The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 7, Issue 3 (July 1, 1932)

[section]

(Photo courtesy J. Aston.) Hanmer Plain, South Island, New Zealand.

(Photo courtesy J. Aston.)
Hanmer Plain, South Island, New Zealand.

A thousand feet above sea-level, enclosed in a snow-tipped ring of hills and ranges, the Hanmer Plain, with its warm mineral waters of healing and its pleasant and health-bringing climate, has a high reputation as the Spa of the South Island. It is particularly a resort for city people who seek a quiet and nerve-resting change.

Mani-Rauhea, which means “Plain of the Shining Tussock,” is the old Maori name of Hanmer Plain, set high in the sheep-country where North Canterbury merges into South Marlborough. “ Mani” is short for “ mania,” a level expanse of land, and “ rauhea” is the fine tussock of the highlands inland which has now largely been supplanted by English grasses on the plains. This name (which has not been placed on record by any other writer) was given me by Ngai-Tahu Maoris of the old generation. They had snared weka, or wood-hens, on the plains in the days of their youth, and had helped the white pioneers at sheep-shearing time; they knew also the qualities of the hot springs as waters that soothed weary bodies and soaked out rheumatism. They recalled with admiration the sight which the Hanmer Plain and beyond presented sixty years ago or so when the lone prairie of native grass, with never a tree to break it, was set all quivering and shining by the mountain wind.