Stony Batter on Waiheke Island offers a good view to the outer limits of the Hauraki Gulf, a semi enclosed part of the Pacific that is Auckland's maritime playground. It is largely protected from the Pacific by Great Barrier Island and Little Barrier Island to the north, and by the Coromandel Peninsula to the east. Cape Rodney on the left and the Coromandel Peninsula on the right are part of the mainland. A line connecting them with Little Barrier Island and Great Barrier Island (left and right centre) forms the limit between the Hauraki Gulf and the Pacific Ocean beyond. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauraki_Gulf_/_Tīkapa_Moana#/map/0 The environmental integrity of the gulf has suffered through the introduction of industrialised fishing peaking in the 1970s. This severe overfishing, which unbalanced the marine environment by the removal of a main predator in the food chain, led to a widespread disappearance of kelp beds and their substitution by kina barrens. Kinas are sea urchins which flourish in the absence of the New Zealand snapper and lobsters, their main predators. Dredging of the mussel beds of the Firth of Thames reached a peak in 1961 shortly before collapse of the industry. Particularly damaging are the results of nitrogen carried into the gulf from surrounding agricultural land, with almost 90% coming from the dairy-farming runoff into the Firth of Thames. In 2000 New Zealand established the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park. So far the park has failed to prevent overfishing and reverse the ecosystem collapse. Much more needs to be done to clean up the environmental degradation created by commercial interests in the past and present.

Tags:   Auckland Region Cape Colville Cape Rodney Coromandel Peninsula Great Barrier Island Hauraki Gulf Hauraki Gulf Marine Park Little Barrier Island New Zealand Pacific Ocean Stony Batter Takatu Point Tīkapa Moana Waiheke Island blue sky boulder bush remnants farmland headland sunset

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Lake Ohau Road continues beyond the lake into the Hopkins Valley in the central South Island of New Zealand. The valley continues to the left of the mountain ahead when it becomes a wide braided river valley leading deep into the Southern Alps. The road becomes a rough 4WD track and continues to some DOC huts further up the valley where I would have loved to spend the night. When we hit the 4WD track with its river crossings I decided to turn around rather than risking to become trapped by rising river levels the next day when heavy rain was forecast. Lenticular clouds forming east of the main ranges in a northwest flow are generally a sign that a front is approaching (source: The New Zealand Weather Book)

Tags:   Dobson Valley Hopkins Valley Lake Ohau Road Mount Glen Lyon New Zealand South Island Southern Alps cattle grid cloud dramatic sky farm fence gravel road landscape lenticular cloud mountain road

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Rhododendron flowering high in the Guil Valley, France, with Monte Viso in the background. Rhododendron ferrugineum (alpenrose) is an evergreen shrub that grows just above the tree line in the Alps, Pyrenees, Jura and northern Apennines. Monte Viso or Monviso (3,841 m, 12,602 ft) is the highest mountain of the Cottian Alps. It is located in Italy close to the French border. The brown building near the left upper corner is the Refuge du Viso where we had spent the night. The photo is a panorama stitched from 4 vertical pictures.

Tags:   Alpes Cottiennes Alps Cottian Alps France French Alps Guil Guil Valley Mont Viso Biosphere reserve Monte Viso Monviso Mount Viso Parc naturel régional du Queyras Queyras Rhododendron ferrugineum Rhododendron ferrugineux Rose des Alpes Réserve Naturelle Nationale de Ristolas Mont Viso Réserve de biosphère transfrontière du Mont Viso Vallée du Guil alpenrose cloud landscape mountain panorama sky waterfall

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Views forever from Portela del Piazedel, a saddle we passed on our way up to Forcella de Zita Sud, the last pass of our Dolomite traverse. The southern part of the Alta Via 1 trail saw fewer hikers and simpler mountain huts, still providing plenty of comfort with good meals and camaraderie around big tables. The image is a panorama from 6 handheld vertical frames.

Tags:   Alps Alta Via 1 Castello di Moschesin Cima di Pramper Dolomiten Dolomites Dolomiti Italy Portela del Piazedel Province of Belluno Rifugio Pramperet Rifugio Sommariva al Pramperet Val Pezedel Val Pramperet blue sky forest hiker hiking hiking trail landscape mountain panorama path rock saddle trail walker

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Mont Aiguille is a limestone mesa, previously connected to the main body of the high plateau of the Vercors Massif (right). According to Roman legend, the mountain was torn from the rest of the Vercors when a hunter saw naked goddesses on the mountain and was changed into an ibex as punishment. In the medieval period, Mont Aiguille was traditionally called "Mount Inaccessible", and typically depicted as an "inverted pyramid" or "mushroom". When I first saw the mountain from afar on a hike 10 years ago it left me wondering if I had found a Lost World in the middle of France. Two return visits later it has not lost its aura of mystique.

Tags:   France French Prealps Hauts Plateaux du Vercors Isère Le Grand Veymont Mont Aiguille Vercors Vercors Massif Vercors Plateau blue sky landscape limestone mountain panorama rock

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