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Lake Wakatipu (Walter Peak)
Lake Wakatipu ( mi, Whakatipu Waimāori) 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 . With a length of , it is New Zealand's longest lake, and, at , its third largest. The lake is also very deep, its floor being below sea level, with a maximum depth of . It is at an altitude of , 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 the south, reaching its southern end further south, near Kingston. The lake is drained by the Kawarau River, which flows out from the lake's only arm, the Frankton Arm, east of Queenstown. Until ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Remarkables
The Remarkables ( mi, Kawarau) are a mountain range and skifield in Otago in the South Island of New Zealand. Located on the southeastern shore of Lake Wakatipu, the range lives up to its name by rising sharply to create a remarkable backdrop for the waters. The range is clearly visible from the nearby town of Queenstown. The highest point in the range is Single Cone (2319 metres). The adjacent Tapuae-o-Uenuku / Hector Mountains southeast of the Remarkables culminate in Mount Tūwhakarōria (2307 m). There are a number of small lakes on the mountains including Lake Alta which forms part of the Remarkables Skifield. Name The original Ngāi Tahu inhabitants called the mountains , and gave the same name to the Kawarau River which starts beneath them. The mountains were named The Remarkables by Alexander Garvie in 1857-58, allegedly because they are one of only two mountain ranges in the world which run directly north to south. An alternate explanation for the name given by l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Māori Language
Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and Tahitian, it gained recognition as one of New Zealand's official languages in 1987. The number of speakers of the language has declined sharply since 1945, but a Māori-language revitalisation effort has slowed the decline. The 2018 New Zealand census reported that about 186,000 people, or 4.0% of the New Zealand population, could hold a conversation in Māori about everyday things. , 55% of Māori adults reported some knowledge of the language; of these, 64% use Māori at home and around 50,000 people can speak the language "very well" or "well". The Māori language did not have an indigenous writing system. Missionaries arriving from about 1814, such as Thomas Kendall, learned to speak Māori, and introduced the Latin alphabet. In 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TSS Earnslaw
The TSS ''Earnslaw'' is a 1912 Edwardian twin screw steamer based at Lake Wakatipu in New Zealand. It is one of the oldest tourist attractions in Central Otago, and the only remaining commercial passenger-carrying coal-fired steamship in the southern hemisphere. History At the beginning of the twentieth century, New Zealand Railways (NZR) awarded a £20,850-pound contract to John McGregor and Company shipbuilders of Dunedin to build a steamship for Lake Wakatipu at their Otago foundry and engineering works. The ''Earnslaw'' was designed by naval architect Hugh McRae and was based on a Siemens-Martin steel hull design and using Kauri for the decking. Propulsion was provided by twin coal-fired triple-expansion, jet-condensing, vertically inclined engines. The keel was laid on 4 July 1911. The ship was named after Mount Earnslaw, a 2889-metre peak at the head of Lake Wakatipu. She was to be 51.2 metres long, the biggest boat on the lake, and the largest steamship built in New ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tramping In New Zealand
Tramping, known elsewhere as backpacking, rambling, hill walking or bushwalking, is a popular activity in New Zealand. Tramping is defined as a recreational activity involving walking over rough country. Trampers often carry a backpack and wet-weather gear, and may also carry equipment for cooking and sleeping. History Alpine climbing has been a recreational activity from the early days of European settlement, and possibly earlier. From the 1950s tracks, huts and bridges were built in the forested areas of New Zealand to support hunters culling introduced deer species which had become a threat to the biodiversity of New Zealand. As tramping became popular these facilities were increasingly used by trampers. In later years tramping has become popular for both local and foreign tourists. Tramping clubs were formed in many towns, cities and universities with regular trips being organised. The clubs sometimes own a bus to transport club members to the tracks. Tramping tracks A n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bungy Jumping
Bungee jumping (), also spelled bungy jumping, is an activity that involves a person jumping from a great height while connected to a large elastic cord. The launching pad is usually erected on a tall structure such as a building or crane, a bridge across a deep ravine, or on a natural geographic feature such as a cliff. It is also possible to jump from a type of aircraft that has the ability to hover above the ground, such as a hot-air-balloon or helicopter. The thrill comes from the free-falling and the rebound. When the person jumps, the cord stretches and the jumper flies upwards again as the cord recoils, and continues to oscillate up and down until all the kinetic energy is dissipated. Early tethered jumping The land diving ( Sa: ') of Pentecost Island in Vanuatu is an ancient ritual in which young men jump from tall wooden platforms with vines tied to their ankles as a test of their courage and passage into manhood. Unlike in modern bungee-jumping, land-divers in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paragliding
Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a harness or lies supine in a cocoon-like 'pod' suspended below a fabric wing. Wing shape is maintained by the suspension lines, the pressure of air entering vents in the front of the wing, and the aerodynamic forces of the air flowing over the outside. Despite not using an engine, paraglider flights can last many hours and cover many hundreds of kilometres, though flights of one to two hours and covering some tens of kilometres are more the norm. By skillful exploitation of sources of lift, the pilot may gain height, often climbing to altitudes of a few thousand metres. History In 1966, Canadian Domina Jalbert was granted a patent for a ''multi-cell wing type aerial device—''"a wing having a flexible canopy constituting an upper skin and with a plurality of longitudinally extend ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skiing
Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International Ski Federation (FIS). History Skiing has a history of almost five millennia. Although modern skiing has evolved from beginnings in Scandinavia, it may have been practiced more than 100 centuries ago in what is now China, according to an interpretation of ancient paintings. However, this continues to be debated. The word "ski" comes from the Old Norse word "skíð" which means to "split piece of wood or firewood". Asymmetrical skis were used in northern Finland and Sweden until at least the late 19th century. On one foot, the skier wore a long straight non-arching ski for sliding, and a shorter ski was worn on the other foot for kicking. The underside of the short ski was either plain or covered with animal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adventure Travel
Adventure travel is a type of niche tourism, involving exploration or travel with a certain degree of risk (real or perceived), and which may require special skills and physical exertion. In the United States, adventure tourism has grown in recent decades as tourists seek out-of-the-ordinary or "roads less traveled" vacations, but lack of a clear operational definition has hampered measurement of market size and growth. According to the U.S.-based Adventure Travel Trade Association, adventure travel may be any tourist activity that includes physical activity, a cultural exchange, and connection with nature. Adventure tourists may have the motivation to achieve mental states characterized as rush or flow, resulting from stepping outside their comfort zone. This may be from experiencing culture shock or by performing acts requiring significant effort and involve some degree of risk, real or perceived, or physical danger. This may include activities such as mountaineering, tre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tapuae-o-Uenuku / Hector Mountains
The Tapuae-o-Uenuku / Hector Mountains are a mountain range in the New Zealand region of Otago, near the resort town of Queenstown and just south of the more famous Remarkables. For most of its length, the mountains run adjacent to the southern reaches of Lake Wakatipu, before extending approximately further south, past the glacial moraine at Kingston on the southern end of the lake. On their eastern side, the mountains mark the edge of the Nevis valley, a largely tussocked area which saw significant activity during the Otago Gold Rush of the 1860s. Historically, the mountains were an important ''mahinga kai'' (food gathering-place) for Ngāi Tahu and other local Māori iwi, who used the area to hunt for weka and gather tikumu while visiting the region. Many of the peaks in the range remain unnamed, a group which until 2013 included its highest point. Following a joint process between Ngāi Tahu and the Central Otago District Council, four new names were added to the r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Remarkables
The Remarkables ( mi, Kawarau) are a mountain range and skifield in Otago in the South Island of New Zealand. Located on the southeastern shore of Lake Wakatipu, the range lives up to its name by rising sharply to create a remarkable backdrop for the waters. The range is clearly visible from the nearby town of Queenstown. The highest point in the range is Single Cone (2319 metres). The adjacent Tapuae-o-Uenuku / Hector Mountains southeast of the Remarkables culminate in Mount Tūwhakarōria (2307 m). There are a number of small lakes on the mountains including Lake Alta which forms part of the Remarkables Skifield. Name The original Ngāi Tahu inhabitants called the mountains , and gave the same name to the Kawarau River which starts beneath them. The mountains were named The Remarkables by Alexander Garvie in 1857-58, allegedly because they are one of only two mountain ranges in the world which run directly north to south. An alternate explanation for the name given by l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seiche
A seiche ( ) is a standing wave in an enclosed or partially enclosed body of water. Seiches and seiche-related phenomena have been observed on lakes, reservoirs, swimming pools, bays, harbors, caves and seas. The key requirement for formation of a seiche is that the body of water be at least partially bounded, allowing the formation of the standing wave. The term was promoted by the Swiss hydrologist François-Alphonse Forel in 1890, who was the first to make scientific observations of the effect in Lake Geneva. The word had apparently long been used in the region to describe oscillations in alpine lakes. According to Wilson (1972), this Swiss French dialect word comes from the Latin word meaning "dry", i.e., as the water recedes, the beach dries. The French word or (dry) descends from the Latin. Seiches in harbours can be caused by ''long period'' or '' infragravity waves'', which are due to subharmonic nonlinear wave interaction with the wind waves, having periods longer t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kingston Flyer
The Kingston Flyer is a vintage steam train in the South Island of New Zealand at the southern end of Lake Wakatipu. It used 14 kilometres of preserved track that once formed a part of the Kingston Branch. Originally, Kingston Flyer was a passenger express train between Kingston, Gore, Invercargill, and less frequently, Dunedin. It was operated by the New Zealand Railways (NZR) from the 1890s to 1957. In 1971, NZR revitalised the service as a tourist venture, later leasing the locomotives and rolling stock in 1982 to a private company. Since then, the Kingston Flyer has been through a number of owners, most recently being owned by the Kingston Flyer Ltd. A group of volunteers has restored the railway, rolling stock and locomotives to service. In July 2021 the Kingston Flyer received resource consent to operate, initially for tour groups. History The Kingston Flyer was introduced in the late 1890s as New Zealand recovered from the Long Depression of the 1880s. During the Long D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
