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Published: April 1st 2016
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We have had a good couple of days parked up at the Mapua Leisure Park. Someone however forgot to tell us that it is a clothing optional camp in February/March lol. Just as well it was a little cool to get the kit off😊. We managed to have a bit of R & R between giving our Motorhome a good clean after been parked up in the dust for the month. Unfortunately we were way too buggered to go out and celebrate our 29
thWedding Anniversary on the actual day but managed the next day to wander from the camp down to the Mapua Wharf for a beer in the sun and watch the locals jump off the wharf. Lots of families enjoying the last of the summer, swimming and dining on fish & chips in a beautiful spot. Now that’s what I call a great Kiwi summer. After a beer or 2 we opted to stay and have a meal at the Jellyfish Café. A stroll home early evening made for a nice end to a very relaxing day.
Wednesday morning we headed to Nelson to find replacement shoes after destroying ours in the Harvest. Both managed to pick up
a pair of nice Trail shoes. I think mine are a little too colourful but boy my Mum would be proud……..she keeps telling me to wear brighter things😊.
After a late lunch we decided to head to the Nelson Lakes, stopping at the old Kawatiri Railway site on the way. The track here follows the river to the remains of the old railway bridge over the Hope river. A footbridge now covers the remains enabling you to walk across and enter the Pikomanu Tunnel. The tunnel was constructed in 1923. I tried to find my torch in my bag but by the time I found it we were actually through the tunnel. So it is a little dark but you can walk it without a torch😊. From the end of the tunnel you get another view of the river and the remains of yet another bridge. The track then loops around and then back to the Railway bridge and carpark. Great photos and information boards about the Railway and area are located in the Carpark. Next to the carpark is the original road bridge remains, where someone has kindly painted the words ‘Love’ on the old boards.
Final
stop for the night is Lake Rotoroa. Beautiful spot but beware the sand-fly’s may cart you off. Covered in Bushmans Deet and appropriate clothing we take a quick wander around the lakefront. You can just imagine how beautiful it would be here when there is snow on the hills. A quick walk back to the small DOC camp and the shelter of the motorhome only to discover I had been bitten on the earlobes. Yes the earlobes! …..the only place I didn’t think to put Deet.
Thursday, after a long night itching my earlobes and listening to the Stags roaring throughout the night we kit up and head off for a walk. At the Northern end of the lake is the Flower Brothers Walk/stroll (10 minutes). It takes you down past the Gower River outlet. From here we crossed the Gowan River Bridge over the river and up the road to the Braeburn Walk. A nice track, that takes you through a Beech and tall podocarp forest and up to a small moss waterfall. The fuschia trees (kotukutuku) are also plentiful on this track. The track is well maintained with a small zig zag climb for the last 10-15
minutes as you near the waterfall. The 2hr return time they give you is very generous. From here we headed back to the lakefront and onto the Rotoroa Nature Walk, diverting down the Rotoroa Route (track to Sabine Hut) for a look. Lots of fungai around here, can you imagine Lance rolling his eyeballs. Yes I did stop and take a few photos😊. Met a couple of strange young men dressed in Bunny Rabbit Onesies here today. I suppose it’s one way of keeping the sand-fly’s away.
Lake Rotoiti here we come😊. First stop was West Bay. Stunning here but a shame the DOC camp had just closed for the season otherwise we would have stayed. If you carry on past the Lakefront you come to a bridge over the Buller river and inlet, unfortunately we were too big to travel further up the road to the Mt Robert carpark. So parked up for lunch and a cuppa, right on the waterfront soaking in the stunning scenery and of course watching the tourists trying to picnic with the sand-fly’s always adds to the entertainment.
Last stop for the night Kerr Bay DOC camp conveniently located adjacent Lake Rotoiti.
Another beautiful bay located just around the peninsula from West Bay. The place is busy and perhaps compounded by the fact the West Bay camp is closed. We wandered up to the Lakes Visitor centre to pay our fees and gather information on the area. This is a great little information centre and worth a visit. They have short videos and amazing photographic footage of the area playing on tv screens. Makes you want to climb them big Mountains (or not!). I do think it would be cool to tramp the Travers-Sabine and go on up to the Blue Lake (The clearest natural fresh water in the world). The Travers-Sabine Circuit is a hard tramp with about 80km of river valleys and alpine pass so best to watch the video at the visitors centre😊.
It’s Friday and the weather forecast is not looking that great for the next few days. But we did manage to sneak in the Brunner Peninsula walk that takes you from Kerr Bay around to West. Nice track around the peninsula, with a couple access areas to get onto the foreshore for some more awesome photos. This track crosses you twice across the Alpine Fault...now
that's cool. There is also a track that leads off here and up and over to the Visitors centre if you want a change of scenery on return. We just arrived back as the rain started to fall, so packed up from camp and parked up on the foreshore for coffee, scone and a bit of people watching. There are so many good walks around this area and you could spend a good few days knocking them off but we have decided to head to Blenheim for a few days to ride out the heavy rain forecasted. So I'm taking my itchy red earlobes and we are out of here!
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Mumtraveller
Lynne Brown
Lakes
Fabulous photos I am envious of you living there in NZ and being able to take your time to,explore .... But then I guess that's the same for any country ....we sometimes don't appreciate what is on our doorstep . I stayed in a cottage on Rotoiti...so peaceful. Thanks for your blogs and photos .