of the Three Kings islands. However they were forced back by the huge seas beating the shore and (possibly) by the "tall, well-armed men" who lived there. Eventually they gave up trying to get water and sailed off to the north-west, back to Batavia.

Answer: The water of greenstone

Greenstone is a green-coloured mineral called nephrite jade, hard and difficult to work with, but much prized by the Maori. Note that "Te Wai Pounamu" could also be translated as "the [place] of greenstone water(s)". There is also an argument that the name was originally "Te Wahi Pounamu" which means "The place of greenstone", corrupted to the current name over the years. An alternative name for the South Island was "Te Waka a Maui", meaning "the canoe of Maui". According to Maori mythology, Maui went fishing and caught (raised from the sea) the North Island ("Te Ika a Maui" or "The fish of Maui") while sitting on the South Island - which was his canoe. Greenstone is, in fact, only found in a few places in New Zealand, with the main source being the Taramakau/Arahura watershed on the West Coast of the South Island.

It is found nowhere in the North Island. All Maori prized greenstone highly for its hardness and for the beauty of the finished items that were made from it. It was costly to obtain in the North Island because of the difficulty of extracting it and transporting it over any distance. Anyone who had a greenstone necklace or weapon therefore gained status (or "mana") from the mere fact of its possession. Today most greenstone products are sold as souvenirs, but they are still costly.

Answer: Seddon

Ward and Wharanui are several miles to the south of Grassmere, and there is no town called Dashwood at all. Seddon was named after Richard John Seddon, Liberal Prime Minister between 1893 and his death in 1906. Seddon was a larger than life character, a very able political operator and quite autocratic.

He touted democracy in public speeches, but would tolerate none of it within his Cabinet or any government department for which he was responsible. This dictatorial tendency led to him being known, strictly behind his back of course, as "King Dick".

He oversaw, reluctantly, the bill introducing votes for women in 1893, but perhaps his most outstanding political achievement was the introduction of the old age pension. He would have been completely disgusted that such a small town was named after him!

Answer: Haast

The Lewis Pass is in northern Canterbury and is the lowest of the roaded passes over the Alps. It was named after Henry Lewis, the Nelson surveyor who discovered it in the 1860s. Arthur's Pass is the highest of the roaded passes and was discovered by Arthur Dobson, who was a surveyor in Canterbury and who later married Lewis' daughter and whose sister later married Julius von Haast. The Whitcombe Pass was first crossed by a surveyor, J.H. Baker, accompanied by Samuel Butler, the author of "Erewhon". It was named after J.H. Whitcombe, yet another surveyor!

Sir Julius von Haast was a tireless explorer and penetrated the heads of many, if not most, of Canterbury's large rivers. He was employed as the Canterbury Provincial Geologist. Although he was not academically qualified, he was a keen observer of nature and became a leading expert on glaciation. His work on this subject was much sought-after in Europe. He was also an authority on surveying, agriculture, botany and biology. Much of what he wrote on these subjects remains the basis for today's New Zealand studies in those areas. He was also interested in music and the arts and sang in public from time to time. He could be considered to be something of a Rennaissance man. But there was a less likeable side to the man. He was also a tireless self-advertiser and avidly sought public acknowledgement of his abilities and the honours that he thought he deserved. He had himself elected to the Royal Society, and acquired two honorary doctorates as well as the knighthood. He named the pass he "discovered" after himself, even though it is believed he must have known that Charles Cameron, a gold prospector, more than likely crossed the pass before him. The problem was that he probably DID deserve the honours he received despite this!

Answer: Tramway

Trams were always one of the more fun forms of transport and many European cities still use them extensively. Dublin has even built a brand new tram line, the LUAS, in recent years. The tram and cable car lines were torn up throughout New Zealand in the 1950s and replaced with buses, probably because they were seen as "more modern". Christchurch has had the gumption to realise what it was missing and has spent a lot of time and resources to restore a loop track around the centre of the city, with beautifully restored vintage trams running on it.

It became a major tourist attraction in 1995. Unfortunately, the tramway ceased running when the earthquake hit Christchurch in 2011. After being off the tracks for over 1,000 days, the trams went back into service to the delight of locals and tourists alike.

Answer: Mt Tasman

Mt Tasman is 3,497 m or 11,473 ft high, and is reputedly harder to climb than Mt Cook. Unlike Mt Cook, it sits on the Main Divide (the mountain chain dividing the eastern South Island from the western side). It was first climbed in 1895.

Answer: Mackenzie Country

The Mackenzie Country is high sheep country, although these days it is more famous, perhaps, for its hydro-electric schemes. It encompasses three large natural lakes, Pukaki, Tekapo and Ohau, plus Lake Benmore, which is a hydro lake. It is a popular holiday area for people who like mountains and lakes and brown grass and hillsides.

It gets very hot in the summer and bitterly cold in the winter. You pass through the Mackenzie Country on your way to Mt Cook by road. Lake Pukaki is unusual in that its water is a pale shade of emerald green rather than blue. Lake Tekapo is probably best known for the Church of the Good Shepherd, built on a small peninsula in the lake. I assume it wasn't named in honour of Mr Mackenzie, who only just escaped a richly-deserved hanging for his pecadillos!

Answer: Landsborough

William Landsborough was the first European to cross Australia from north to south (Stuart's return journey arrived a couple of months later). The Landsborough River can be travelled by inflatable raft by the very fit and adventurous, and the trip takes you past a number of small glaciers which feed the river and are responsible for its large water volume.

It takes about three days to travel from the headwaters to the Haast River.

Answer: Hawea

Lake Hawea doesn't enjoy Wanaka's fairly reliable climate. The northerlies howl down the lake, funnelled by the mountains around the fringe of the lake, and sweep over the terminal moraine on which Lake Hawea Township is built. However on a nice day it's a very pleasant and picturesque place to be, indeed. People who are prepared to sacrifice lake views for a more equable climate bought properties around Hawea Flat, a few miles south of the lake itself.

There is less wind there, and the high rainfall that the lake suffers because of its surrounding mountains doesn't affect Hawea Flats to the same extent.

Answer: True

Prior to being renamed Queenstown, the town was called The Camp, which was the name given to it by the first person to settle on the bay, W. H. Rees. It's not clear whether it was named after Queen Victoria or whether it was simply seen as having a view "fit for a queen". I have seen arguments for both!

Answer: Aluminium smelting

Tiwai Point was New Zealand's first aluminium smelter. It was built across the harbour from Bluff because Bluff is a good deep-sea port and because of its proximity to the large amounts of power that were promised from Manapouri and which are required for smelting aluminium from bauxite ore.

The bauxite is imported from Queensland in Australia, processed at Tiwai and then the alumina output is re-exported to Australia. Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time and revitalised Invercargill which, prior to Tiwai Point being built, was pretty much in a state of terminal stagnation.

Answer: Takahe

Takahe are rather endearing-looking blue-black and olive green birds with pink legs and bills. They are rather passive and don't really seem to mind being kept in captivity. They are extremely inefficient digesters of their food and a takahe trail is usually easily spotted because of the strings of half-digested grass lying on it.

They are flightless unlike their close cousins, the pukeko, although they have quite large wings.

Answer: Mt Aurum

Scene of some of the richest finds during the Otago gold rush in the 1860s, the landscape of the Skippers area as it is now seen bears very little resemblance to the way it looked prior to the attentions of the gold-mining fraternity. Millions of ounces of gold were extracted from Skippers Creek and surrounding creeks.

It was also one of the most long-lived of the gold-mining areas in New Zealand. A quartz-gold mine, the Bullendale, was worked until well into the 20th century and the Bullendale township was one of the first lit by surplus electricity generated for the mine. Like most of Central Otago, the area can be exhaustingly hot during the summer and bitterly cold in winter.

Answer: 1848

The ships arrived a fortnight apart during a period of most atypical calm, dry weather which enabled them to get ashore and to build "barracks" - with single men at one end, single women at the other, and with the married couples separating them. Most of the timber for the buildings was milled from the bush immediately behind the mudflats where they landed. For the next 13 years the town grew steadily but slowly, with further infusions of immigrants arriving at irregular intervals.

But in 1861 gold was discovered 50 miles from Dunedin, and everything changed, almost literally overnight.

By the end of 1862, Dunedin was the largest and wealthiest town in the colony.

Answer: Bluff Oysters

Mmmm...Bluff oysters...mmm. I can't claim that they are the best in the world because I haven't tried all the others, but they are extremely nice. And most oyster lovers in New Zealand seem to agree with me! Oysters are dredged up from the floor of Foveaux Strait on a strict quota system to preserve the fishery. Low supply and high demand has driven the price of these delicacies out of the everyday reach of most people. I remember when you could buy a sack of oysters (about 50 dozen oysters) straight off the boats for £5 or so!