Twizel is a new town - new in that it was constructed as recently as 1968, and "New Town" is the planning definition for the modern layout of the streets, facilities and amenities.

Twizel's layout is based on a Scandinavian concept first used in New Zealand at Mangakino (another 'hydro town') and modified at Otematata - base for the Benmore and Aviemore power projects in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

24km of streets were laid in a radial pattern from a central ring road - Mackenzie Drive. Shopping and sporting facilities are centrally located with green areas linking streets to provide safe pedestrian ways to the town centre. Twizel was designed for a peak population of 5,800 and there were 1300 sections occupied in 1977.

Almost all facilities and services that supported the town at the peak of the power project remain, with others, such as the redevelopment of Market Place and installation of solar heating at the swimming pool , have been added since.

Today Twizel is a service and tourist town in the Mackenzie Basin with a residential population of approximately 1200 people.
Popular as a holiday town, in summer the population more than trebles.

The "hydro age" has seen the biggest change - millions of trees planted in the riverbeds and areas restored after hydro construction.
Twizel is the focus of that work - with more than 250,000 trees in the Greenbelt and species, chosen to tone down the greys and browns of the Basin, planted within the town.

Residents were encouraged to plant more trees on their own properties. The results are now obvious in the shelter provided against the equinox winds.

THE MACKENZIE BASIN
The Mackenzie Basin is located in the middle of the South Island at an average of more than 300 meters above sea level. It contains Lakes such as Tekapo, Alexandrina, Pukaki, Ohau, Ruataniwha and Benmore. Because of the fact that the Basin is surrounded by mountain ranges it has a very distinct climate. The Mackenzie Basin is named after the legendary Scottish shepherd James Mackenzie. In 1857 the 704,000 hectares of the Basin was divided among runholders who mainly run merino sheep.

Twizel
Before the white settler came the coastal Maoris used to migrate to the Basin for the hot summers. They quarried stone and hunted moa. There is evidence that the Basin was once covered with Totara Forest. A reforestation programme for the Basin is underway. The Mackenzie Basin is accessible from Christchurch through Burke's Pass, from Queenstown through the Lindis Pass and from the East Coast through the Waitaki Valley via the Otematata Saddle.

You can take a scenic flight from Lake Tekapo and Mt Cook giving you superb views over the Southern Alps and its surrounds. Your ski-plane can actually land on the Tasman Glacier to make your flight truly unforgettable. All sorts of ski options are available, including heli-skiing and ski touring, with experienced guides at your disposal. They can take you climbing, tramping and snowboarding. For an unrivalled experience, the guides can even take you on a glacier exploration adventure.

Omarama
Omarama has one of the world’s finest gliding environments, mountains, clear air and favourable atmospheric conditions all combining to create perfect soaring. Omarama Airfield has been home to aviation giants Steve Fossett and NASA, and also hosted the 1995 World Gliding Championships.

Lake Tekapo
The beautiful turquoise waters of Lake Tekapo, contrasted by the snow-capped peaks of the Southern Alps and surrounding yellow-tussock farmland, are sure to take your breath away. Visit the picture-perfect Church of the Good Shepherd or enjoy some waterskiing on Lake Tekapo.

Fairlie
Chief town of inland South Canterbury, 62 km north-west of Timaru. It had a 2006 population of 717, down from 846 in 1996. It lies on the upper Opihi River at the junction of State Highway 79, from Rangitata via Geraldine, and State Highway 8, from Washdyke and Timaru. Fairlie plays a role in the tourist industry and is the service town for the Fairlie basin including the farming districts of Clayton, Ashwick Flat and Sherwood Downs. It is the seat of the Mackenzie District and the site of Mackenzie College, a co-educational secondary school.

Burkes Pass
Main point of entry on State Highway 8, into the Mackenzie Country, 22 km west of Fairlie. It was crossed over by Michael Burke of Raincliff Station in the late 1850s. Between 1876 and 1891 the Mt Cook Road Board and then the Mackenzie Country Council was based at the Burkes Pass township, after which the council moved to Fairlie. The settlement today has a scattering of holiday homes.

James McKenzie, a Scot, who was imprisoned on a charge of stealing 1,000 sheep from the Levels Station, South Canterbury, in 1855, has become such a legendary figure that it is now almost impossible to disentangle fact from fiction. Writers have so exercised their imagination in embellishing and embroidering the few known facts about the man and his exploits that both have assumed an importance out of all proportion to their significance. McKenzie was a native of Invernessshire who emigrated to Australia about 1849, earned money transporting supplies to gold diggers; he then came to New Zealand with the object of taking up land. Disembarking at Nelson, McKenzie worked his way south to Mataura, Southland, where he purchased two working bullocks and equipment, and sought employment. He was then about 34 or 35 years old, but the date and place of his birth, and his parentage, have never been established. Apparently McKenzie made journeys north to “obtain” stock. In March 1855 a mob of about 1,000 sheep was found to be missing from Levels Station, South Canterbury. The sheep were tracked westward through the low passes to the plains beyond (now the Mackenzie Country), and on 4 March McKenzie was overpowered by the overseer from Levels, J. H. C. Sidebottom, and two young Maoris. But McKenzie broke away in the darkness and reached Lyttelton, where he was arrested and charged with the theft of the sheep. On 12 April he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment, but he was unconditionally pardoned on 11 January 1856 after spending only nine months in prison. During that time he twice escaped – on 10 May and 19 June, but on each occasion he was quickly recaptured. An attempt to escape on 1 September failed.

The only documentary information about McKenzie consists of his signed petition to the Governor, Colonel Thomas Gore Browne, in which he relates brief details of his life, his engagement by an unknown man to drive sheep from Canterbury to Otago, and other events leading up to his arrest; a long covering letter by H. J. Tancred, sheriff of Lyttelton, who was convinced that there had been a miscarriage of justice and that others were involved in the theft; a minute by J. E. FitzGerald, Superintendent of Canterbury, supporting Tancred's letter; and McKenzie's pardon. A letter written by Sidebottom containing details of his discovery of McKenzie with the sheep has been lost, but it was printed in the Lyttelton Times of 17 March 1855. It was not until 45 years later, during the Canterbury Jubilee, when Edward W. Seager, the police sergeant who arrested McKenzie in Lyttelton, recalled the affair through the fog of years, that the legend arose. Many of the legendary tales about McKenzie concern his dog, but the only reference to this now fabulous animal appears in Sidebottom's letter to the Rhodes Brothers. The MacKenzie Country, though of different spelling, is named after McKenzie, though he was not the discoverer of that region, as reputed. McKenzie was a nervous, excitable type, and close confinement undermined his health. Nothing is known of the man after he paid his passage and sailed for Australia from Lyttelton in January 1856.

by Oliver Arthur Gillespie, M.B.E., M.M. (1895–1960), Author.

* Mackenzie of the Mackenzie Country, Beattie, H. (1946)
* Old Christchurch in Picture and Story, Andersen, J. C. (1949)
* South Canterbury, Gillespie, O. A. (1958).