Lakeside lens
Date: 17 Apr 2004, The Press, Christchurch, page D7
Captions: Lake Sarah in the Arthurs Pass National
Park. Calm before the storm: canoeing on Lake Pukaki (right). Colours of the rainbow during a storm on Lake Pukaki (below).

PAT BARRETT reflects on the special beauty of the South Island's high-country lakes.

The Canterbury high country is a landscape of amazing diversity where space and light enhance the terrain, especially on a clear morning.

A particular facet of this landscape are the lakes - large and small - which punctuate the often sombre tones of the hills and plains with a shimmering disc of silver or a deep pool of turquoise.

All of the lakes are remnants of the glacial tongues that carved through the South Island mountains eons ago, but have now retreated to the heads of the valleys where they still feed the larger rivers and lakes.

Tekapo, Pukaki and Ohau are some of the largest lakes and these possess the grandest backdrops - the Southern Alps.

Yet other smaller, more intimate bodies of water abound among the folds of the high country where their luminous faces often reflect the beauty of hills. Sometimes their borders are softened by the spray of tussock heads waving in the breeze that brings to the observer the sound of swans, ducks or the rare crested grebe's strident call rising over the wind.

The lakes, in any mood, are a very special feature of the land, one that is protected and deserves our respect.

There are many opportunities to walk, tramp, or climb in these remarkable basins, both on well- known, and less-frequently used paths and routes, where the ever-changing views are a compelling reason for any visit to the high country.