31-553: The Hooker River is a river in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. It flows south from Hooker Lake , the glacier lake of Hooker Glacier , which lies on the southern slopes of Aoraki / Mount Cook . After 3 kilometers, it flows through Mueller Glacier Lake , gathering more glacial water, before joining the braided streams of the Tasman River , also an outflow of a glacier lake. The geographic Hooker items were named by
62-448: A maximum depth of 420 metres (1,380 ft). It is at an altitude of 310 metres (1,020 ft), towards the southern end of the Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana . The general topography is a reversed "N" shape or "dog leg". The Dart River / Te Awa Whakatipu flows into the northern end, the lake then runs south for 30 kilometres before turning abruptly to the east. Twenty kilometres (12.4 mi) further along, it turns sharply to
93-584: A small one lane road bridge just as the river enters the Tasman Valley. This article about a river in Canterbury, New Zealand is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Southern Alps The Southern Alps ( Māori : Kā Tiritiri o te Moana ; officially Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana ) are a mountain range extending along much of the length of New Zealand's South Island , reaching its greatest elevations near
124-597: A spa near Lewis Pass , the town of Arthur's Pass , and Mount Cook Village . Major crossings of the Southern Alps in the New Zealand road network include Lewis Pass ( SH 7 ), Arthur's Pass ( SH 73 ), Haast Pass ( SH 6 ), and the road to Milford Sound ( SH 94 ). New Zealand has a humid maritime, temperate climate with the Southern Alps lying perpendicular to the prevailing westerly flow of air. Annual precipitation varies greatly across
155-424: Is a habitat for the longfin eel (a specimen caught in 1886 is the largest known of this species ), and for introduced brown trout , salmon and rainbow trout . These and other fish support predators such as the pied shag . The black-billed gull is often found around the lake while the most common birds are the black-billed gull and the introduced mallard . A smaller bird often not noticed because of its size
186-828: Is also the name of another six unrelated geographical features in the South Island, including Tarahaka Whakatipu , the Harris Saddle at the head of the Routeburn Track ; Te Awa Whakatipu , the main Dart River / Te Awa Whakatipu flowing into the lake; Whakatipu Kā Tuka , the Hollyford River and Valley; and Whakatipu Kohurangi , Māori Bay in Pelorus Sound / Te Hoiere , Marlborough. Lake Wakatipu has experienced periodic flooding affecting
217-580: Is an inland lake ( finger lake ) in the South Island of New Zealand. It is in the southwest corner of the Otago region, near its boundary with Southland . Lake Wakatipu comes from the original Māori name Whakatipu wai-māori . With a length of 80 kilometres (50 mi), it is New Zealand's longest lake, and, at 289 km (112 sq mi), its third largest . The lake is also very deep, its floor being below sea level (−110 metres), with
248-478: Is frequently visible in summer across Canterbury and North Otago . The 'Nor'wester' is a foehn wind similar to the Chinook of Canada, where mountain ranges in the path of prevailing moisture laden winds force air upwards, thus cooling the air and condensing the moisture to rain, producing hot dry winds in the descending air lee of the mountains. The Southern Alps lie along a geological plate boundary , part of
279-666: Is surrounded by mountains. Two mountain ranges, the Remarkables and the Tapuae-o-Uenuku / Hector Mountains , lie along its southeastern edge. It is a common venue for adventure tourism , with skifields , paragliding , bungy jumping and tramping tracks within easy reach. A vintage steamboat, the TSS Earnslaw regularly plies its waters. Several vineyards are nearby in Gibbston . The full original name of
310-819: Is the New Zealand scaup . Lake Wakatipu doubled as the Scottish Loch Ness in the 2007 film The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep . The lake was a backdrop for several scenes in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring , including Amon Hen . Lake Wakatipu is the eponymous lake in the murder mystery television series Top of the Lake (2013). The first person to swim the length of
341-546: The Canterbury provincial geologist, Julius von Haast , after the English botanist William Jackson Hooker . The Hooker River drains both the Hooker and Mueller Glaciers and is the principal ablation outlet for these ice masses. Its water is a milky bluish light grey due to the suspended glacial rock flour in the water. Hooker River along transports 20,000 m (710,000 cu ft) of sediment per year. The majority of
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#1732772070805372-651: The Marlborough , Canterbury and Otago regions to the southeast and the Tasman and West Coast regions to the northwest. The Māori name of the range is Kā Tiritiri o te Moana , meaning "the Mirage of the Ocean". The English explorer James Cook bestowed the name Southern Alps on 23 March 1770, admiring their "prodigious height". They had previously been noted by Abel Tasman in 1642, whose description of
403-542: The Mataura River drained Lake Wakatipu. The Kingston Flyer follows part of the former river bed now blocked by glacial moraine. Queenstown is on the northern shore of the lake close to the eastern end of its middle section. It has a seiche period of 26.7 minutes which, in Queenstown Bay, causes the water level to rise and fall some 200 millimetres (8 in). Lake Wakatipu is known for its scenery and
434-650: The Pacific Ring of Fire , with the Pacific Plate to the southeast pushing westward and colliding with the northward-moving Indo-Australian Plate to the northwest. Over the last 45 million years, the collision has pushed up a 20 km thickness of rocks on the Pacific Plate to form the Alps, although much of this has been eroded away. Uplift has been most rapid during the last 5 million years, and
465-418: The great spotted kiwi (Apteryx haastii) , the South Island kākā (Nestor meridionalis meridionalis) , and the orange-fronted kākāriki (Cyanoramphus malherbi) . The kea can be found in the forested foothills as well as higher, colder elevations. It is the world's only alpine parrot , and was once hunted as a pest. The mountains are inaccessible and retain their natural vegetation. A large proportion of
496-579: The Alpine Fault to dip-slip motion at these subduction zones to the north creates the Marlborough Fault System , which has resulted in significant uplift in the region. In 2017 a large international team of scientists reported they had discovered beneath Whataroa , a small township on the Alpine Fault, "extreme" hydrothermal activity which "could be commercially very significant". The mountains are rich in flora with about 25% of
527-711: The Hooker River is within the Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park , as far southeast as the Tasman Valley Road truss bridge . It flows through the flat Hooker Valley, the main tourism area of the park. The river is bridged three times by the pedestrian suspension bridges along the Hooker Valley Track , the most popular walking track in the area. A further track leads further downstream along the river to Tasman Valley Road, which crosses Hooker River on
558-727: The South Island's west coast is often translated as "a land uplifted high". Following the passage of the Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998 , the official name of the range was updated to Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana . The Southern Alps run approximately 500 km northeast to southwest. Its tallest peak is Aoraki / Mount Cook , the highest point in New Zealand at 3,724 metres (12,218 ft). The Southern Alps include sixteen other points that exceed 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) in height (see NZ mountains by height ). The mountain ranges are bisected by glacial valleys, many of which are infilled with glacial lakes on
589-468: The conifer snow totara (Podocarpus nivalis) and Carex sedge grasses. Wildlife of the mountains includes the endemic rock wren (Xenicus gilviventris) . There are also a number of endemic insects adapted to these high altitudes, like flies, moths, beetles, bees, and the mountain stone wētā , which can freeze solid over winter to survive the alpine conditions. The beech forests of the lower elevations are important habitat for several birds, such as
620-586: The country's plant species being found above the treeline in alpine plant habitats and grassland with mountain beech forest at lower elevations (of the eastern side but not in Westland ). The cold windswept slopes above the treeline are covered with areas of fellfield . To the east, the Alps descend to the Canterbury-Otago tussock grasslands . Plants adapted to the alpine conditions include woody shrubs like Hebe , Dracophyllum , and Coprosma ,
651-511: The eastern side including Lake Coleridge in the north and Lake Wakatipu in Otago in the south. According to an inventory conducted in the late 1970s, the Southern Alps contained over 3,000 glaciers larger than one hectare, the longest of which – the Tasman Glacier – is 23.5 kilometres (14.6 mi) in length which has retreated from a recent maximum of 29 kilometres (18 mi) in the 1960s. Settlements include Maruia Springs,
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#1732772070805682-494: The lake is Whakatipu-wai-Māori . While the lake lacks an official name, it is generally referred to as "Lake Wakatipu". The name is believed to originate from the Waitaha people, who were later displaced by Kāti Māmoe . Elders from the modern iwi Ngāi Tahu say that while the name Whakatipu is archaic and its original meaning is a mystery, whaka means causative and tipu means growth. Wakatipu could mean "growing bay" if
713-481: The lakeside communities of Kingston, Glenorchy and Queenstown. Notable flooding events include the 1878 Queenstown floods, which affected a large part of the outlying Queenstown and Otago areas, the 1995 Queenstown floods, and most notably the 1999 Queenstown floods, which significantly damaged the Queenstown CBD and road infrastructure resulting in approximately $ 50 million worth of damage. Lake Wakatipu
744-630: The mountains continue to be raised today by tectonic pressure, causing earthquakes on the Alpine Fault and other nearby faults. Despite the substantial uplift, most of the relative motion along the Alpine Fault is transverse , not vertical . However, significant dip-slip occurs on the plate boundary to the north and east of the North Island, in the Hikurangi Trough and Kermadec Trench . The transfer of motion from strike-slip on
775-498: The original was Whakatipu and the h elided as a result of the Southern Māori dialect . The dialect is also known for dropping final vowels. Waka can also mean 'hollow'. Wakatipua or Whakatipua (Canoe/Bay of spirits) have been recorded historically, as has Wakatapu (sacred vessel). A legend says that the lake bed was formed when a giant ogre, Kopu-wai, was burned while lying asleep, leaving only his heart behind, which according to
806-481: The prevailing westerly winds, the range creates excellent wave soaring conditions for glider pilots. The town of Omarama , in the lee of the mountains, has gained an international reputation for its gliding conditions. The prevailing westerlies also create a weather pattern known as the Nor'west arch , in which moist air is pushed up over the mountains, forming an arch of cloud in an otherwise blue sky. This weather pattern
837-699: The range is well protected by national parks—notably the Westland Tai Poutini National Park , Mount Aspiring National Park , and Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park —or by protected areas such as Lake Sumner Forest Park . Indigenous plant life is affected by introduced animals such as red deer ( Cervus elaphus ), chamois ( Rupicapra rupicapra ), and Himalayan tahr ( Hemitragus jemlahicus ), all of which have at times been targeted for culling. Likewise, native birds and reptiles are vulnerable to introduced predators. Lake Wakatipu Lake Wakatipu ( Māori : Whakatipu Waimāori )
868-525: The range's western side. The name "Southern Alps" generally refers to the entire range, although separate names are given to many of the smaller ranges that form part of it. The range includes the South Island's Main Divide , which separates the water catchments of the more heavily populated eastern side of the island from those on the west coast. Politically, the Main Divide forms the boundary between
899-537: The range, from 3,000 millimetres (120 in) at the West Coast , 15,000 millimetres (590 in) close to the Main Divide, to 1,000 millimetres (39 in) 30 kilometres (19 mi) east of the Main Divide. This high precipitation aids the growth of glaciers above the snow line . Large glaciers and snowfields can be found west of or on the Main Divide, with smaller glaciers farther east (See Glaciers of New Zealand ). Because of its orientation perpendicular to
930-399: The same legend is the cause of the rhythmic rise and fall of the lake's seiche . A variation on that is that Wakatipu is a contraction of Waka (trough) and tipua (enchanted giant), the giant was burnt when the surrounding bush was lit and his breathing causes the seiche. Another possibility, if the name was Whakatipu (make grow), is that a defeated group regrew their strength here. Whakatipu
961-562: The south, reaching its southern end 30 kilometres (19 mi) further south, near Kingston . At the north end of the lake is the settlement of Glenorchy , in the north-east corner, and the smaller isolated locality of Kinloch in the north-west corner. The lake is drained by the Kawarau River , which flows out from the lake's only arm, the Frankton Arm, 8 km (5.0 mi) east of Queenstown . Until about 18,000 years ago