On 10/11/12 12:34, Don Stokes wrote:
Paul Brislen wrote:
I've been told the best alternate landing place is in the South Island - Nugget Point, near Tiwai Aluminium Smelter - as it's the shortest route to Australia. That would be great I think.
Daft idea. Unless you're actually in Southland, it's a long way around ... and across a major fault/subduction zone. (The third largest earthquake in NZ's history (7.8) occurred in that part of the world (Dusky Sound) ... in 2009 ... plus a 7.2 in Fiordland in 2003.)
It would also be putting over a thousand kilometres of idiots with backhoes and post hole diggers, not to mention a minor waterway known as Cook Strait between the cable landing and the bulk of the population it would serve.
For the primary cable, that makes perfect sense. But for a redundant backup, don't you want to be approaching as much of the country as practical from the opposite side? The only Nugget Pt I can find is on the opposite side of the island from Australia, though - closer to Dunedin than Tiwai Pt. For real redundancy, though, how about bypassing Australia and going for South Africa - about the same distance away as San Francisco :-) Add in links to Chile/Argentina, and form a Southern Ring? Richard