Through the Lewis Pass... And the Alpine Fault Line

 I left the Balmoral Reserve and drove the long straight

road through the majestic pine trees...

 Mountains and the sun glinting on the snow...

 The big South Island shingle rivers...

 Sheep farming country...

 And one of my favorite drives... The Black Beech trees

through the mountainous Lewis Pass...

 I found a small pull-over so I could stop for photos...

 It was a beautiful day and the sunlight through the

branches and leaves was magical...

 This was my next stop... A DoC camp area but totally

deserted, silence and nobody around...

 Although I did find a few cars parked as it's the beginning

of the walk to Lake Daniell... Six hours return, 17km

 or stay in the  hut overnight.

 I decided against doing that by myself. I had thought there

would be other people for company as it's a camping area

and a walk that had been recommended... Oh well next time.

I didn't want to get lost with no phone reception and I certainly

did not want to break another leg in the wilderness by

myself. Also the weather can dramatically change in the

mountains... I'll come again with some friends

as it looked a  great place by the Maruia River.

 However, I found this very interesting feature and

wandered over to investigate...

 The wall is 24 meters long and 1.4 meters deep, wider at the

bottom than the top. Most of it is underground.

It sits right across the Alpine Fault Line.

 Built by scientist Frank Evison, a pioneer in the field of earthquake
 prediction,  in 1964, he and his colleagues

wanted to see if they could measure movement in the

Alpine fault. The idea was that as one side of the fault moved

in relation to the other, it could be measured.

Since it has been built there has been no movement along

the fault so the theory is that it does not make small

movements but instead makes sudden large movements

which is typical of nearly all large active faults in

New Zealand and around the world.

It was a fascinating geography lesson... 

Frank graduated from Victoria University, Wellington with a 

BSc in physics in 1944 and a MA with Honours in mathematics in 1946.

In London Frank started to specialise in geophysics, gaining his PhD 

from the University of London. When working as a government scientist 

with the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), 

Frank made one of his most well known discoveries – 

coal-seam guided S waves, eventually renamed ‘Evison waves’.

Read more about this remarkable man here.