'Best tourists’ from Australia and N.Z.

Press, 12 March 1983, Page 7

'Best tourists’ from Australia and N.Z.

Thirty-five years as a professional alpine guide at Franz Josef have convinced Mr Peter McCormack that New Zealanders and Australians make the best tourists. "Australians are good spenders — they are in on everything — and New Zealanders are always good." said Mr McCormack, who reached his retiring age of 60 yesterday. Mr McCormack believes that the popular New Zealand image of Americans as big-spending, free-wheeling globe-trotters is "a complete myth." "Americans are pretty canny with their money. They get around the world a lot. and they are a bit frightened of being taken for a ride," he said. Mr McCormack describes his life as "a commercial sort of thing." His parents lived at Franz Josef, which now has a population of about 300, and Mr McCormack used his local knowledge as a guide for the Government Tourist Department before it became the Tourist Hotel Corporation in 1953. Among his "teachers" was the noted mountaineer and guide, Harry Ayres, of Mount Cook, and, latterly, Christchurch.

“I believe in Westland, but it has a problem because its glaciers are so spectacular.

You have to convince people that there are lots of other things to see." said Mr McCormack. Most of his later years as a guide have been spent showing people the great Franz Josef Glacier. He knows it like the back of his hand. He has seen it recede a mile and a half in his lifetime. and keeps hoping that it will come back. "I flew back today with three American women. They said that they had seen glaciers in Alaska, but they were nothing like this one," said Mr McCormack. He believes that the ad-

vent of the helicopter is the greatest boost Westland has ever had.

"It is a godsend to this part of the world. It means that we are no longer isolated." said Mr McCormack. “I flew over to Christchurch for the cricket last week; when my parents were here, it took them a week to get over there." he said. Although now retired. Mr McCormack cannot see himself leaving Franz Josef, where he lives with his wife and a daughter. Another daughter is working as a nurse in Greymouth. Westland's mighty rainfall was no reason to move for those who had lived there all their lives. “When you eventually get a fine Westland day, you appreciate it all the- more." he said. Mr McCormack does not expect to be bored during his retirement in the remote Westland township. "I might go up and see a couple of cattle sales at Whataroa. and I might paint the house. Everybody paints the house when they retire, don’t they," he said.