thumb|Lake Wakatipu and [[The Remarkables]]

thumb|Devil's Staircase at Lake Wakatipu aerial panorama

Lake Wakatipu () is an inland lake (finger lake) in the South Island of New Zealand. It is in the southwest corner of the Otago region, near its boundary with Southland. The name Wakatipu comes from the Māori name of the lake; there are two different etymologies as to the origin of the name.

With a length of , it is New Zealand's longest lake, and, at , its third largest. The lake is also very deep, its floor being below sea level (−111 metres, or 364 feet), with a maximum depth of . It is at an altitude of , towards the southern end of the Southern Alps. The general topography is a reversed "N" shape or "dog leg". The Dart River flows into the northern end, the lake then runs south for 30 kilometres before turning abruptly to the east. further along, it turns sharply to the south, reaching its southern end further south, near Kingston. At the north end of the lake is the settlement of Glenorchy, in the north-east corner, and the smaller isolated locality of Kinloch in the north-west corner.

The lake is drained by the Kawarau River, which flows out from the lake's only arm, the Frankton Arm, east of Queenstown. Until about 18,000 years ago the Mataura River drained Lake Wakatipu. The Kingston Flyer follows part of the former river bed now blocked by glacial moraine. Queenstown is on the northern shore of the lake close to the eastern end of its middle section. It has a seiche period of 26.7 minutes which, in Queenstown Bay, causes the water level to rise and fall some .<!---->

Lake Wakatipu is known for its scenery and is surrounded by mountains. Two mountain ranges, the Remarkables and the Tapuae-o-Uenuku / Hector Mountains, lie along its southeastern edge. It is a common venue for adventure tourism, with skifields, paragliding, bungy jumping and tramping tracks within easy reach. A vintage steamboat, the TSS Earnslaw regularly plies its waters. Several vineyards are nearby in Gibbston.

thumb|240px|right|NASA false-colour satellite image

thumb|240px|right|View of Lake Wakatipu from the Queenstown-Glenorchy Road

Etymology

The name Wakatipu is either a contraction of or derived from .

means 'trough of fresh water where the giant lies' and comes from a legend that a giant created the lake when he died with the giant's inhalations and exhalations explaining the changing water levels. means 'to create' or 'to cause to grow'. The name is believed to come from a story about how the remainder of a Māori tribe sought refuge around the lake to rebuild their numbers.

Another proposed etymology is that the name is derived from the name of a Māori canoe (called a waka in the Māori language).

William Gilbert Rees and Nicholas von Tunzelmann visited the lake in 1860 and were later granted run holdings surrounding the lake. In 1862 gold was found at Dunstan leading to the start of the Otago gold rush. Prospectors came to the lake in search of gold and an influx of people followed after news of gold being found by the lake had spread. affecting the lakeside communities of Kingston, Glenorchy and Queenstown. Notable flooding events include the 1878 Queenstown floods, which affected a large part of the outlying Queenstown and Otago areas, the 1995 Queenstown floods, and most notably the 1999 Queenstown floods, which significantly damaged the Queenstown CBD and road infrastructure resulting in approximately $50 million worth of damage.thumb|Lake Wakatipu from Queenstown Hill

Wildlife

Lake Wakatipu is a habitat for the longfin eel (a specimen caught in 1886 is the largest known of this species), and for introduced brown trout, salmon and rainbow trout. These and other fish support predators such as the pied shag. The black-billed gull is often found around the lake while the most common birds are the black-billed gull and the introduced mallard. A smaller bird often not noticed because of its size is the New Zealand scaup.

thumb|Paddle steamer Mountaineer at Bob's Cove jetty on Lake Wakatipu

thumb|The Earnslaw approaching the wharf at Kinloch in 1967

Film

Lake Wakatipu doubled as the Scottish Loch Ness in the 2007 film The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep.

The lake was a backdrop for several scenes in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, including Amon Hen.

Television

Lake Wakatipu is the eponymous lake in the murder mystery television series Top of the Lake (2013).

Sports

Swimming

The first person to swim the length of the lake was Ben Campbell-Macdonald in 2012. The 81&nbsp;km solo wetsuit swim from Kingston on the lake's southern point to Glenorchy took 18.5 hours.

See also

  • List of lakes in New Zealand

References

  • Lake Wakatipu information at the NZ Department of Conservation