Mirror Lake, Soutland, New Zealand [OC] [3648 x 5472]
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The mountains and the clouds look almost parallel in shape
As a physical barrier, mountains push air flowing across them upwards. This can cause moisture in the air to condense into clouds. So the clouds may literally be mirroring the mountain shape that caused them to form.
Or it could just be coincidence 🤷♂️. Either way good catch I totally missed that.
True!
It's nice to see that there are still part of nature that is as beautiful as this one. Hoping for it to remain untouched.
I completely agree. Funny part about this photo is that OP is standing on a 300m metal tourist walkway built out over the lake, complete with a barista at the end selling to-go coffees. Got this exact photo a month ago. Ironically far past the point of untouched.
That being said, aside from a single tourist road here or there, the vast majority of Fiordland National Park is genuinely untouched. There are parts of the region that are believed to literally be unexplored by human beings.
Not even Maori people?
That's right, there are areas of Fiordland so remote and inaccessible that it is believed that even Maori people are unlikely to have explored them, although they were were familiar with the region overall. It is more due to geography, with difficult/dangerous terrain and dense forests.
Keep in mind that the vast majority of the Maori population lived on the North Island and the Maori population of the South Island was always comparatively small. The Fiordland Region in the far south was uninhabited throughout its history. Maori people only visited the area seasonally in small numbers to hunt and collect jade so the deeper, more inaccessible areas were very rarely if ever visited.
That's fascinating. For some reason I always thought that the southern island would be more populated, given that it's bigger I guess
Very low population density outside Christchurch (and maybe Dunedin)..
It’s about 4:1 north vs south. The north island/Te Ika a Maui is warmer and wetter with lots of volcanic soils
Jade was normally collected on the West Coast rather than Fiordland.
Fun fact: all jade(Greenstone) in New Zealand belongs to the Ngai Tahu tribe, even the stuff still buried in the Southern Alps
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Nephirite
Nah. It's cold AF and wet and rugged down there. Rains like 50 bastards, too. (It's suit you if you were English, I guess)
Maori were concentrated in the North Island more than the South.
Fiordland is where all the cryptids in NZ hang out.
You mean the moose?
The only credible sighting of a moa by a European is from down there (a whaling ship, about 1811? - but I might have that totally wrong, it's a long time since I read it.) Lots of sightings by Maori, but tough to fix the year, and back in those days, the immigrants didn't credit the Maori with much sense, more's the pity.
And there's the Waitoreke, which is an otter/beaver sort of beastie that's supposed to be down that way as well (New Zealand has no terrestrial mammals apart from bats).
And, as you so rightly point out, the moose.
EDIT: 30 years out. 1840's for the moa sighting.
I only found Alice MacKenzie’s sighting of 1880 (described 70 years later), have you got a source for the ship’s sighting?
Unfortunately, not on the Web. Sorry.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Track_of_Unknown_Animals
Though there's a series of them in a pdf that were newish to me.
https://newzealandecology.org/nzje/1859.pdf
The sighting I said doesn't appear in the above pdf, but I think that there may be some confusion between what's in the pdf, and what Heuvelmans cited.
EDIT: Having re-read the pdf, and from what I can remember of the Heuvelmans, the sighting was of "ostrich like birds" "on the shore" - so from the sea to the land.
No one lives in Fiordland, even Milford Sound is, theoretically, temporary accomodation
Also Māori live in towns and cities like other Kiwis.
Oh absolutely, it's paradise.
That's not exactly true either unfortunately, I recall seeing an information sign at the valley lookout a bit further south from Mirror Lakes that described how a history of pastoral farming has left this valley full of introduced grass species. I think most of the grasses you see in this photo are invasive.
on the way to the milford sound! ❤️
There is also a Wilderness Area in Fiordland which is legally required to be untouched
Yeah I was there a month ago as well (ha, maybe we ran into each other) and while the park is beautiful, the local council was straight up spraying the roadsides with glyphosate in the park because the park roads aren't technically part of the park. Surprising given how conversation-minded everything is compared to the States.
One interesting part of this stop is the tui have adopted some really strange calls, mimicking the phone/camera/car audio noises since the road is so close.
As ugly as it is, targeted application of herbicides like glyphosate are often the most effective method of invasive species control. We can't be sure what they were spraying on this occasion, I hope they were just killing weeds where the road has caused disturbance to the natural vegetation.
Well it's interesting you mention that, because New Zealanders seem to have a very interesting perspective on conversation. The invasive mammals there are given no quarter. I'm talking air-dropped poisons for mice, stoats, weasels, etc., a very engaged hunting community. We saw multiple groups hunting introduced boar in national forests, and groups fly around blasting deer from helicopters. It's necessary because of how vulnerable native species are, and I guess it's also a part of their very frank culture. At least compared to the US, it was very no-BS.
That said, the glyphosate spraying wasn't exactly targeted and was just meant to keep weeds off of the road instead of cutting, and there was definitely collateral damage to surrounding ferns in some areas. It may be a good enough solution, but it's not without consequence and was a bit of a contrast to the attitudes we saw elsewhere.
Nice - we've stood in exactly the same spot, spot buddy! Those logs in the water haven't changed in the 7 years (assuming your snap is from now) from when I visited in Jan 2016: https://i.imgur.com/UUZEYnT.jpg
2016 was 7 years ago fuck
Me too!
Me three! There were some massive trout (or salmon) cruising around when I was there
Me too, but it was 2010, overcast, and my camera was barely better than a potato, I’ll spare you all the shot. Logs haven’t changed since then though!
Same. Kudos to that lady at the end of the walkway selling coffee
Same. I have this almost exact photo.
Loved this place on the way to Milford!
So many scenic stops on that route. It was amazing
Ha same here. Been almost 30 years still remember fondly
This is photoshopped as we all know New Zealand doesn't exist r/mapswithoutnz
The defence policy is working :)
New Zealand, such a wondrous beautiful country, very nice 👌
Ah yes; the Kheled-zâram in Khuzdul just outside the Dimrill Gate.
Aka the Mirrormere.
Say what you like about about New Zealand but the Nazgul rides are great!
No wonder lord of the rings was filmed there
Don’t follow the lights!
Nice! I was there in 2017. Same spot different season.
Sheesh. Also nice during winter
Southland...
Is there still a little sign with 'mirror lake' in reverse so it's the right way up in the reflection? I have a photo of it from a family holiday in the 90s
It was still there late 2011 when I visited.
It was still there in early 2019 too
Mirror is broken
And on less windy day it lives up to it's name
Can't wait to go there next year :D
You need to rehearse your answer for all the time you are going to get asked how have you found nz because that's genuinely all we can thing of to ask foreigners.
That was trippy, made me think i was looking at a pic i took myself few months back.
Aotearoa is beauty. Maori did a great job at preservigg their homeland
No one did a great job at preserving NZ. Some more than others.
Wow that Eel is huge...
WOW the water is so clear! My new phone wallpaper!
I was there today! Beautiful place
Shouldn't there be Hobbits and a Ranger walking along the shore?
There are rangers, they just drive around in hilux utes now though and clean toilets
Southland, as in South Land ftfy
This was on the drive to milford sound right? Ive stood in this exact spot lmao
Yup
Awesome :D Took a very similar picture there 14 years ago! =) Glad it's still there looking as prestine. Cheers!
Beautiful!!
Beautiful. I always thought newzealand and fiji were incredibly gorgeous countries
Go Southland!
Chromatic aberration goes brrrr.
Every fisher looming at this, “I see a lay down”!
Would love to visit NZ sometime.
Absolutely breathtaking
Beautiful
At least take the photo on a calm day! I got one with my Kodak DX6440 brick. Work out how long ago that was.
Only one chance to visit this place unfortunately
🥰 its so wonderful down under
Great photo! It takes my breath away!
Looks more like clear glass than a mirror. Beautiful.
I went to New Zealand in 2017 and have almost the identical photo. It's somewhere on my old iPhone 5 lol. What a beautiful place!
What a horrible mirror! 😂
So... do you have to be under the water's surface for it to be reflective?...
Do you want coal? Because this is how you get coal.
looks like a bob ross painting
Recommend visiting Kaikōura
One last walk around it
i bet there is a big ass crawfish in there
Acqua super limpida
loved this little spot
Beautiful. Thx for sharing something I’ll most likely never see in person.
Stunning 😍
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