New Zealands South Island
Jun 12th 2004, 3:46 am
#16
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Mitre Peak
Jun 12th 2004, 3:48 am
#17
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From the air - definitely the best way to get there (we flew in/out by air) although the 4 hr drive to Milford is spectacular in itself
Jun 12th 2004, 3:49 am
#18
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Snow capped mountains - this was the tail end of summer
Jun 12th 2004, 3:50 am
#19
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nothing amature about those
,although pictures don't do the places justice.
,although pictures don't do the places justice.
Jun 12th 2004, 3:51 am
#20
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My parents where we stayed in Nelson. If you are looking for somewhere fantastic to stay for a few days, I highly recommend Te Puna Wai - www.tepunawai.co.nz
Jun 12th 2004, 3:53 am
#21
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View from bedroom window
Jun 12th 2004, 3:53 am
#22
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Picton.
Jun 12th 2004, 3:55 am
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Farewell Spit from the air
Jun 12th 2004, 3:55 am
#24
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Golden sand beaches in Abel Tasman National Park.
Jun 12th 2004, 3:57 am
#25
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Where I'm retiring to...one of the beaches in Abel Tasman.
Jun 12th 2004, 4:16 am
#26
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Originally posted by Megalania
The blue colour is the normal colour of water just like unpolluted skies are blue. Other water is brown, yellow or green due to impurities such as tannins, clay, algae etc. SI NZ waters are too low in nutrients and too cold to support algal blooms. The river flows are swift and voluminous and the soils are strongly stabilized by ground cover so the concentration of clay is very low. The lake waters consequentially have a very low turbidity. The "rock flour" explaination is false.
The blue colour is the normal colour of water just like unpolluted skies are blue. Other water is brown, yellow or green due to impurities such as tannins, clay, algae etc. SI NZ waters are too low in nutrients and too cold to support algal blooms. The river flows are swift and voluminous and the soils are strongly stabilized by ground cover so the concentration of clay is very low. The lake waters consequentially have a very low turbidity. The "rock flour" explaination is false.
I did a bit of digging - NIWA (NZ's National Institute of Water & Atmospheric research) did a study on the effects of the proposed Project Aqua hydro scheme (which has since been abandoned by Meridian). It describes the phenomenon on page 17:
"The Waitaki River has a longterm (1927 – 2000) mean flow of 358 m3/s at the Waitaki Dam. Below the dam, several tributaries flow into the Waitaki River. The total catchment area of these is approximately 2265 km2, and they are estimated to contribute about 15 m3/s to the mean flow of the river (see ‘Hydrology’ report) making it the fourth largest river in New Zealand. Its total catchment area of 12 000 km2 is the third largest in New Zealand. The main source of flow is in the Southern Alps, and though much of the sediment from these high altitude sources is trapped in upstream lakes, sufficient glacial rock flour is usually carried downstream to give the water a characteristic milky colour."
http://www.ecan.govt.nz/Consents/pro...ive%20Fish.pdf
Cheers for interesting discussion though
Rgds,
Russ
Jun 12th 2004, 6:22 am
#27
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Beautiful pictures, I still cant get over the colour of the water and the skies over here. Even when we run the bath it is that beautiful blue!
Jun 12th 2004, 6:24 am
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And not forgetting the night skies ... Fabulous ... billions and billions of crystal clear stars!
Jun 12th 2004, 10:01 am
#29
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Originally posted by BritboyNZ
The Rock Flour explanation is indeed true Mega - Tekapo is the catchment from the Mt Cook glacier. Other south island lakes (Wanaka, Wakatipu) are not the same colour.
I did a bit of digging - NIWA (NZ's National Institute of Water & Atmospheric research) did a study on the effects of the proposed Project Aqua hydro scheme (which has since been abandoned by Meridian). It describes the phenomenon on page 17:
"The Waitaki River has a longterm (1927 – 2000) mean flow of 358 m3/s at the Waitaki Dam. Below the dam, several tributaries flow into the Waitaki River. The total catchment area of these is approximately 2265 km2, and they are estimated to contribute about 15 m3/s to the mean flow of the river (see ‘Hydrology’ report) making it the fourth largest river in New Zealand. Its total catchment area of 12 000 km2 is the third largest in New Zealand. The main source of flow is in the Southern Alps, and though much of the sediment from these high altitude sources is trapped in upstream lakes, sufficient glacial rock flour is usually carried downstream to give the water a characteristic milky colour."
http://www.ecan.govt.nz/Consents/pro...ive%20Fish.pdf
Cheers for interesting discussion though
Rgds,
Russ
The Rock Flour explanation is indeed true Mega - Tekapo is the catchment from the Mt Cook glacier. Other south island lakes (Wanaka, Wakatipu) are not the same colour.
I did a bit of digging - NIWA (NZ's National Institute of Water & Atmospheric research) did a study on the effects of the proposed Project Aqua hydro scheme (which has since been abandoned by Meridian). It describes the phenomenon on page 17:
"The Waitaki River has a longterm (1927 – 2000) mean flow of 358 m3/s at the Waitaki Dam. Below the dam, several tributaries flow into the Waitaki River. The total catchment area of these is approximately 2265 km2, and they are estimated to contribute about 15 m3/s to the mean flow of the river (see ‘Hydrology’ report) making it the fourth largest river in New Zealand. Its total catchment area of 12 000 km2 is the third largest in New Zealand. The main source of flow is in the Southern Alps, and though much of the sediment from these high altitude sources is trapped in upstream lakes, sufficient glacial rock flour is usually carried downstream to give the water a characteristic milky colour."
http://www.ecan.govt.nz/Consents/pro...ive%20Fish.pdf
Cheers for interesting discussion though
Rgds,
Russ
For the same reason, sea water low in impurities other than dissolved salts is blue.
In many parts of the Mediterranean, wave action grinding of limestone shingle from eroding sea cliffs results in "rock flour" in the sea water which imparts a milkiness to the sea water resulting in a lighter shade of blue than pure sea water - turquoise if you like.
Jun 12th 2004, 10:09 am
#30
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For great photo's of NZ, have a look at this site -
http://www.cleangreen.co.nz/clean_green_images.htm
jib
http://www.cleangreen.co.nz/clean_green_images.htm
jib