| Twizel | |
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Twizel
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Region | Canterbury |
| Territorial authority | Mackenzie District |
| Population (2006)[1] | |
| • Total | 1,017 |
| Time zone | NZST (UTC+12) |
| • Summer (DST) | NZDT (UTC+13) |
Twizel is a town in the Mackenzie Basin, part of the Mackenzie District of the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. Its residential population is 1,017, but in summer the population more than triples. It also is the venue for the maadi rowing cup.
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Twizel was built in 1968 as a greenfields project to service the Upper Waitaki Hydroelectricity Scheme and was intended to be removed once the project had been completed. However, in 1983 its residents successfully fought to save the town. At the height of the project in the 1970s, the population peaked at around 6,000.
Prior to 1968, where Twizel now stands was farmland. The town was laid out in a 'Scandinavian' fashion, where the shops, school, and recreational parkland formed a hub in the centre of the town, around which the residential area lay. This design style features looping roads and pedestrian ways, making it usually far more direct to walk than use a car. A previous version of this layout had been tried at Otematata. It was intended that the houses for the engineers would be built near Lake Pukaki but they were built in Twizel. Accommodation was highly segregated: in addition to singlemen's quarters in the middle of town, there was a series of different houses available, with the smallest for workers, staff houses for teachers and professionals, and the largest for engineers and other high-status residents. Most houses were prefabricated, and intended to be portable. Some were brought from Otematata, and some were moved to Clyde for the next hydroelectricity project.
Because the intention was for the town to be reverted to farmland, there were many 'temporary' features. For example, instead of putting in kerbing, channels, and footpaths at the edge of the road, a single expanse of seal was contoured in a very flat 'W' shape: the seal was highest at the outer edge (footpath) and in the middle (centreline), with a lower area serving as a channel and delineation between the roadway and footpath.
Twizel is a now a service and tourist town for visitors. Nearby Lake Ruataniwha supports sailing, water skiing and prominent rowing events, such as the Maadi Cup, while the Ohau Skifield and the Round Hill Ski Area attract winter tourists.
The area boasts one of the world's cleanest, driest and darkest skies, and has long drawn astronomers to Twizel and the surrounding area, with several existing astro-tourism ventures, such as at Lake Tekapo and Omarama catering to their needs, while two additional observatories are under development, in Twizel and at Mount Cook Village.
Twizel will be on the route of the Alps to Ocean Cycle Trail,[2] to be constructed in the following years after approval in 2010.
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