Nelson Lakes

On Friday we decided to drive to Nelson Lakes National Park and explore the area a bit, perhaps take in a hike (Angela wasn’t keen on this but was a willing participant). Technically I was on call for work but since there isn’t a mobile signal up there, no one would be able to get in touch with me (shucks).

A bit of info - Nelson Lakes Nat’l Park was set up in 1956 as New Zealand’s 8th national park. It covers 101,753 hectares (no idea what this translates too). It’s about 1.5 hours south of Nelson via a fairly desolated roadway (I think we saw about 4 cars on the 80km stretch). More from the DOC map: “Situated at the northern end of the Southern Alps, the landscape of the park is dominated by a series of mountain ranges up to 2340m in height [Don’s note: equal to 7678 feet or, more commonly known as the altitude of Gunnison-Crested Butte airport]; five extensive valley systems carved out by past glaciation; and the two major lakes of Rotoiti and Rotoroa. Beech forest covers the valleys up to a tree-line of 1400m with a diverse range of snow tussock dominated alpine habitats above.”

We first went to Lake Rotoiti. What a great place with tons of stuff to do. There are numerous hikes for all levels. You can take a canoe out on the lake, water ski, fish, or swim. A water taxi is available to drop you off anywhere on the lake and you can hike back. There are also a couple decent campgrounds with flush toilets and showers (fairly common here).

There is a nature recovery project underway which covers about 5000 hectares. This project, started in 1997, includes a ‘mainland island’ (there are 6 in New Zealand) which is an experimental area where pests are controlled (i.e. killed) to “restore the natural ecosystem.” The ‘pests’ include non native creatures such as rats, possums, and wasps. From what I understand the project has been fairly successful as the population of native creatures has been slowly increasing. More about this project at: http://www.doc.govt.nz/templates/podcover.aspx?id=33630

We decided to take a hike and started on the Bellbird walk and diverted on the Lakeside walk and then to the Loop Track. In all we were out for about 2.5 hours. Most was along the shore of the lake but when we turned on the Loop Track we headed inland. The pictures don’t do it justice but it definitely had the Lord of the Rings feel. Everything was covered in varying types of moss and was quiet, beyond the distant sounds of motor boats on the lake. We ran across a couple of Bellbirds that make the most amazing variety of sounds. All this and we encountered fewer then 30 people on our entire walk.

For some pictures of the area, check out: http://www.nelsonlakesshuttles.co.nz/nelson_lakes_national_park%20photos.htm

More pictures and a sound link for the bellbird:
http://www.backpack-newzealand.com/gallery/Nelson-Lakes?page=1

My photos below:


Lake Rotoiti from our parking spot.









Start of the Bellbird hike.








Now on the Lakeside hike.










Into the forest - numerous trees have fallen over and the moss starts to take over.









Bellbird singing away.