Activity Summary
Sunday 1st January - Day 122 (continued)
Drive to Nelson National Park
Lunch at Wairau river
Monday 2nd January - Day 123
Mt Robert Loop & flagtop point (Robert Ridge route)
Lake Rotoiti swim & eel watching
Tuesday 3rd January - Day 124
Braeburn falls
Lake Rotoroa
Summary
Nelson National Park
Our first experience of the South Island national parks and it was glorious. Mountain ranges, lakes & forest. Loved the big walk here, although finding others was a little challenging as they seemed to be limited so the time we spent here was plenty enough.
Accommodation
Nelson National Park - DOC Buller Campground
Number of nights - 3
Price per night per person - £5
Very basic but that was fine for such a short time.
The negatives with the hardcourt pitch however was a pain in the ass, as we ended up having to avoid doing anything in the tent to stop it potentially ripping.
Surprisingly low sandfly count which was nice but we didn’t know that at the time.
Diary
[Continued]
The drive to Nelson National park was quite a long one from Picton and for a large part was of areas we had seen in Marlborough so it wasn’t anything special really. Past Marlborough the road was probably one of the longest straight roads we have encountered which just felt odd.
We stopped for some lunch at a random spot along the Wairau river, our speed eating increasing dramatically as we started getting chased by sandflies. We honestly thought this would be a great bite free zone.
We arrived at the DOC campsite mid afternoon and told us we could pitch wherever we wanted in our set area. As one of the spots was taken this left us with a choice of 3 and only 1 which our tent looked like it would fit. Welcome to Luke’s first truly challenging tent pitch experience.
There was plenty of space for the tent and the ground wasn’t so shocking in terms of being level but it was effectively a pitch on hardcourt mixed in with a sprinkling of soil. So Luke spent an absolute age drilling in the tent pegs at the expense of the pegs, the mallet and his blistered thumb. But he made it work.
We were both pretty worn out so Nicola had a lie down and Luke unpacked the car at a snail's pace before sitting and doing very little. Sandflies were buzzing around but in no great force so putting on some long items of clothing did the trick throughout our stay here.
The campsite was as minimal as we were willing to go with a toilet, cold showers and cooking shelter. So our evenings here were spent hiding away in the tent watching movies post cooking in the shelter. The fly infested toilet cubicles however were not very fun and Luke got bitten on his ass at one point over our stay here. Fortunately it was a short stay in the National park.
The main reason we came to the National park was to kick start our exciting walking adventures of the South Island. The route we had chosen to do was the Mt Robert Loop & an undisclosed additional amount along the Robert Ridge route that ran up to various huts in the National park (usually for multi day hikes).
The route started pretty close to our campsite so we started walking up the track fairly early on. The weather was lovely, with beautiful sunshine and a fairly decent breeze.
It starts with a fairly decent uphill climb to the top of Mt Robert (1,421m) with great views over lake Rotoiti and the surrounding mountain ranges. There were plenty of people doing the walk and we got talking to a lone French traveller along the way going to Angelus hut. Luke, ever wanting to do longer and more difficult hikes to test his new found travel fitness, held back so early on in our walking adventures. We would go on to completely redefine and evolve what is enjoyable for both of us on our walks over the next few weeks.
Once summiting we had some lunch and carried on along the Robert Ridge route. We went as far as Flagtop Point before the blisters in Nicola’s old boots became too much and we turned around. But the views going to this point were incredible.
The walk down was pretty easy and far less interesting than the route up so we just tried to get it done as quick as we could really.
As the campsite was next to Lake Rotoiti and we were grim with sweat, we opted for a cold swim rather than a cold and unpleasant shower. Great alternative.
The lake also had eels swimming & chilling which was pretty cool and then we took off back to the campsite.
With our bigger walk the day before Nicola had planned a couple of smaller ones for the day.
We pulled up to the car park in lake Rotorua and immediately missed our campsite & lake. The mozzie / sandfly population appeared to be booming here and within seconds of opening the doors once parked we got absolutely mauled. Luke ended up having to pull the car forward out of the shade in the hope the sun on the car would eliminate the threat.
We quickly ran away from the car and over to our walking track.
The first was called Braeburn falls and it was a surprisingly interesting walk. The track went through forest and over to the Braeburn falls. Luke naturally decided to climb down as far as he could.
Once looping back round Lake Rotoroa we decided to have a quick loop round but the views weren’t great and the track was largely closed so went full cancel culture on it. The most amusing part was a rowing club setting up for the day and then getting absolutely mauled by flies as they did so. One guy had a million just chilling around his ass. Absolutely no way you would find us setting up to do any water sports in those conditions.
Once back at the campsite we wound down for the evening & packed the car for the morning, determining that the flies would be worse in the morning than sunshine in the afternoon.
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