The Rakaia River, on the Canterbury Plains, is typical of New Zealand’s gravel-bed rivers. Their numerous shallow channels appear easy to ford, but when the river is in flood the flow is swift, and many people have been swept away while trying to cross. Early European settlers referred to drowning in rivers as ‘the New Zealand death’.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
GNS Science
Photograph by Lloyd Homer
Permission of GNS Science must be obtained before any use of this image.
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