Lake Mahinapua

Day 2 of the ecotourism conference I am attending and the morning was spent discussion cultural tourism and aspects such as cultural IP. Who owns the stories of the land and the people? And who is allowed to use them, and should anyone get paid for them? Interesting questions ...

The afternoon sessions were a field trp. I was lucky enough to get on kayaking trip with 12 other people and we headed to Lake Mahinapua, about 10KM south of Hokitika. Wonderful place and we kayaked down the river for several hours. Very beautiful and even the sun came out, breaking 2 days of rain. Although it has come back with a vengeance tonight!

As luck wouldn't have it, I left my waterproof camera at the conference, and wasn't brave enough to take my 40D in the kayak. Of course, there we're beautiful images that could have been taken ...

Out of interest, Mahinapua is derived from:

Mahina - the moon, pua, flower or bud, moon-blossom. Applied to the young moon rising