Mount Lyford
Mt Lyford (1590m) is the home of an alpine village and ski resort in the South Island of New Zealand. It is 146 kilometres by road north of Christchurch on the Inland Kaikōura Road (SH70) between Culverden and Kaikoura. The resort is a 40-minute drive to Hanmer Springs and a 45-minute drive to Kaikoura. The nearby township of Waiau, Canterbury has a small supermarket, DIY store and petrol station. The Inland Kaikōura Road is very scenic and windy from Waiau through to Kaikōura and forms part of the Alpine Pacific Touring Route. In 1986 the Village and Ski field was developed by D & J Simpson, who formerly farmed this area. The Mt Lyford development was to construct and market an alpine subdivision of 97 large sections with an approximate size of . Recreational areas and artificial lakes were also planned and strict building codes were placed on the type of buildings and construction methods use within the subdivision. Originally only log chalets were allowed to be built with a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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South Island
The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, and to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean. The South Island covers , making it the world's 12th-largest island. At low altitude, it has an oceanic climate. The South Island is shaped by the Southern Alps which run along it from north to south. They include New Zealand's highest peak, Aoraki / Mount Cook at . The high Kaikōura Ranges lie to the northeast. The east side of the island is home to the Canterbury Plains while the West Coast is famous for its rough coastlines such as Fiordland, a very high proportion of native bush and national parks, and the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. The main centres are Christchurch and Dunedin. The economy relies on agriculture and fishing, tourism, and general manufacturing and services. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country by area, covering . New Zealand is about east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and south of the islands of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. The country's varied topography and sharp mountain peaks, including the Southern Alps, owe much to tectonic uplift and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, and its most populous city is Auckland. The islands of New Zealand were the last large habitable land to be settled by humans. Between about 1280 and 1350, Polynesians began to settle in the islands and then developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight and record New Zealand. In 1840, representatives of the United Kingdom and Māori chiefs ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / Ōtākaro flows through the centre of the city, with an urban park along its banks. The city's territorial authority population is people, and includes a number of smaller urban areas as well as rural areas. The population of the urban area is people. Christchurch is the second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand, after Auckland. It is the major urban area of an emerging sub-region known informally as Greater Christchurch. Notable smaller urban areas within this sub-region include Rangiora and Kaiapoi in Waimakariri District, north of the Waimakariri River, and Rolleston and Lincoln in Selwyn District to the south. The first inhabitants migrated to the area sometime between 1000 and 1250 AD. They hunted moa, which led ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Inland Kaikōura Road
The Inland Kaikōura Road, formerly designated State Highway 70, is a provincial highway in the South Island of New Zealand that runs from just south of Kaikōura to just north of Culverden via Waiau, Canterbury, Waiau and Rotherham, New Zealand, Rotherham. White shields are used to signify this highway. It forms part of the Alpine Pacific Triangle tourist route. It also serves as an alternative inland route in cases where State Highway 1 (New Zealand), SH 1 is closed near the South Kaikōura Coast. Following the 14 November 2016 Kaikōura earthquake, all roads into Kaikōura were closed including SH70; after extensive regrading and clearance the Inland Road was the first road connection to Kaikōura to reopen and was a lifeline for the community. History The highway lost its New Zealand state highway network, state highway status because of the lack of traffic using it. In 1991 the section from Waiau to Kaikōura was revoked. Before revocation approximately of highway was uns ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Culverden
Culverden is a small town in the northern Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. It lies at the centre of the Amuri Plain. Culverden has traditionally been surrounded by sheep farms. Dairy farms have now become more common as a result of irrigation schemes in the area. The Waiau Plains Irrigation Scheme was completed in 1980. It provides irrigation to 17,000 hectares of farmland and the Balmoral Scheme provides irrigation to a further 5500 hectares. The Rutherford Reserve and the Culverden Recreation Reserve are on the southern side of Culverden and the Culverden Golf Course in on the northern entrance to Culverden. There is a memorial in the Rutherford Reserve to Dr Charles Little who died in November 1918 from the Spanish Flu. He was the county doctor providing medical services from Waikari to Waiau. Local government When provincial government was abolished in 1876, Culverden became the main centre for the newly established Amuri County. Counties were abolished in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hanmer Springs
Hanmer Springs is a small town in the Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand. The Māori name for Hanmer Springs is Te Whakatakanga o te Ngārahu o te ahi a Tamatea, which means “where the ashes of Tamate’s (sic) fire lay”, referring to Tamatea, the captain of the canoe Tākitimu. Hanmer Springs is located north-west of Christchurch and south-west of Kaikōura ( by road), in the Hurunui District. The town lies on a minor road north of State Highway 7, the northern route between Christchurch and the West Coast via Lewis Pass. The township lies at the base of Conical Hill. Mount Isobel () looks over Hanmer Springs. Jacks Pass and Jollies Pass provide access to the Molesworth and Rainbow roads. Toponymy The town is named after Thomas Hanmer, an owner of Hawkeswood Station near the Conway River during the 1850s. Thomas Hanmer was born in Hanmer, Wales. He arrived at Port Lyttleton in 1852. While searching for suitable farming land, he joined a party o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Waiau, Canterbury
Waiau is a small town in north Canterbury, in the South Island of New Zealand. It lies east of Hanmer Springs on the northern bank of the Waiau Uwha River, some from the river's mouth. There is a small supermarket, a DIY store and a petrol station. History Waiau is the largest town on State Highway 70, also known as the Inland Kaikoura Route. From 1919 until 1978, Waiau was the terminus of the Waiau Branch, a branch line railway that ran to the town from a junction with the Main North Line in Waipara. There were proposals to extend this line beyond Waiau as part of the Main North Line and some of formation was made for a route to Kaikoura, but construction ground to a halt and a coastal route via Parnassus and Hundalee was chosen for the Main North Line instead. Waiau had at one stage, three churches. A Presbyterian church, an Anglican church and a Catholic Church. The Catholic Parish of the Good Shepard was opened in 1900 and has seating for 100. Waiau was heavil ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ski Tow
A surface lift is a type of cable transport for snow sports in which skiers and snowboarders remain on the ground as they are pulled uphill. While they were once prevalent, they have been overtaken in popularity by higher-capacity and higher-comfort aerial lifts, such as chairlifts and gondola lifts. Today, surface lifts are most often found on beginner slopes, small ski areas, and peripheral slopes. They are also often used to access glacier ski slopes because their supports can be anchored in glacier ice due to the lower forces and realigned due to glacier movement. Surface lifts have some disadvantages compared to aerial lifts: they require more passenger skill and may be difficult for some beginners (especially snowboarders, whose boards point at an angle different than the direction of travel) and children; sometimes they lack a suitable route back to the piste; the snow surface must be continuous; they can get in the way of skiable terrain; they are relatively slow in spee ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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New Zealand Bellbird
The New Zealand bellbird (''Anthornis melanura''), also known by its Māori names korimako, makomako, and kōmako, is a passerine bird endemic to New Zealand. It has greenish colouration and is the only living member of the genus ''Anthornis''. The bellbird forms a significant component of the famed New Zealand dawn chorus of bird song that was much noted by early European settlers. The explorer Captain Cook wrote of its song "it seemed to be like small bells most exquisitely tuned". Its bell-like song is sometimes confused with that of the tūī. The species is common across much of New Zealand and its offshore islands as well as the Auckland Islands. Description Males are olive-green with a dark purplish sheen on their head and black outer wing and tail, while females are a duller olive-brown with a blue sheen on the head and yellowish-white curving from the base of the bill to below the eye. Both have a notably red eye. They are about 17–20 cm from the tip of their bea ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fantail
Fantails are small insectivorous songbirds of the genus ''Rhipidura'' in the family Rhipiduridae, native to Australasia, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Most of the species are about long, specialist aerial feeders, and named as "fantails", but the Australian willie wagtail is a little larger, and, though still an expert hunter of insects on the wing, concentrates equally on terrestrial prey. The true wagtails are part of the genus '' Motacilla'' in the family Motacillidae and are not close relatives of the fantails. Description The fantails are small bodied (11.5–21 cm long) birds with long tails; in some species the tail is longer than the body and in most the tail is longer than the wing.Boles, W.E. (2006). Family Rhipiduridae (Fantails). Pp 200-244 in: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Christie, D.A. eds (2006) ''Handbook of the Birds of the World''. Vol. 11. Old World Flycatchers to Old World Warblers. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. When the tail is folded it is ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Silvereye
The silvereye or wax-eye (''Zosterops lateralis'') is a very small omnivorous passerine bird of the south-west Pacific. In Australia and New Zealand its common name is sometimes white-eye, but this name is more commonly used to refer to all members of the genus ''Zosterops'', or the entire family Zosteropidae. In New Zealand, the silvereye was first recorded in 1832. It arrived in greater numbers in 1856, and it is assumed that a migrating flock was swept eastwards by a storm. As an apparently self-introduced bird it is protected as a native New Zealand species. Its Māori name, , means "stranger" or more literally, "new arrival". Taxonomy The silvereye was first described by the English ornithologist John Latham in 1801 under the binomial name ''Sylvia lateralis''. There are 17 subspecies: * ''Z. l. chlorocephalus'' A. J. Campbell & S. A. White, 1910 (Capricorn silvereye)– Capricorn and Bunker Group, central Queensland, Australia * ''Z. l. chloronotus'' Gould, 1841 ( western ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |