Lake Kaniere is a glacial lake 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 ...

. Nearly deep, the lake is surrounded on three sides by mountains and mature

rimu ''Dacrydium cupressinum'', commonly known as rimu, is a species of tree in the family Podocarpaceae. It is a dioecious evergreen conifer, reaching heights of up to , and can have a stout trunk (botany), trunk up to in diameter. It is endemis ...

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, between two mountain ranges. At about , it is second only to

Lake Brunner Lake Brunner ( or ) is the largest lake in the West Coast Region of New Zealand, located southeast of Greymouth. The main settlement, Moana, New Zealand, Moana, is on its northern shore. It is an important settlement and waystation for local M ...

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 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 Abel Janszoon Tasman, who in 1642 wa ...

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 kōkopu and giant kōkopu. The lake has been stocked with fish in the past, and mostly contains

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a species of salmonid ray-finned fish and the most widely distributed species of the genus ''Salmo'', endemic to most of Europe, West Asia and parts of North Africa, and has been widely introduced globally ...

and

perch Perch is a common name for freshwater fish from the genus ''Perca'', which belongs to the family Percidae of the large order Perciformes. The name comes from , meaning the type species of this genus, the European perch (''P. fluviatilis'') ...

. 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'' w ...

s and pūkeko, and also, rarely, grey ducks. There are several pairs of whio in the Styx River at the southern end of the lake. In the surrounding forest are yellow-crowned kākāriki, ruru,

rifleman A rifleman is an infantry soldier armed with a rifling, 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 o ...

brown creeper The brown creeper (''Certhia americana''), also known as the American treecreeper, is a small songbird, the only North American member of the treecreeper family Certhiidae. Description Adults are brown on the upper parts with light spotting, re ...

, and sometimes

kea The kea ( ; ; ''Nestor notabilis'') is a species of large parrot in the Family (biology), family Strigopidae that is endemic to the forested and alpine regions of the South Island of New Zealand. About long, it is mostly olive-green, with br ...

. 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 (; : ; ''Strigops habroptilus''), sometimes known as the owl parrot or owl-faced parrot, is a species of large, nocturnal, ground-dwelling parrot of the superfamily Strigopoidea. It is endemic to New Zealand. Kākāpō can be u ...

around the lake.

Flora

Lake Kaniere Scenic Reserve is largely composed of mature

, 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 language, Māori) and white pine, is a Pinophyta, coniferous tree endemism, endemic to New Zealand. A Podocarpaceae, podocarp, it is New Zealand's tallest tree, gaining hei ...

(''Dacrycarpus dacrydioides'').

Human history

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

, with longfin eels and

weka The weka, also known as the Māori hen or woodhen (''Gallirallus australis'') is a flightless bird species of the rail family. It is endemic to New Zealand. Some authorities consider it as the only extant member of the genus '' Gallirallus''. ...

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

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

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

flume A flume is a human-made channel for water, in the form of an open declined gravity chute whose walls are raised above the surrounding terrain, in contrast to a trench or ditch. Flumes are not to be confused with aqueducts, which are built to t ...

s 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 species of tree in the family Podocarpaceae. It is a dioecious evergreen conifer, reaching heights of up to , and can have a stout trunk (botany), trunk up to in diameter. It is endemis ...

, and after 1931 exclusively generated power for Hokitika, today supplying 3.75 GWh annually to the town. A 3½ hour walkway follows the water race, part of the West Coast Wilderness Trail. 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 one or two skis. The sport requires sufficien ...

. It is occasionally used by naturists 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 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kanieri, Lake Westland District Lakes of the West Coast Region Nude beaches Naturism in New Zealand