Lake Waihola is a 640 ha tidal freshwater

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

located 15 km north of

Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

, in New Zealand's

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 ...

. Its area is some 9 square kilometres, with a maximum length of 6 kilometres and a mean depth of 0.75m. It is the larger of a pair of existing lakes—the other being

Lake Waipori Lake Waipori is the smaller and shallower of the pair of lakes located in the wetlands to the south west of Dunedin in New Zealand on the Waipori River. The Waipori River is a major tributary of the Taieri River, and these wetlands form the south ...

—which lie in a small area of low hills between the Taieri and Tokomairaro. Waihola is drained by the

Waipori River The Waipori River is in Otago in the South Island of New Zealand. Rising in the Lammerlaw Range, it flows southeast for before joining the Taieri River near Henley, southwest of Dunedin of which it is officially the southernmost border. Goog ...

, a tributary of the Taieri. Both lakes are very shallow and surrounded by wetlands, including the internationally renowned and protected

Sinclair Wetlands The Sinclair Wetlands (''Te Nohoaka o Tukiauau'') are an internationally renowned wetlands located to the south west of Dunedin, New Zealand, at the southern edge of the Taieri Plains. They are on the western side of Lake Waipori and approximatel ...

which are the home to many species of wading birds. This shallowness is reflected in the name Waihola, the southern

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

form of the word ''waihora'', which means "spreading waters". Lake Waihola is a popular day trip for holidaymakers from

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, 40 km to the north. The small township of

Waihola The township of Waihola lies between Dunedin and Milton, New Zealand in Otago, in New Zealand's South Island. It lies close to the southeast shore of the shallow tidal lake which shares its name. The town is located on State Highway 1, and the ...

(population 200), nestled against the lake's eastern edge, has facilities for

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

yachting Yachting is the use of recreational boats and ships called ''yachts'' for racing or cruising. Yachts are distinguished from working ships mainly by their leisure purpose. "Yacht" derives from the Dutch word '' jacht'' ("hunt"). With sailboats, t ...

, and

waterskiing Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a Surface water sports, surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a Cable skiing, cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on two skis or ...

, and the lake is an important

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically atta ...

venue.

History

Lake Waihola was used in the

Central Otago goldrush The Otago Gold Rush (often called the Central Otago Gold Rush) was a gold rush that occurred during the 1860s in Central Otago, New Zealand. This was the country's biggest gold strike, and led to a rapid influx of foreign miners to the area – ...

. Ships used to travel up the

Taieri River The Taieri River is the fourth-longest river in New Zealand and is in Otago in the South Island. Rising in the Lammerlaw Range, it initially flows north, then east around the Rock and Pillar range before turning southeast, reaching the sea sou ...

and across to the southern side of the lake where

prospector Prospector may refer to: Space exploration * Prospector (spacecraft), a planned lunar probe, canceled in 1962 * '' Lunar Prospector'', a NASA spacecraft Trains * Prospector (train), a passenger train operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Western ...

s would traverse the hills and on to

Gabriel's Gully Gabriel's Gully is a locality in Otago, New Zealand, three kilometres from Lawrence township and close to the Tuapeka River. It was the site of New Zealand's first major gold rush. The discovery of gold at Gabriel's Gully by Gabriel Read on 25 ...

. In the early days of settlement a paddle-steamer, the ''Betsy Douglas'', plied the lake's waters from Owhiro, near Henley in the north to Clarendon at the lake's southern end. Lake Waihola is located at the southern end of the lower

Taieri Plains The Taieri Plain (also referred to in the plural as the Taieri Plains) is an area of fertile agricultural land to the southwest of Dunedin, in Otago, New Zealand. The plain covers an area of some 300 square kilometres, with a maximum extent of 3 ...

and is the largest of a group of historical lakes that were once distributed between Lake Waihola and

Mosgiel Mosgiel (Māori: ''Te Konika o te Matamata'') is an urban satellite of Dunedin in Otago, New Zealand, fifteen kilometres west of the city's centre. Since the re-organisation of New Zealand local government in 1989 it has been inside the Dunedin ...

. Other neighbouring historical lakes include Lake Tatawai,

Loch Ascog Loch Ascog is a small reservoir on the east coast of the island of Isle of Bute, Bute, in the council area of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The loch supplies water to the town of Rothesay, Bute, Rothesay and the fishing rights are held by the Isle ...

Loch Katrine Loch Katrine (; or ) is a freshwater loch in the Trossachs area of the Scottish Highlands, east of Loch Lomond, within the historic county and registration county of Perthshire and the contemporary district of Stirling. The loch is about lon ...

, Lake Potaka and Silverstream LagoonBray, Sharon. "Under the Eye of the Saddle Hill Taniwha", 1998.

Etymology

Waihola's name creates some interest as the Māori alphabet generally does not contain the letter ' L'. It is, however, found in

Southern Māori dialect Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

, and is also found in several other central and southern South Island place names, such as

Wangaloa Wangaloa is a small coastal settlement in South Otago, New Zealand. It is located to the north of the mouths of the Clutha River the beach area, close to the town of Kaitangata. There is access to Wangaloa Beach from the Kaitangata Golf course ...

in Otago and

Little Akaloa Little Akaloa is a small settlement and bay on Banks Peninsula, in the South Island of New Zealand. The settlement is sited at the end of the bay, a long, finger-shaped indentation in the northeastern coast of the peninsula, some southeast of C ...

in Canterbury. The word ''Waihola'' is generally accepted to be the southern variant of the word ''wai-hora'', meaning "spreading waters".

Ecosystems

Lake Waihola has attracted international interest due to the ecosystems based in a shallow freshwater tidal system. Since 2000,

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

scientists have been conducting annual studies of the lake. Waihola is reputedly the home to a species of

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes wea ...

, the

cryptid Cryptids are animals that cryptozoologists believe may exist somewhere in the wild, but are not believed to exist by mainstream science. Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience, which primarily looks at anecdotal stories, and other claims rejected by ...

waitoreke, but no verified sightings have ever confirmed the animal's existence.New Zealand Ecological Society report
(PDF format).

Health warnings

Health warnings related to algae have been issued on the lake as of March 2017.

References

{{Authority control Waihola, Lake Waihola, Lake Clutha District Taieri River

History

Etymology

Ecosystems

Health warnings

See also

References