Kerr Bay

Heading south again our first stop just near our campsite was at the Grove Natural Reserve to see the stunning limestone boulders draped in tentacle like roots. Not sure who put them here but clearly someone very large! It made us think of the temples in Cambodia that are taken over by the trees although without the temples!

Back in the van and after a very winding road up and down we arrive at our destination, Lake Rotoiti ('small lake'). We are now at the Nothern end of the Southern Alps so we can see impressive mountains and a very different landscape. Our campsite is just by the lake which is great but also means that there are a lot of sandflies. Luckily, we met a couple on the road which had a nice little trick for a DIY mosquito/flies net. We can now open the windows without worry!

By pure coincidence we were at the lake while the Maitahi's Annual Regatta was taking place. This is a Waka Ama (out rigger canoe) boat race and it was nice entertainment to see some of the boats going as fast as they can.

After a simple dinner with some nice company we went to sleep. The nights here can get are cold and we were not prepared, it went under 10°c and our sleeping bags are not thick enough to protect us.

Next morning we woke up a bit tired but the sun was up and we had our breakfast watching some more Waka Ama races which reinvigorated us! We got ready for a long but flat walk around the lake towards a waterfall. The path was alive with birds it was a very nice sound to walk with but also some times a curious bird would 'walk' just in front of us. We learnt later that it was to catch some insects that our heavy steps would scare away. As said in previous posts New Zealand is the country of birds. We're starting to recognise a few of them and that day we had quite a good view of a Tui. Difficult to take a picture of it but it is quite a recognisable bird with white feathers on his neck. His singing is very peculiar as well but he decided to stay silent when we were close by. There is apparently a big conservation scheme in place on the eastern part to the lake which would explain why we saw and heard so many birds! Not our longest walk, only 20km but we did however work up enough of a sweat to warrent a dip in the icy cold waters of the lake.

It's always nice to see large mountains rising up out of a lake. While we didn't attempt the epic hike up the hills to see the view out across the mountains we really enjoyed the change of pace with our flat little bird watching hike along the shore.Read more