Nelson Lakes

Today we drove up to Nelson Lakes the northern end of the Southern Alps, and a beautiful national park south of Nelson. We had checked the weather forecast which promised sunny and clear for Saturday and we were not disappointed as a few little clouds hanging around the sides of the valleys were soon burnt off.


Lake Rotoiti

We drove up to the lookout half way up Mt Roberts and got some spectacular views of Lake Rotoiti, a large lake in a glacial valley. We then continued walking, traversing the side of the valley and heading slowly up to Bushline Hut. Here we stopped for some lunch before Helen persuaded Aaron and Sarah that given we were so close to the top we might as well continue and complete the whole Mt Roberts circuit. The views walking across the top were spectacular and we walked past the back country Mt Roberts ski field. You have to be a dedicated skier to hike up the mountain and there are no lifts on the ski field either.


Aaron, Helen and Sarah near the top

We walked back down Pinchgut track through a beautiful beech forest. The whole walk took about 4 hours including our stops for snacks and lunch. On our drive back to Nelson we went and checked out the other lake in Nelson Lakes, Lake Rotoroa.