Aoraki Mt Cook Mackenzie region

http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/sandamichaela-1384506-aoraki-mt-cook-mackenzie-region/

The Aoraki Mount Cook Mackenzie region is situated in the centre of New Zealand's majestic South Island. The region is renowned for its incredibly clear starry nights, brilliant sunny days, remarkable turquoise blue lakes, valleys of emerald green and snow-capped mountains.  

Shaped by the giant forces of nature, massive glaciers have scoured the land leaving a trail of lakes and rivers across the landscape. Today you will see awesome mountain ranges - the snow capped Southern Alps stretching across the western horizon. Mount Cook, New Zealand's highest mountain at 3,754 metres above sea level, towers over the expansive countryside.

State Highway 8 between Lake Pukaki and Tekapo is a pretty straight road with a few curves, so it’ll be fairly easy to drive at 100 km/h (62 mph) here. There isn’t much to see along this stretch of road other than several mountain ranges, Lake Pukaki and Mount Cook once you reach Lake Pukaki and Lake Tekapo in Tekapo. But…..Lake Pukaki looks much more impressive live than it does in any photograph or video. You have to catch the lake on a sunny day, though, to get to see its mesmerizing blue color…..

Sure, everyone posts a picture of Lake Pukaki with Mt. Cook in the distance, but once you've been there you really understand. When it's not too cloudy and the sun lights the lake, it's so blue it's almost unreal

Lake Pukaki, occupying 65 square miles (169 square km) of a valley dammed by a terminal moraine (glacial debris). The lake, 1,640 feet (500 m) above sea level, receives the Tasman and Hooker rivers, which draw some of their waters from melting glaciers east of the Southern Alps

The amazing turquoise blue colour is created by "rock flour": the glaciers in the headwaters grind the rock into fine dust.  These suspended particles in combination with the sunlight create Lake’s  unique water colour

On the shores of Lake Tekapo, the country’s highest large lake (710m above sea level), is the Church of the Good Shepherd, built in 1935 as a memorial to the pioneers of the Mackenzie Country).

The Church offers awe inspiring views of Lake Tekapo and mountains through the alter window and has been host to thousands of weddings since its dedication. 

Close by is the bronze statue of a sheepdog, a tribute to the hardy dogs “without the help of which the grazing of this mountain country would be impossible.”

Text: Internet

Pictures: Sanda Foişoreanu

Doina Grigoraş

Arangement: Sanda FoişoreanuSound: Haere Mai - Cara Pewhairangi

Wahine - Anna Leahwww.slideshare.net/michaelasanda