Three days exploring Lake Manapouri, New Zealand

Last weekend was the  Queens birthday or at least the date her birthday is celebrated in New Zealand. I had the chance to join eight people from the Otago Canoe and Kayak Club for an adventure to Manapouri Lake. This lake, in Western New Zealand,  is located in the spectacular Fiordland National Park. Lake Manapouri is the second deepest lake on the south island and seems to share the same geologic  features of the fiords on the Tasman Sea 50 kms. to the west. The most striking character of Lake Manapouri are the steep sided snow capped mountains that drop right to the lakes  tannin stained waters. Even though it was only a couple hours paddle from the town of Manapouri  to the Hope Arm hut where we bivied for two nights, this part of the Lake has a much more remote feel than it has a right to. A special bonus during our stay in Fiordland was the exceptional weather. This region regularly receives a few meters of rain a year. Of course I made the best use  of this  clear weather to make some nice photos. A few of the photos from the trip can be found below. For the camera enthusiast out there all these images were made with a Nikon D-700 and a 24-120 vr lens.

A view of the Hope Arm from Monument Peak and snow 

on the Kepler Mountains in the distance.

Dave and Janene in their double kayak on glassy waters

of Lake Manapouri.

Janene Stone walking across a three wire swing bridge

over the Garnock Burn on a walk up to Lake Rakatu. I

had heard of these clever bridges, but this is the first 

one I had seen much less walked across. For safety

reasons the DOC has removed most three strand bridges.

This is about the norm for a hiking trails

in Fiordland that are not on the most popular hiking

routes.

Nice to be out on the water.

Sue McAllister, Dave Divers, Janene Stone and the 

expedition leader Jan Nicol paddling the Garnock Burn

a river flowing into the south end of the Hope Arm.

Allan Sutherland paddling out of the Hope Arm toward 

the Kepler Mountains.

Dave and Jan on the paddle back to the Manapouri 

beach the Cathedral Peaks an arm of the Kepler 

Mountains  rise 1,400 meters above the lake.

Comments

[Brad Gingerich]

Hi Bill! I just got done reading your column in OP about your Bike trip. It was highly interesting and I am excited to find out that you have a blog. I currently do a lot of wedding photography but still love to get out in nature and shoot scenics, wildlife and lots of other things as well. I love the photos from the bike trip...keep up with posting you stories and adventures! Brad

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