The Upper Waitaki catchment is the most distinctive and largest of New Zealand’s high inland basins, almost completely derived from glacial activity with features ranging from alpine ice fields and lakes, to braided river plains. The region has many lakes including the glacial-fed lakes of Tekapo, Pukaki, Ohau and Alexandrina that lie behind moraines and the artificial hydro lakes of Ruataniwha, Benmore and Aviemore.