Beyond Wellington Heads, across the blue open Straits, a grey shadowed outline of the South Island forms a barrier on the far horizon. Towering above the north-east coast of the distant mainland are the Kaikoura Mountains, climbing to over 9,400 feet. From a jumble of foothills rough spurs join broken ridges which form a majestic massif crowned by Tapuaenuku, 9,467 feet, our highest mountain beyond the Southern Alps.

From Wellington many have admired the stately symmetry of this beautiful mountain rising from a base veiled in a soft blue summer haze, or later, when clear winter air sharpens distant views, the frozen icy walls guarding the snowy dome glisten and shine, and high above, the tower of the magnificent peak pierces an azure sky. From Tapauaenuku the main inland Kaikoura Range runs south to Mt. Alarm 9,400 feet, Mitre 8,600 feet, and a chain of peaks and pinnacles fade into the far south. The seaward range forms an eastern boundary and to the west a maze of hills and valleys, ridges and gorges, form a veritable “terra incognita.” For generations Maoris of the Kaikoura coast have known and respected their great peak—Tapuaenuku, which may be translated to the pakeha tongue as, “Footsteps of the Rainbow.”