Lake Ianthe (; officially Lake Ianthe / Matahi) is a

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

located on the West Coast of New Zealand's

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

. A number of small streams flow into the lake and it empties into the

Wanganui River The Wanganui River is in the West Coast, New Zealand, West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It flows northwest for from its headwaters in the Southern Alps, entering the Tasman Sea near Lake Ianthe, southwest of Hokitika. After hea ...

. It is close to the coast and near the rural settlements of Pukekura and Hari Hari, and runs along the eastern shore of the lake on its route between Ross and the Franz Josef Glacier. The lake is popular for boating, swimming, and

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

fishing. In the early 20th century, a privately run

bush tramway A bush tram and line-side log hauler owned by the Tamaki Sawmill Co., Raurimu. Photographed by Albert Percy Godber circa 1917. In New Zealand railway terminology, a bush tramway is an industrial tramway, most commonly used for logging. They ...

was established from the end of the

New Zealand Railways Department The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR (New Zealand Government Railways) and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining Rail transport in New Zealand, New Zealand's railway infrastruc ...

's Ross Branch

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucksNgāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998 The Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998 is an act of parliament passed in New Zealand relating to Ngāi Tahu, the principal Māori (tribe) of the South Island. The act's purpose is to settle all of the tribe's claims under the Treaty of Wa ...

, the name of the lake was officially altered to Lake Ianthe / Matahi.

References

External links

West Coast Tourism, Area 7 - has some info on Lake Ianthe
Westland District Lakes of the West Coast Region {{WestCoastNZ-geo-stub