Lake Kaniere is a glacial lake located on the West Coast of 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 ...

, nearly 200 m deep and surrounded on three sides by mountains and mature rimu forest. It is regarded by many as the most beautiful of the West Coast lakes, and is a popular tourist and leisure destination.

Geography

Lake Kaniere lies southeast of

Hokitika Hokitika is a town in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island, south of Greymouth, and close to the mouth of the Hokitika River. It is the seat and largest town in the Westland District. The town's estimated population is as of ...

, between two mountain ranges. At , it is second only to Lake Brunner in size among the West Coast's lakes. It is oriented north-south, 8 km long and 2 km wide, and has a maximum depth of 195 m. Mount Graham and Mount Upright / Te Taumata o Uekanuku are on the west coast of the lake, Tūhua on the east. The lake is included in the Lake Kaniere Scenic Reserve. The road from Hokitika meets the northern shore of the lake at "The Landing" and splits; Dorothy Falls Road runs up the entire eastern side of the lake past Hans Bay and Dorothy Falls to the Styx River, while the other fork goes a short way west to Sunny Bight. A four-hour hiking trail continues down the west side of the lake before joining Dorothy Falls Road. Most of the houses at Lake Kaniere today are holiday homes, and there is a DOC campground at Hans Bay.

Geology

Lake Kaniere was created by the action of glaciers in the last ice age 14,000 years ago, like many West Coast lakes. It currently drains into the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea (Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer ...

at its northern end via the Kaniere River, but in the past its outlet was at the southern end, emptying into the Styx River. This exit was blocked by a landslide, diverting the water north.

Fauna

The streams that feed into the lake are home to several species of native fish, including common bullies, longfin eels, banded kokopu and giant kokopu. The lake has been stocked with fish in the past, and mostly contains

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morp ...

and

perch Perch is a common name for fish of the genus ''Perca'', freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Per ...

. Many species of native birds can also be found on and around the lake, such as little shags, black shags, New Zealand scaup,

paradise shelduck The paradise shelduck (''Tadorna variegata''), also known as the paradise duck, or in Māori, is a species of shelduck, a group of goose-like ducks, which is endemic to New Zealand. Johann Friedrich Gmelin placed it in the genus ''Anas'' with ...

s and

pūkeko The Australasian swamphen (''Porphyrio melanotus'') is a species of swamphen (''Porphyrio'') occurring in eastern Indonesia (the Moluccas, Aru and Kai Islands), Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand. In New Zealand, it is known as the ...

, and also, rarely, grey ducks. There are several pairs of

whio The blue duck or whio (''Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos'') is a member of the duck, goose and swan family Anatidae endemic to New Zealand. It is the only member of the genus ''Hymenolaimus''. Its exact taxonomic status is still unresolved, b ...

in the Styx River at the southern end of the lake. In the surrounding forest are yellow-crowned kākāriki,

ruru Ruru may refer to: Places * Ruru, Nepal * Ruru, New Zealand People *Rouran, an ancient nomadic race from the Mongolian steppes, also called Juan Juan * Ruru Madrid, a Filipino teen actor Others *Māori name for the morepork owl *A Kanohi from the ...

rifleman A rifleman is an infantry soldier armed with a rifled long gun. Although the rifleman role had its origin with 16th century hand cannoneers and 17th century musketeers, the term originated in the 18th century with the introduction of the ri ...

, brown creeper, and sometimes kea. Early

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 Co ...

settlers found large numbers of

kākāpō The kākāpō ( ; ; from the mi, kākāpō, , night parrot), also known as owl parrot (''Strigops habroptilus''), is a species of large, flightless, nocturnal, ground-dwelling parrots of the super-family Strigopoidea, endemic to New Zeal ...

around the lake.

Flora

Lake Kaniere Scenic Reserve is largely composed of mature

rimu ''Dacrydium cupressinum'', commonly known as rimu, is a large evergreen coniferous tree endemic to the forests of New Zealand. It is a member of the southern conifer group, the podocarps. The Māori name ''rimu'' comes from the Polynesian ...

, and is considered one of the most ecologically-significant areas of lowland forest in the central West Coast. The rimu forest composition varies: on the flat outwash terraces, it contains rātā (''Metrosideros'') and kaikawaka (''Libocedrus bidwillii''), while on the slopes there is more supplejack (''Ripogonum scandens''), kiekie (''Freycinetia banksii)'', and miro (''Prumnopitys ferruginea''). In the swampier areas there are other tree species including manoao (''Manoao colensoi''), kaikawaka, and

kahikatea ''Dacrycarpus dacrydioides'', commonly known as kahikatea (from Māori) and white pine, is a coniferous tree endemic to New Zealand. A podocarp, it is New Zealand's tallest tree, gaining heights of 60 m and a life span of 600 years. It was fi ...

(''Dacrycarpus dacrydioides'').

Human history

In pre-European times, Lake Kaniere was an important mahinga kai (food gathering place) for

, with longfin eels and weka being two of the most important food resources in and around the lake. In 1909 a small

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...

station was built on the Kaniere River, at a cost of £15,000, to power the pumping equipment at the Ross gold mine. Water is taken near the weir at the northern end of the lake and travels 9 km through a series of tunnels and flumes to a twin power plant capable of generating 520 kW; the water race was originally used for gold sluicing in the Kaniere area. The most prominent of the wooden flumes, Johnson's Flume, collapsed in 1973 and was replaced by earthworks. The Kaniere Forks power station later supplied the gold dredge at

Rimu ''Dacrydium cupressinum'', commonly known as rimu, is a large evergreen coniferous tree endemic to the forests of New Zealand. It is a member of the southern conifer group, the podocarps. The Māori name ''rimu'' comes from the Polynesian ...

, and after 1931 exclusively generated power for

, today supplying 3.75 GWh annually to the town. A 3½ hour walkway follows the water race, part of the

West Coast Wilderness Trail The West Coast Wilderness Trail has been funded as one of the projects of the New Zealand Cycle Trail. Once complete, the track will connect Greymouth in the north with Ross in the south. History The overall New Zealand Cycle Trail project is a ...

. Lake Kaniere is a popular location for leisure activities such as camping, picknicking, jetboating, jetskiing, and

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

. It is occasionally used by

naturists Naturism is a lifestyle of practising non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms ar ...

for nude swimming; New Zealand has no official nude beaches, as public nudity is legal on any beach where it is "known to occur". It is also the main water supply for Hokitika.

References

External links

*
Lake Kaniere Scenic Reserve
information at

Department of Conservation An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanieri, Lake Westland District Lakes of the West Coast, New Zealand Nude beaches Naturism in New Zealand