Tapuae-o-Uenuku, formerly Mount Tapuaenuku, is the highest peak in the northeast 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 ...

. The name translates from

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

as "footprint of the rainbow", though is usually regarded as being named after Chief Tapuaenuku. At it is the highest mountain in New Zealand outside the main ranges of the

Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana The Southern Alps (; officially Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana) is a mountain range extending along much of the length of New Zealand's South Island, reaching its greatest elevations near the range's western side. The name "Southern ...

, and over 80 metres taller than Mount Ruapehu, the tallest peak in the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

Mount Tapuaenuku Tapuae-o-Uenuku New Zealand Aotearoa

It dominates the Inland Kaikōura Range, rising high above the valleys of the Waiau Toa / Clarence and Awatere Rivers. It can be seen from as far away as the Kapiti Coast in the North Island, nearly 165 kilometres away, and is a prominent point on the horizon for travellers on the interisland ferries that ply Cook Strait. The first European to sight the mountain was

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

, who called it ''Mount Odin'', but later nicknamed it "The Watcher" since his ship seemed to be visible from it at so many points along the coast. The first Europeans to attempt to climb the mountain were Edward John Eyre,

Lieutenant-Governor of New Munster New Munster was an early original European name for the South Island of New Zealand, given by the Governor of New Zealand, Captain William Hobson, in honour of Munster, the Irish province in which he was born. Province When New Zealand was sepa ...

, and

William John Warburton Hamilton William John Warburton Hamilton (April 1825 – 6 December 1883), who generally signed as J. W. Hamilton, was an administrator, explorer, and politician in New Zealand. Early life Hamilton was born in 1825 at Little Chart, Kent, England. His fa ...

, in 1849. They came within a short distance of the summit but were forced to turn back.''Wise's New Zealand Guide.'' (1969). Dunedin: H. Wise and Co. (N.Z.). Tappy, as the locals call it, was the springboard for legendary mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary's climbing career that took him to be the first person to reach the summit of Mt Everest. "I'd climbed a decent mountain at last," Sir Ed said of his weekend solo climb in 1944, while training with the Royal New Zealand Air Force in Marlborough during WW2.

Notes

External links

Tapuae-o-Uenuku at PeakBagger.com

Tapuae-o-Uenuku at theprow.org.nz
Tapuae-o-Uenuku Kaikōura District {{Marlborough-geo-stub

See also

Notes

External links