Waking up early, we all packed our bags and had one last breakfast in Twizel before piling into the van. Along the way to the field station, we made a quick stop at the St. John’s Observatory, overlooking Lake Tekapo. Getting there early, we had a short wait before the gates opened up and we made our way up the narrow and winding one lane road.
At the top, we were greeted with an incredible view and a short exercise. Trying to not be distracted too much by the view, we broke out our trusty field notebooks and maps to sketch and identify glacial characteristics. We noted the classic U-shaped valleys, eroded moraines, and the glacial lake which all supported the evidence that the Lake Tekapo area had once been covered by a glacier. Next, we turned our eyes towards the lakes themselves. Though there was still a bit of cloud cover, we worked to decipher why the three lakes on the map (Lake Pukaki, Lake Tekapo, and an unnamed smaller third lake) all had different colors to them. We worked our way to the conclusion that the source of the water must’ve been influencing the color. The glacier feeding Lake Pukaki was much closer than that feeding Lake Tekapo, so the rock flour had less time to settle out and thus give the lake that light blue color. The smaller third lake, though, had a much darker color than the others, leading us to find out that the lake wasn’t fed by a glacier at all, but rather by a natural spring. After being lucky enough to find someone to take a picture of us and skip out on the Olympic sprint to beat the camera timer, we piled back into the van for the next leg of our journey.
With Dan’s eclectic collection of podcasts and the incredible scenery to keep us occupied, we finally reached our lunch spot (at 2:30!) at Sheffield Pies with the promise of world famous pies in our heads. Well-fed with Moroccan lamb and steak & cheese pies, we all piled into the cars one last time for the final leg of our journey. A short forty-five minutes later had us arrive at the quaint Flockhill Lodge. Waiting for us was our newest guest for the trip, Josh Borella, a recent PhD graduate from the University of Canterbury. A bit of finesse helped us unload the precarious mountain of bags that shifted in the back of the van.
After a bit of time to unpack and get situated, we all gathered in the kitchen for a quick exercise on strike and dip. Josh came in and saved the day by equipping us with compasses that actually work down here in the southern hemisphere to allow us to practice measuring strike and dip. With cereals boxes and teacups acting as our field, we went to work. We measured the strike by using our compasses to find the direction that our impromptu “sedimentary beds” were oriented. The dip, in contrast, had us using the pendulums of the compasses to measure the slope of the “beds”. After a quick wrap-up, it was time for dinner, a veritable feast of some classic kiwi cuisine. Settled in at our new home, we are ready for a cold but incredible day tomorrow.
Ready for some sleep,
Reid & Sydney
At the top, we were greeted with an incredible view and a short exercise. Trying to not be distracted too much by the view, we broke out our trusty field notebooks and maps to sketch and identify glacial characteristics. We noted the classic U-shaped valleys, eroded moraines, and the glacial lake which all supported the evidence that the Lake Tekapo area had once been covered by a glacier. Next, we turned our eyes towards the lakes themselves. Though there was still a bit of cloud cover, we worked to decipher why the three lakes on the map (Lake Pukaki, Lake Tekapo, and an unnamed smaller third lake) all had different colors to them. We worked our way to the conclusion that the source of the water must’ve been influencing the color. The glacier feeding Lake Pukaki was much closer than that feeding Lake Tekapo, so the rock flour had less time to settle out and thus give the lake that light blue color. The smaller third lake, though, had a much darker color than the others, leading us to find out that the lake wasn’t fed by a glacier at all, but rather by a natural spring. After being lucky enough to find someone to take a picture of us and skip out on the Olympic sprint to beat the camera timer, we piled back into the van for the next leg of our journey.
With Dan’s eclectic collection of podcasts and the incredible scenery to keep us occupied, we finally reached our lunch spot (at 2:30!) at Sheffield Pies with the promise of world famous pies in our heads. Well-fed with Moroccan lamb and steak & cheese pies, we all piled into the cars one last time for the final leg of our journey. A short forty-five minutes later had us arrive at the quaint Flockhill Lodge. Waiting for us was our newest guest for the trip, Josh Borella, a recent PhD graduate from the University of Canterbury. A bit of finesse helped us unload the precarious mountain of bags that shifted in the back of the van.
After a bit of time to unpack and get situated, we all gathered in the kitchen for a quick exercise on strike and dip. Josh came in and saved the day by equipping us with compasses that actually work down here in the southern hemisphere to allow us to practice measuring strike and dip. With cereals boxes and teacups acting as our field, we went to work. We measured the strike by using our compasses to find the direction that our impromptu “sedimentary beds” were oriented. The dip, in contrast, had us using the pendulums of the compasses to measure the slope of the “beds”. After a quick wrap-up, it was time for dinner, a veritable feast of some classic kiwi cuisine. Settled in at our new home, we are ready for a cold but incredible day tomorrow.
Ready for some sleep,
Reid & Sydney
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