How did the sand come to be at Lake Wainamu?

Question

We visited Lake Wainamu and were amazed we had to walk across the sand dunes. How did the sand come to be there?

Answer 1

Wind blown volcanic sand. The sand dunes have accumulated in several phases over the last 4,500 years. This accumulation has occurred since sea levels returned to about their present levels following the last glaciation 6,500 years ago. These sands contain quantities of black titanomagnetite derived from the volcanic rocks of Taranaki and carried north by coastal currents. The dunes continually move in a dynamic coastal process.

Answer 2

After a long dry period at the end of summer, the Wainamu branch stream may have dried up leaving just the flat stream bed. After rain, it can be flowing quite vigorously, but never more than a few inches deep. Both streams, Waiti and Wainamu, have a flat sandy bed, which makes it ideal for filming action sequences - not slippery or rocky for the cast to injure themselves. Similarly, the fineness of the black sand probably helps to explain how stunties can be dragged around without losing any skin.

It's quite pleasant, in most seasons, to walk up the stream barefoot - but beware the heat of the sand on the dunes on bare feet in summer, though!

There are several curious features of this 'black' sand, for anyone used to the more normal beach sand. It's very fine and unusually heavy. The colour and the weight come from ironsand - iron oxide. The colour means that on hot days it soaks up heat from the sun, and it's an excellent conductor of heat, as your feet will tell you very quickly. It looks light enough with the sun on it, but it goes remarkably dark quite early in the afternoon, or in any cloud shadow. The surrounding bush is also very dark. Your eyes will adapt to this automatically but colour film can't, not even in auto-exposure cameras, if there are patches of sky or sunlight to fool them. It can be quite remarkably difficult to take a clear photo, as some of the illustrations on this page show only too well.

Only the middle part of the dunes is public, the eastern and western edges are in private land, though the owners don't seem to mind the public walking over them. The Wainamu stream bed along the east end of the dunes is signposted as public access to the lake, though its east bank is definitely private property.

However, if anyone is filming anywhere in this area, their permit may give them exclusive use of the area, which means they could legally keep the public out. If you should be lucky enough to come on anyone filming, please remember they have a job to do. Keep a good distance away, keep out of shot, and the security guys just might be less likely to move you on.

Answer 3

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Answer 4

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