Day 1

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Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Location Map of Stops

UWEC Student Research Day

Dr. Harry Jol

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After spending the night in Queenstown we continued our journey.  The morning of March 14th found us driving towards the small town of Farlie where we would be spending the night after our day of adventure.  The route we decided to take was highway 6 to Cromwell then onto highway 8 through Lindis Pass.

LINDIS PASS

The first geographic feature that we experienced was the Lindis Pass.  Lindis Pass links the Mackenzie Basin with Central Otago. The actual pass crosses a saddle between the valleys (below) of the Lindis and Ahuriri Rivers at an altitude of 971 meters above sea level. For many months of the year, you can expect to see snow in this mountainous area - often down to the roadside. 

MOUNT COOK
Our major stop for the day was the Mount Cook National Park which was founded in 1953.  We spent 3 hours exploring the gift shop and hiking up to a moraine that was formed when the Tasman Glacier was further down slope.  Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand.  It lies in the Southern Alps.  The Tasman Glacier and Hooker Glacier flow down its slopes. The park itself contains more than 140 peaks standing over 2,000 meters and has 72 named glaciers.  Mount Cook was named after Captain James Cook who first surveyed and circumnavigated the islands of New Zealand 1770.  The name was give by John Lort Stokes. 

Mount Cook (both below) was formed by a tectonic uplifting and pressure as the Pacific and Australian – Indian plates collided along the western coast.  The uplifting continues to raise Mount Cook as average of 7 mm a year.

FAIRLIE

Written by: Chirs Below