The Mātukituki River is a short
braided river
A braided river, or braided channel, consists of a network of river channels separated by small, often temporary, islands called braid bars or, in English usage, ''aits'' or ''eyots''.
Braided streams tend to occur in rivers with high sediment l ...
in the
Southern Alps of
New Zealand's
South Island
The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...
. Both its West Branch and East Branch originate from the Main Divide mountain ranges near
Mount Aspiring / Tititea. Their largely glacier-fed waters each flow for approximately before joining near Camerons Flat. After this confluence, the Mātukituki River leaves the boundaries of
Mount Aspiring National Park and continues for another to exit into
Lake Wānaka at the lake's southwestern edge.
Six glaciers feed tributary streams to the Mātukituki River, the largest being the Upper Volta Glacier,
Rob Roy Glacier
The Rob Roy Glacier is a small hanging glacier in the Southern Alps of New Zealand's South Island. It is located within the Mount Aspiring National Park, south of Mount Aspiring / Tititea.
The glacier covers the steep slopes of the mountains s ...
, Maud Francis Glacier, and the Avalanche Glacier.
From Camerons Flat onwards, the river is increasingly braided until it passes through a narrow gorge and under the West Wanaka bridge just before Lake Wānaka.
History
Most of the Southern Alps started over 220 million years ago as sediment and rock on top of volcanic rocks on the seafloor. Intense heat and pressure consolidated the rock, and then uplifted it to form the Main Divide. The present landscape was shaped by glacial processes during the
ice ages, when huge glaciers filled and scoured out the valleys.
The area around Mount Aspiring, called Tititea by the
Māori, has a long history of Māori tribes coming from as far as Coastal Otago and the Foveaux Strait to the inland lakes to collect
kākāpō,
kererū,
kākā and
tūī from the forest.
Moa would have also have lived along the forest edges for the first 200 years of Māori settlement.
The historic Māori ''
iwi'' (tribes) of
Kāti Māmoe and
Ngāi Tahu both had named settlements around the shores of Lakes Wanaka and
Hāwea, including Nehenehe on the northern banks of the mouth of the Mātukituki River, which they called "Mātakitaki".
[
] Ovens for cooking
''tī kōuka'' (cabbage tree) roots have been found at several sites on the lake shore.
Ngāi Tahu recorded Mātakitaki as a (food-gathering place) for (eels), (cabbage tree root), and (bracken fernroot).
The first European to see Mount Aspiring was government surveyor John Turnbull Thompson in 1857. The West Mātukituki Valley was explored by
James Hector in 1862. Sheep and cattle farming began progressing up the valley in the 1870s.
Fauna and flora
Today,
beech
Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...
is the dominant forest in the Mātukituki Valley.
Red beech Red beech is a common name applied to several species of trees:
*'' Dillenia alata'', native to Northern Australia and New Guinea
*'' Fuscospora fusca'', native to New Zealand
*'' Protorhus longifolia'', native to South Africa
{{Plant common n ...
prefers warmer valley sites, and is common just below
Aspiring Hut.
Silver beech grows increasingly towards the wetter, western end of the valley, while
mountain beech
''Nothofagus solandri'' var. ''cliffortioides'', commonly called mountain beech ( mi, tawhai rauriki), is a species of Southern beech tree and is endemic to New Zealand. Mountain beech grows in mountainous regions at high altitudes. In New Zeal ...
dominates the drier, eastern end. The understory of the typically open forests supports a variety of ferns and mosses. Above the tree line, at about , stunted, sub-alpine shrub land gives way to alpine tussock grasslands and fell fields.
Insect-eating birds such as
piwakawaka
The New Zealand fantail (''Rhipidura fuliginosa'') is a small insectivorous bird, the only species of fantail in New Zealand. It has four subspecies: ''R. f. fuliginosa'' in the South Island, ''R. f. placabilis'' in the North Island, ''R. f. pen ...
,
tomtit and
rifleman thrive in the beech forest, whereas the seed-eating
kākāriki specifically prefers areas of red beech.
Paradise shelduck thrive on the river flats, and in summer,
spur-winged plover and
oystercatchers are a common sight on farmland and along the drive from Wanaka. The valley is also home to
kea,
whio
The blue duck or whio (''Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos'') is a member of the duck, goose and swan family Anatidae endemic to New Zealand. It is the only member of the genus ''Hymenolaimus''. Its exact taxonomic status is still unresolved, but i ...
,
South Island robin,
rock wren, the
South Island long tailed bat, and several species of lizards.
Tourism
The Mātukituki River valley is home to a ski resort (
Treble Cone), a
jetboat operator (River Journeys) and numerous tramping (walking) trails providing access to landmarks such as the Rob Roy Glacier and the
Dart Saddle. The unsealed Wanaka - Mount Aspiring Road follows the river's true right for most of its course, past the confluence of the East Branch and West Branch, and part-way along the West Branch to a
Department of Conservation NZ car park at the Raspberry Creek shelter.
The most popular walk in the area is the Rob Roy Glacier walk, which leads up a side valley to a view point beneath Rob Roy Glacier. The walking track crosses the Mātukituki River West Branch over a
swing bridge.
References
External links
{{coord, 44, 35, S, 168, 55, E, display=title, region:NZ_type:river_source:GNS-enwiki
Rivers of Otago
Mount Aspiring National Park
Rivers of New Zealand
Tributaries of the Clutha River