We drove through a mountain range with nothing growing on it. It went like this forever. It was an enormous mountain. The last bit of the mountain was very steep as we descended. The bends & corners were windy and so steep.
We got to Queenstown; it has a lake called Wakatipu
With a length of 80 kilometres, it is New Zealand's longest lake, and, at 291 km², its third largest. It is at an altitude of 310 metres, towards the southern end of the Southern Alps. The general topography is a reversed "N" shape. The Dart River flows into the northern end, the lake then runs south for 30 kilometres before turning abruptly to the east. Twenty kilometres further along, it turns sharply to the south, reaching its southern end 30 kilometres further south, near Kingston.
The lake is drained by the Kawarau River, which flows out from the lake's Frankton Arm, 8km east of Queenstown. Queenstown is on the northern shore of the lake close to eastern end of its middle section. The lake is very deep, its floor being as low as 100 metres below sea level. It has a seiche of period 26.7 minutes which, in Queenstown Bay, causes the water level to rise and fall some 200 mm. as much as 12cm every five minutes.
No-one really knows why there is a seiche in the lake but the Maori belief is that the beating heart of a god is the cause
According to Maori legend, Lake Wakatipu was created when the mythical giant, Matau, stole the princess Manata from her father, a Maori chief. The chief asked his bravest soldier, Matakauri, to rescue his princess. Matakauri found the giant sleeping, the princess secured to him with rope. He tried to cut the rope but failed and Manata started crying. Her tears dissolved the rope and together they ran, chopped down scrub and bracken, surrounded Matau with the firewood, set it alight and burned him to death. The fire melted the snow on the mountains and the water filled the burned shape of the sleeping giant, creating the lake. The water level rises and falls and it is said this is caused by the giant's heart still beating.
From the distance you can see snow capped mountain ranges all the way to Te Anau.
Richard took a detour and went by Manapouri, another gigantic lake (28km long and a max depth of 444m) and New Zealand's second deepest. The "Lord of the Rings" filmed the "Dead Marshes" here.
We also found the track to the river Waiau River. It is the outflow of Lake Te Anau, flowing from it into Lake Manapouri, 10 Km to the south, The river doubled as the River Anduin at the end of the first The Lord of the Rings film, The Fellowship of the Ring, for the scenes where the Uruk-hai chase the Fellowship along the river banks.
The river was deep, clear and fast flowing. We walked across a wooden swing bridge – it was shaky and a bit scary.
Richard tried (once again) his rod out but could not get to the fish. They were big trout. But he enjoyed himself. My mother and I stayed in the campervan and watched DVD.
We arrived at Te Anau, yet another lake. This time it's the second –largest lake in New Zealand (after Lake Taupo) and is 65Km long and up to 270m deep.
There were lots of motor homes at the campsite. Most of them, like us, will be travelling to Milford Sound in the morning. We are all looking forward to the trip.
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