Attraction of the skies
Ever wondered why Tekapo seems fixed in time, never developing despite its spectacular location? That is suddenly changing. And it could be the new icon of Asian tourism. JOHN MCCRONE reports.
People come to Tekapo and its awesome silence and darkness is a major spiritual experience. ‘It blows them away.’
Graeme Murray is all excited. His big telescope – a proper 9 metre, 9 tonne, ex-Victorian era monster – arrives in Tekapo on Thursday. Made in the 1890s for the University of Pennsylvania, donated to Canterbury University in 1963 for its Mt John observatory up on the knob above the lake, this historic beast was never used and has been left gathering dust in Christchurch’s Yaldhurst Museum.
‘‘It was so complicated putting it up on Mt John that it was never built there. It’s been sitting around in big boxes and crates,’’ says Murray.
Now the 45cm lens Brashear refractor is to be the centrepiece of his new Earth and Sky star-gazing tourist attraction about to be built prime lakefront, under its own dome, right in Tekapo village.
Other places have their planetariums, Murray exclaims, but Tekapo is getting the real deal.
Actually Murray has about 101 reasons to be excited – picking up a gong from the Governor-General the other week, a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Mackenzie Basin tourism, being just one more of them.
Little Tekapo is finally happening, he says. After two previous abortive attempts over the past decade, its lakefront is at last being carved up for commercial development. Right now the bulldozers are ripping up the domain in front of Tekapo’s rather tired strip of shops and hotels to make space for a whole row of new buildings.
Murray’s Earth and Sky venture is getting its in-town base with a telescope and education centre to complement the star-gazing operations he has been running up on Mt John with Japanese partner Hide Ozawa since 2004.
Then more millions are being spent on a new supermarket, a new youth hostel, a new complex of restaurants, shops and offices. The commercial area is being turned around to face the view and create a true village centre.
The sale of the land, owned by Mackenzie District Council, should also help pay to tidy up the tatty domain frontage. A playground, community lawn, shrub plantings and jetty boardwalk are planned.
Even the long delayed $2m footbridge across the Tekapo river, a safe pedestrian connection to the Church of the Good Shepherd, is just weeks away from being delivered, the steel sections about to be driven up from Christchurch in a convoy of 50 trucks. So Tekapo is all go, Murray says.
The first public indication that things were finally starting to happen for this oddly underdeveloped town, a 1930s hydro-construction village stuck in time, was the successful re-opening of Roundhill as a family-friendly ski resort a few years back.
Then an ice rink and hot pools venture appeared by the old camp grounds and some flash Queenstown-style housing subdivisions began to run riot up the hillsides above the highway, the sections selling so fast that you had to wonder what had been holding this lakeside resort back so long.
But there are other developments coming the public are yet to hear about, says Murray. An industrial zone on the outskirts of town to cope with what could be rampant growth. Not one but two luxury hotels to be built by an expat developer with his finger on the pulse of the Asian market.
Indeed, Murray confesses, he is feeling a little worried now. The world could grow too crazy for what Tekapo has to offer. Tekapo might be on the verge of its Big Bang moment.
It is the dark skies. Murray says nowhere else on the planet can you find a town with such black nights that also happens to be smack bang on a main highway tourist route. And it has a legitimate observatory.
Tekapo’s dark skies are a lucky accident of history. In 1981, the council agreed to a town ordinance that restricted bright and unshielded lighting to protect the observatory’s viewing.
And because the village was also effectively land-locked – Murray says Tekapo could not in fact grow as all the land right up to its boundaries was owned by the Crown and controlled by the army, the hydro generators, the local leasehold farmers – no real pressure was put on to reverse these conditions.
So Tekapo has a selling point that is unique even in New Zealand. Like a Wanaka, Queenstown or Te Anau, it has the lakefront, the snow-capped ranges, the barren Alpine splendour.
But then it has this extra of a brilliant starry sky, a window on the immensity of the Universe itself, that blazes once the sun sets. And as a resort, its development is only just getting started.
The Asian market especially is mad for what Tekapo has to offer, says Murray. There, people are crammed into big bright cities and can live a whole life without knowing what the Milky Way actually looks like. They come to Tekapo and its awesome silence and darkness is
a major spiritual experience. ‘‘It blows them away. It can even be quite scary.’’
So since Tekapo’s corner of the Mackenzie Basin became officially recognised in 2012 as a 4300 sq km Dark Sky Reserve, a park in the sky – and there is talk of escalating that to full Unesco world heritage site status – the village has been put on the international map in a way most Kiwis still do not realise, says Murray.
‘‘Air New Zealand did a survey of their premium market in Japan, and 72 per cent said they would come down to see the stars. The next highest level of interest was 46 per cent who said they would come down to see the glaciers. Everything else was below that.’’
Likewise in China, Murray says, the image of the diminutive Church of the Good Shepherd almost being crushed by the weight of a million stars has become what they know best about New Zealand. China’s biggest social media site has put Tekapo at number 10 of a world travel bucket list that includes the likes of the Pyramids and Eiffel Tower.
Out of nowhere in a few years, Tekapo has become the country’s single most potent drawcard, says Murray. And as he lives right next to the church, doesn’t he know it.
Murray says he shouldn’t say it, but he has lost his rag a few times when the crowds outside the church have got out of hand at 2 am.
‘‘I have to blame myself for this because we started the star-gazing. But often we can’t sleep at night for the number of visitors. There are 100 cars parked there sometimes.’’
Murray says they are all trying to capture that photograph, so they use their car lights to illuminate the church while they snap selfies against the field of stars. If Tekapo does get world heritage status as a sky park, Murray says the pressure from tourism could really get out of hand.
So Tekapo seems perfectly poised, halfway along the stretch of highway between Christchurch and Queenstown which now sees nearly 2 million travellers a year. They form a potential river of gold if instead of just stopping for a pie and pitstop, they could be persuaded to stay a few of nights for some star-gazing, hot pooling, fine dining and retail therapy.
But can Tekapo align the stars and control its development?
Several days spent talking to Tekapo’s movers and shakers suggest there are reasons to believe yes.
It is quickly pointed out that another thing unusual about Tekapo’s situation – making it different from the Wanakas and Queenstowns – is that the local landowning farmers, working hand in hand with the Mackenzie District Council, are in the position to make choices about the rate of development.
And also there is a general Environment Court-supported process – plan change 13 – which is in the middle of designating the area around Tekapo as an outstanding natural landscape. That is likely to place its own tight restrictions on what can happen next.
Yet money and ambition have a way of wanting to do their own thing. So what is the story of this village, stuck on a population of just 400 for the last 50 years, once you start checking its new plans?
To be frank, Tekapo is looking a little dismal when I check in. The ski season has just closed. The wind is biting, the clouds are closing in. Even the irrepressible Murray admits his stargazing only has completely clear nights around 60 per cent of the year.
Worse, the lakefront itself is a trampled mess with Fulton Hogan’s diggers firing up right outside the motel door from 7am. And from the locals, I soon hear the grumbles.
It’s a stitch-up between the council and the farmers, they say. A closed shop. And we were expecting a terraced approach with the new development dropped down below the old to preserve the outlook. Instead it is all up on this one level platform they are extending out across the domain.
Then what idiot town decides to put a New World supermarket slap in the middle of its lakefront view, not to mention give its youth hostel another of the primo spots a few doors down?
So much for the ‘‘major spiritual experience’’ that the Earth and Sky telescope dome is suppose to create once it is the meat in this ill-considered commercial sandwich.
It is looking a hotchpotch. Yet the same complainers also quickly agree that
Air New Zealand did a survey of their premium market in Japan, and 72 per cent said they would come down to see the stars. The next highest level of interest was 46 per cent who said they would come down to see the glaciers. Everything else was below that.
at least something is happening for Tekapo. Outsiders might not realise it, but its development has been stifled too long.
Tekapo councillor Murray Cox and Mackenzie district mayor Claire Barlow, who represent the Tekapo Property Group, an ad hoc committee made up of the council, local business interests and hired planning consultants, explain.
They say the village’s problem is that it has indeed lacked the room to grow. For many years, the military camp controlled the land right up to the Western boundary. That changed about 12 years ago with a land swap which gave Balmoral Station farmer Andrew Simpson freehold ownership of one whole undeveloped flank.
Sawdon Station belonging to Robert Allan was similarly sorted to make developable land available on its Eastern edge. This is why the new housing subdivisions could get started.
Then to solve the problem of a lack of commercial land to expand the village centre, the council agreed to sell off part of the lake frontage. Actually this was not a smooth process, Cox and Barlow admit.
The history of it was that Auckland developer Jim Speedy, owner of the Lake Tekapo camping ground, got into private talks with the council about redeveloping the whole frontage as a single project in
the early 2000s. That did cause a ruckus when news leaked out. Misaddressed emails to the village petrol station revealed backroom deals were brewing. The council had to backtrack and start a public consultation process which eventually produced a Tekapo vision document in 2004.
This set up a second debacle. To play fair, the council granted existing landowners first right of refusal to the new plots immediately in front of their businesses.
But then local farmer Michael Burtscher – a member of the shrewd Burtscher clan, owners of the ski field and hot pool developments, and connected to the wealthy Todd family through mother Audrey – quietly bought up nearly the whole existing strip of shops and motels in Tekapo.
Came the time and the council found Burtscher in the cat seat, again proposing to develop the whole frontage as a single private project.
Cox says there was nothing against Burtscher’s general proposal when consent was first applied for in 2007. His cohesive Alpine village concept could have been quite spectacular.
Yet there were sticking points like Burtscher wanting a mix of lakefront apartments and commercial development when the community felt commercial land was in too short supply to waste that way. Others objected that Burtscher seemed to be trying to corner the emerging star-gazing market for himself by starting his own observatory venture.
However Cox says the council’s main concern was the risk of relying on one developer and being left with a black hole if the grand project tipped over. And indeed, then came the global financial crisis (GFC), which saw Burtscher withdraw saying it had all become too difficult.
So for a decade, when it might have looked like Tekapo lacked any desire to change, it was simply struggling to get into gear, says Cox.
The residential subdivisions and resorts like Peppers Bluewater did get going around the time of the GFC.
Andrew Simpson, who carved off a slice of his property on the edge of town to create the Cairns development, says the speed at which the sections were snapped up amazed even him. He is opening up stage three now.
‘‘What the lake can offer is every bit as good as Queenstown or Wanaka. And its proximity to Christchurch is a real drawcard. But we didn’t realise how much demand was going to be there. So that was a pleasant surprise.’’
He says almost all are professional folk from Christchurch who see Tekapo as a comfortable drive to somewhere they can ski on winter weekends, swim, boat or fish through-out the summer.
There are orthodontists and surgeons, pilots and owners of Christchurch hire equipment firms and engineering consultancies. Simpson knows the story of every sale and he says Tekapo is building up a high-powered community.
Cox says Sawdon Station has been just as successful on the other side of Tekapo where the equally upmarket Lochinver Run has appeared. And with the way Tekapo’s hillsides slope nicely back from the lakefront, there is a lot of room for further subdivision in a way that is not obtrusive.
But getting back to the village centre, Burtscher’s grand scheme had fallen away by 2008.
Burtscher sold off most of his holdings apart from the Godley Hotel and retreated back up to the top of the lake to concentrate on farming the family runs. At this point, says Cox, the council felt forced to step in and lead a third go at getting the lakefront developed.
Mackenzie mayor Barlow says there were the grumbles that the council did not simply throw the lakefront on the open market. However it wanted to retain control over the look of the new building and the kind of businesses being attracted.
‘‘We also needed to be sure it would be bought and actually developed, not just land-banked.’’ So there are some strict conditions – like buyers having to start building within a year and completing within two years.
Barlow says the council hired in expertise – Hughes Development of Christchurch to handle negotiations, Boffa Miskell and Aurecon to do the landscape and roading masterplan. The property group was formed from any buyers who registered an interest.
Barlow says Burtscher is still involved and with his stake in the Godley Hotel could well end up doing a cut down version of his original proposal out front of that. But the council is having to move with those able to make a commitment.
Foodstuffs wants a New World supermarket to replace its old service station Four Square. Building it lakeside has caused a stir. Yet thinking about it from a tourist point of view, what better way is there of getting the passing traffic to stop and consider all Tekapo has to offer, she asks? ‘‘And they’re not going to do too well if they put a real eyesore there.’’
Barlow says the youth hostel is again an existing local business with a need to move and expand. It has promised the development will be special to match the location. Then Earth and Sky is a third secure development.
Barlow says it is ending up as rather a mix of projects. However care has been taken to maintain view corridors between buildings and keep the parking tidy. And most important, this time the developments will happen.
Tekapo is going to double its centre in a couple of years. And as soon as the smart new lakefront buildings appear, the original straggle of highway development is bound to get a makeover in turn. You are not going to recognise the place the next time you drive through, Barlow says.
It is clear the ambitions are queued up for Tekapo. It is not often that a gem of a location comes so suddenly on the market. And there are other unseen forces at play.
Christchurch city has its own little strategic game going on with Queenstown over who gets the tourist dollar. Auckland Airport buying a quarter stake in Queenstown Airport has sent a shudder through Christchurch business circles, as has Air New Zealand’s plan to hub its international flights out of Auckland.
There is a battle as to who gets to be the gateway to the South Island’s scenic attractions. So Tekapo is suddenly significant not just because it is set to become the new smart holiday home destination for Cantabrians but also because that night sky drawcard becomes something Christchurch can really push.
Already it has proved vital in persuading Asian airlines to add services to Christchurch Airport.
Then the outside money is also starting to get excited about Tekapo’s potential. Expat developer Tony Tosswill, who owns a resort in Malaysia, is hoping to build two luxury hotels.
He says one is to be down on council lakefront land further around from the village centre, aimed at the Asian coach party market, the other is to be a five star resort with private viewing platforms up on the hill.
Tosswill says his hotels alone could add 900 extra visitors a night to the Tekapo. And that will have a knock-on effect because of all the staff and support that will be required. The village will soon be needing a doctor, a chemist, a hardware store, and plenty more worker accommodation.
Balmoral’s Simpson is already looking ahead to that next stage, saying he has earmarked a further slice of his land on the Western boundary which could be zoned for light industrial use. Somewhere for the future workshops and builders yards to go.
This ability of Simpson to feed out lumps of development at his choosing is something that makes a few nervous. ‘‘Simpson is the real king-maker of the piece,’’ says Murray.
But he says both Simpson and Sawdon’s Allan are locals with a passion to see Tekapo do well. And their control means that unlike Wanaka and Queenstown, where developers jumped about the landscape to wherever they could buy some plot of land, the village ought to be able to grow in organised stages, not tie itself in ugly knots.
So what if the tourist pressure does get too extreme? There is talk of charging cars $5 to go up to the University observatory pretty soon. The winding road is crumbling under the weight of sometimes a thousand visitors a day.
Murray says he does fear development could spoil the very thing that is special about Tekapo. But there is scope to spread the feast around. Twizel and Aoraki/Mt Cook are establishing stargazing. Twizel just needs to work on its lighting.
Barlow agrees, saying even humble Fairlie is likely to get in on the act. Fairlie now has 100 holiday homes and is a base for many of Tekapo’s workers. The town has a strategy to advertise itself as the Mackenzie gateway and be the ‘‘freedom camper friendly’’ alternative. Barlow says Tekapo is going to be high end, but there are other ways to tap the passing river of gold.
So Tekapo is on the move. It may even be going supernova as it becomes identified as the place on the planet to look up at the night sky. But the changes are largely welcomed. The locals say it is about time the village was allowed to get going as it should.
Almost all are professional folk from Christchurch who see Tekapo as a comfortable drive to somewhere they can ski on winter weekends, swim, boat or fish through-out the summer.