Earthsea Gallery

The alpine area of Nelson Lakes National Park is another of our favourite tramping and kayaking destinations. Glacial activity has gouged out two large, almost parallel troughs to form Lake Rotoiti and Lake Rotoroa. The spectacular mountains rising up from these lakes are the northern tip of the Southern Alps. Dense beech forest covers the mountainsides and a diverse alpine flora is abundant on the tops. We walked from West Bay to a little wooden bridge that crossed the Buller River. We carefully made our way to the lake outlet over frosted ground and icy stones, through stunted beech forest to the edge of Lake Rotoiti to see this early morning view. The St Arnaud Range was cloaked in a fresh fall of snow and beautifully reflected in the clear, still water of the lake.