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Shania Twain and Helen Clark open new Otago walking track

tv3.co.nz
March 13, 2008
VIDEO

Shania Twain made a surprise appearance at the official opening of a tramping track across her property in the Otago High Country.

The track was a condition imposed on Twain and her husband when they bought the property – a case of giving something back to the community.

Motatapu Track runs between Wanaka, Macetown and Arrowtown and about half of it is on Twain’s land.

The diminutive singer led the charge over a small section of the new track, closely followed by Prime Minister Helen Clark and assorted dignitaries.

It was a media circus the likes of which you seldom see in a wilderness area.

In an operation of military precision, the Department of Conservation flew Twain to a picturesque part of the track for a photo opportunity.

"I’m very proud," Shania Twain said. "It’s lovely. I'm enjoying myself. I'm having a great time."

Twain, or Eilleen Lange as she was christened, has not walked the track herself, but will do soon.

Twain and record producer husband Mutt Lange have owned a sumptuous holiday home in a prime spot of the Motatapu Station since 2004. But as part of the sale, they agreed to create a public tramping track. It links Wanaka to Arrowtown.

Clark enthused about the deal at historic Macetown, which is part of the track.

"I think Shania Twain and her husband have set a whole new benchmark for what can be achieved with a change of ownership," Clark said. "We have this wonderful new track. They've paid for the huts, the facilities."

Macetown, population nil, came alive today as the visiting celebrities attracted a mob of children on a camp.

High profile tramper Geoff Chapple has spent the last three days walking the track.

"They've certainly come in, you know, in a good spirit," Mr Chapple said. "And it's been like that right from the start. (They) took me by chopper to show me where the huts were going to be and said 'Geoff, this track has got to be the best track'."

The track opens to the public tomorrow.


Twain makes surprise appearance at track opening

tvnz.co.nz
March 13, 2008
VIDEO

One of the South Island's most high profile farmers was a surprise guest at the official opening of a walking track on her land.

Singer Shania Twain flew in for the ceremony and was talking publicly for the first time about the track running through the iconic central Otago high country.

A walking track from Wanaka to Arrowtown, planned to opened two years ago, was part of the deal for Canadian singer Twain to be able to buy the land.

"It is a great place for inspiration, you go away, and sort of recharge," says Twain.

Prime Minister Helen Clark and Twain had lunch together at the Twains' mansion, the house she calls her "work in progress."

The track is no easy hike, and as part of the deal the singer and her husband paid for the tracks and two huts' construction.

They are now adding a third hut to make the going easier.

And as for whether the singer has walked her own track?

"I have not, but I will," she says.


Twain joins PM on new walking track

nz.news.yahoo.com
March 13, 2008

Shania Twain joined Prime Minister Helen Clark at the opening of a tramping track across the Canadian singer's property in the Otago high country today.

The Motatapu track runs between Wanaka and Arrowtown, with about half of it on Twain's land.

Providing the track was a condition imposed on Twain and her husband Mutt Lange when they bought the Motatapu and Mt Soho Station pastoral leases in 2004.

Twain walked over a small section of the track with Miss Clark and Conservation Minister Steve Chadwick today.

"I'm very proud," Twain said. "It's lovely. I'm enjoying myself. I'm having a great time," she told reporters.

Twain and Lange have since worked with the Department of Conservation to build huts and other facilities on the track which will be managed by DOC.

Miss Clark said the track was the first back country section of the Te Araroa public walkway to open in the South Island.

"The opening of this track is another step towards our vision for a pathway throughout New Zealand, from Cape Reinga to Bluff, enabling the length of our country in all diversity to be travelled by foot," she said.

"This is a challenging tramping track, passing through Otago's golden tussock and beech forest, alongside burns with stunning alpine views."

The track opens to the public tomorrow.

"I think Shania Twain and her husband have set a whole new benchmark for what can be achieved with a change of ownership," Miss Clark told TV3.

Twain said she had not yet walked the track. "But I will," she said before being whisked back home by helicopter.


Shania Twain opens backyard to public

stuff.co.nz
March 14, 2008


On walkabout: (From left) Conservation Minister Steve
Chadwick, Prime Minister Helen Clark and singer Shania
Twain on the Motatapu track.

The newest section of New Zealand's Te Araroa public walkway was opened near Arrowtown yesterday with a walkabout by Prime Minister Helen Clark and landowner Eilleen Lange — better known as Canadian singing star Shania Twain.

The 30km Motatapu track, which links Wanaka and Arrowtown, winds partly through the hill-country property owned by Ms Twain and husband Mutt Lange.

It is the first back-country section of the Te Araroa public walkway to open in the South Island.

The walkway, when fully completed, will run from Cape Reinga to Bluff.

Miss Clark and Ms Twain yesterday sampled a small, heavily tussocked section of the track with a group that included Conservation Minister Steve Chadwick and Canadian High Commissioner Penny Reedie.

The group then went to Macetown for a ribbon-cutting ceremony, which was attended by about 150 people, including Arrowtown schoolchildren and residents wearing 19th century goldmining attire.

A keen tramper, Miss Clark likened the trail to the Kepler track.

"I think it compares most to the Kepler, with the very high steep hillsides. It's quite a challenging track," she said.

Her appraisal was similar to that of Te Araroa Trust chief executive Geoff Chapple, who suggested a musical analogy was in order.

He said the track was like indie music.

"It's demanding, a little rough in places and like indie rock, inaccessible to some, but don't doubt it's music for a moment." Ms Twain said she had not yet walked the entire length of her backyard track.

A resident of both Switzerland and New Zealand, she said she had been back in the Lakes District for about eight weeks, but would leave again in a couple of days.

Ms Chadwick said the formation of the Motatapu track demonstrated what could be done when the Department of Conservation, Te Araroa Trust and private land owners worked together.

"The Langes have paid for the marking and construction of the track, and for two huts on the route.

They're also contributing $100,000 to ... help build a third hut in the Fern Burn," Ms Chadwick said.

Delays in opening the track, originally set down for Easter 2006, were caused by negotiations about marginal land owned by the McRae family, she said.

Miss Clark laughed when asked what her favourite Shania song was.

"I'm a Mozart fan, I'm a Mozart fan," she replied.


Ever the Twain shall meet

New Zealand Herald
March 14, 2008


Shania Twain (left) and Helen Clark meet
on the Motatapu Track.

Canadian country music star Shania Twain and Prime Minister Helen Clark made an unlikely duo on the Motatapu Track in Central Otago yesterday.

The track, which the PM officially opened, is part of Te Araroa, a walkway that will eventually extend from Cape Reinga to Bluff.

The track was a condition of Twain's 2004 purchase of the Motatapu and Mt Soho station pastoral leases.


Shania shines at opening of track

Otago Daily Times
March 14, 2008
by Marjorie Cook

Canadian country music star Shania Twain eclipsed Prime Minister Helen Clark and Department of Conservation officials yesterday at a rare public appearance for the official opening of the new Motatapu Track and the Macetown Restoration Project.

The opening was also an occasion for Ms Clark to announce a third tramping hut worth $200,000 would be built on Motatapu Station.

More than 200 people attended the ceremony at the historic Macetown village near Arrowtown, including dozens of children from Arrowtown School, who were camping nearby.

After the speeches were over the children thronged around Twain who yesterday was addressed by everyone using her real name, Eilleen Lange for photographs and autographs. The petite singer warmly greeted the children, their parents and other Arrowtown residents, many of whom wore period costume in celebration of the area’s gold mining history. But she did not give a speech.

Earlier, Twain and her close friend Kim Godreau accompanied Miss Clark, Department of Conservation Minister Steve Chadwick, the Canadian High Commissioner Penny Tweedie, Doc Wanaka area manager Paul Hellebrekers and others over part of the Motatapu Track at Roses Saddle.

There, they agreed to meet a large contingent of media and Twain briefly spoke to reporters of her love of the area, the New Zealand people and her musical career.

Twain and her husband Mutt Lange agreed to build the 29km track as part of the national Te Araroa Trail during the approval process to buy the pastoral leases for two high country stations in 2004.

The Langes paid a total of $21.4 million for 24,731ha and have also donated at least $171,000 towards building two tramping huts on the track.

They have also spent more than $276,000 setting aside conservation areas and implementing biodiversity programmes, as agreed with the Department of Conservation.

In addition, they have paid Doc $50,000 in donations for track and hut maintenance.

Twain yesterday described the land as ‘‘beautiful’’.

Her horse-breeding operations were going well, New Zealanders were relaxed and easy to get along with and she was enjoying spending time with family and friends before leaving the country in two days, she said.

Twain is on an ‘‘indefinite sabbatical’’ from her music career and laughingly declined to sing.

‘‘Maybe the Prime Minister said I should sing it These Boots Are Made For Walking would be good,’’ she said, laughing, in reference to the Nancy Sinatra hit.

Twain has homes in other countries, including Switzerland. She said she was a ‘‘bit of a gypsy now’’ and loved to move around, ‘‘coming and going’’. ‘‘Motatapu Station is a great place to visit for inspiration and you go away recharged’’. Twain later sat in the front row of seats at the Macetown Historic Reserve to listen to speeches by Miss Clark, Otago Conservator Jeff Connell and Te Araroa Trust chief executive Geoff Chapple.

Miss Clark said the third track hut would be built next summer above the Fernburn catchment on Motatapu Station. It would break up a very long tramp on the first day to Highland Creek Hut (an estimated 7-9 hours) and put the track within reach of people with a moderate tramping ability.

The Langes are giving $100,000 towards the project with Doc footing the rest of the bill.

Ms Clark said she and others were keen for the Te Araroa Trail to be completed.

‘‘We are now 80% of the way with the Te Araroa Trail.’’

Mr Chapple thanked the Langes for their ‘‘gift to the nation’’, Doc staff for putting in place ‘‘all the nuts and bolts’ and other people who had supported him.

‘‘I always find the wind in my sails from these kind of people,’’ he said.

The Macetown Restoration project started in October 2005 after arson attacks destroyed some of the buildings. There were also concerns about damage being done to the historic reserve by four-wheel-drive vehicles.

Work included restoring a former bakery, Needham’s Cottage, felling trees, drainage work, signs, fencing and other work designed to preserve the area from damage from vehicles.


PM in $6million visit; Shania stars on track

Otago Daily Times
March 14, 2008
by John Lewis


Come on over... Prime Minister
Helen Clark and singer and land
wner Shania Twain (left) inspect
the Motatapu track yesterday after
its official opening.

Speculation and expectation gave way to elation yesterday when Prime Minister Helen Clark announced the Government would grant up to $6 million towards the Otago Settlers Museum’s expansion and refurbishment project.

It was a big day out in Otago for Miss Clark, who flew to Dunedin after opening the new Motatapu track, between Wanaka and Arrowtown. She walked part of the track with Canadian singer and sometime Wanaka ‘‘resident’’ Shania Twain.

After arriving in Dunedin, Miss Clark was guest speaker at the opening of the Fabulous Frock Exhibition at the Otago Settlers Museum.

Despite speculation she would make an important announcement during her Dunedin visit, the news still drew gasps of surprise and cheers from the 250 people gathered.

Otago Settlers Association president Dr Dorothy Page described the grant as ‘‘an exciting early birthday present’’. The museum is due to celebrate its centenary next week.

‘‘I’m absolutely delighted. This will enable us to treasure the artefacts, documents and fabrics that we have, and it will enable us to display them and enhance the visitor experience,’’ Dr Page said.

‘‘The grant will also help the museum to develop a new tourist and heritage precinct, which incorporates the railway station and the Chinese garden.’’

The grant will be spread evenly over four years and go towards a new two-storey collection storage building and the refurbishment of the museum’s existing heritage buildings.

Miss Clark said the Otago Settlers Museum had significant collections of about 50,000 important objects documenting the early arrival of European and Chinese settlers.

The first instalment of $1.5 million will be made this year with subsequent allocations confirmed annually, subject to the project progressing to plan.

The cost of the redevelopment project is estimated to total $34 million, with the Dunedin City Council contributing $21 million.


High-country duet; Shania and PM

stuff.co.nz
March 14, 2008


PM Helen Clark meets Shania Twain

When you are down in the polls there is nothing like a walk in the South Island high country to clear the air - particularly with a photogenic international music star and hordes of media.

Prime Minister Helen Clark met Canadian superstar Shania Twain in a carefully stage-managed photo opportunity on the singer's farm in the Central Otago high country yesterday.

The Government flew media representatives by helicopter into the rugged hills between Arrowtown and Wanaka for the opening of the Motatapu Track, part of Te Araroa/The Long Pathway - a walkway planned from Cape Reinga to Bluff.

Twain, whose real name is Eilleen Lange, and her husband, Robert, bought the pastoral leases of Motatapu and Mount Soho stations in 2004, and gifted 28km of track through the property as a condition of sale.

The singer has avoided public appearances in New Zealand but among tussock on a mountainside, the 14-strong media contingent was told that Twain would be in the VIP party walking the track with Clark.

Initially, there were to be no questions on the hillside but, eventually, the Department of Conservation minders loosened their grip.

Petite Twain, 42, wearing a baseball cap and bright orange sleeveless vest, smiled graciously and answered questions.

Had she walked the track?

"I have not," she said sheepishly, with a giggle.

"I look forward to it."

How has she found New Zealanders?

"Very good. I find the people very respectful and kind."

Is a musical comeback on the cards?

"I'm on a permanent sabbatical."

Would she sing?

No, but she helpfully suggested the Prime Minister might instead. (Much to everyone's relief, she did not.)

Clark was asked what her favourite Shania song was.

"I'm a Mozart fan, I'm a Mozart fan," she replied.

Later, the group was flown to the goldmining ghost town of Macetown, where the Prime Minister praised the vision of the Te Araroa national walkway.

"You get to see the fantastic variety of landscape, geography, geology, environment and climate systems that characterise our incredibly diverse country."

Clark said Twain and her husband had built two alpine-standard huts, interpretation panels, track signage, route markers and formed new track where required.

Te Araroa Trust chief executive Geoff Chapple, who walked the track in three days this week, compared Motatapu to indie rock: "It's demanding, it's a little rough in places, and, like indie rock, it's inaccessible for some. But don't doubt it's music for a moment."


Shania Twain opens hiker track on controversial New Zealand farm

International Herald Tribune
March 14, 2008
The Associated Press

WELLINGTON, New Zealand: Country singer Shania Twain has opened a hiking trail on her property in New Zealand, fulfilling a pact designed to allay fears that wealthy foreigners were snapping up and sealing off the country's prime real estate.

The government tightened controls on land sales to overseas buyers in 2004 after Twain, a Canadian, and her husband, Robert "Mutt" Lange, won approval to buy the leases to 24,700 hectares (61,000 acres) of rugged and scenic farmland ? half of it above the snow line ? on New Zealand's South Island.

Tough lease terms meant the couple agreed to create a hiking track, with huts and other facilities, crossing their land as part of a nationwide trail.

Mountain bikers, climbers and hunters also have continued access to the property.

At the time, Finance Minister Michael Cullen told The Associated Press that the sale wouldn't go through unless public access to the property was maintained.

On Thursday, Twain was joined at the opening of the trail by Prime Minister Helen Clark.

"I'm very proud," Twain told reporters. "It's lovely. I'm enjoying myself. I'm having a great time," Twain told reporters.

Clark said the singer and her husband had "set a whole new benchmark for what can be achieved with a change of ownership."

The spectacular landscape of New Zealand's South Island rocketed to prominence after it formed the backdrop for much of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy of movies. In addition to Twain, John Travolta has also reportedly bought among mountains called The Remarkables.

Since the controversial purchase, Twain and Lange have worked with the Department of Conservation to build huts and other facilities on the trail ? the first back country section of a nationwide public walkway to open on South Island.

Twain on Thursday walked over a short section of the track with Clark and Conservation Minister Steve Chadwick.

Twain said she had not yet hiked the three-day track crossing her land, "But I will."

The luxury house Twain built on atop a hill on the land also sparked controversy after neighbors said it was a blot on the wild alpine landscape. Amendments to the initial plans saw them approved by local authorities.

The 33-year lease for the land near the tourist town of Wanaka, 800 kilometers (500 miles) southwest of the capital, Wellington, cost the couple 21.4 million New Zealand dollars (US$17.5 million; €11.2 million).


Lack of harmony on Canadian deal

New Zealand Herald
March 15, 2008
by Liam Dann


Helen Clark seemed to enjoy her ramble
with Canadian foreign investor Shania Twain.

Helen Clark was all giggles and smiles this week as she gambolled across a privately owned mountain side with high-profile Canadian foreign investor Shania Twain.

As the pair traversed a small section of Twain's vast high country estate for a staged photo opportunity - to celebrate the opening of a public access walking track - you could be forgiven for forgetting there was ever a public outcry about the Government's rubber stamping of the land sale back in 2004.

In fact there was plenty of public discontent at the time - mostly from the same people now egging the Government on to veto the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board's purchase of a 40 per cent stake in Auckland Airport.

The Prime Minister (to her credit really) couldn't name any of Twain's songs when put on the spot by a cheeky reporter, but if she had been properly briefed she might have noted that one of Twain's biggest hits is called "Come On Over."

That's a sentiment that it seems this Government is happy to share with some Canadians but not others.

It might well be argued that it scored a victory four years ago when the popular country star was forced to build a public access walkway before being allowed to buy the land.

But surely on that basis it is time now for the Government to trumpet its victory in moderating the terms of the Canadians' airport purchase.

And time to pull back from a blatant act of interference in the property rights of thousands of New Zealanders who have decided to sell their shares.

As compromises go, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board's decision to reduce its voting stake to 24.9 per cent is considerably more onerous than the inconvenience of letting a few scruffy German tourists walk through what is probably the country's biggest back yard.

At 24.9 per cent the Canadians no longer have outright control of the airport's destiny. While they'll certainly be the most powerful shareholder, they can be trumped in any strategic vote by a coalition of patriotic local shareholders - Auckland City, Manukau City, Infratil and the Cullen fund will have a combined stake of more than 26 per cent.

The Government can also claim to have successfully protected the country's tax base by banning the use of stapled securities to reorganise the airport's capital structure - further watering down the value of the deal for the Canadians.

They could yet get out of this awkward political situation looking like they've done something positive.

So why take that dangerous next step and veto a sale for populist and xenophobic reasons?

Ironically, the Government's opposition to the CPPIB bid seems to have rallied support for the deal and probably pushed it over the line.

One of the key reasons for opposing the deal - and it was a valid one - was that once it was done there was no prospect of getting a better offer some time in the distant future.

The "no" camp was concerned we were selling our control premium too cheaply. You can only sell control once, after all.

But the Government removed the relevance of that objection when it made the rule change to the criteria for foreign ownership. That implied the airport was a strategic asset which will never get Overseas Investment Office sale approval.

If, under the new rules, nobody else would ever buy the airport either then investors suddenly saw no harm in throwing their lot in with the offer that was on the table.

For some, like Shareholders Association chairman Bruce Sheppard, voting to sell became something of an anti-Government protest. In a sense the Government made martyrs of the Canadians - who weren't previously all that popular with a large chunk of the investment community.

So you can only sell things once - and this country has already sold the airport. It has been a private company since 1998 when - rightly or wrongly - it was sold off by the Government of the day.

A veto now will take Labour's trampling of shareholder rights far further than the regulatory whacks they have thus far delivered to the likes of Telecom and Vector.

The state already has regulatory control of airport pricing. Airlines have been begging it to exercise that control and bring prices down for years now. It hasn't. But the Canadians will still be at the mercy of the Government as to the amount of profit can extract from the asset.

This is now a transaction between a willing buyer and willing sellers. Those that don't want to sell - like the two city councils - will keep their shares. And as sales of publicly listed companies go it has been one of the most democratically sound the market has ever seen.

For once the votes of the small shareholders actually counted for something. If this deal is vetoed, the Government will succeed in making Green Party and New Zealand First voters happy.

They'll keep the hardcore left wing of their own party happy.

But a large chunk of centrist New Zealand voters - who aren't so stupid that they see asset sales as a black and white issue - are likely to be left singing one of Shania's other big hits: "That Don't Impress Me Much."


Hit the trail in New Zealand with Shania Twain

Los Angeles Times
March 15, 2008
by Mary Forgione

Hey, anybody want to go hiking at Shania Twain’s spread? The Canadian country singer opened up a hiking trail on property she and her husband recently procured on New Zealand’s South Island, the Associated Press reports.Before Twain and hubby Robert Lange could buy 33-year leases for the rugged 61,000 acres, they had to agree to “create a hiking track, with huts and other facilities, crossing their land as part of a nationwide trail,” the AP story said.

Twain agreed to the terms in a $17.5-million deal and was joined at the opening of the trail Thursday by Prime Minister Helen Clark, who lauded the couple for keeping the land accessible to mountain bikers, climbers, hunters and hikers. Most of us would recognize the South Island’s fabulous landscapes from the “Lord of the Rings” movies.

Twain built a luxury house on the property, which is near the town of Wanaka, roughly 500 miles southwest of Wellington, the capital, the story said.

Twain isn’t the only celebrity to tackle thorny public-access issues. In 2004, Madonna and Guy Ritchie were somewhat successful in keeping hikers and walkers off their Ashcombe estate in Wiltshire, England.

And entertainment mogul David Geffen wrangled with the California Coastal Commission for decades over public access to the beach at his Malibu estate. Last year, the commission and Geffen agreed to a settlement that would ensure his privacy but also allow people to hit the sand.

.