Hokitika to Lake Brunner

Still nice sunshine as we left the MZMCA park at Hokitika and drove into town for a wander through the shops (lots of pounamu/ jade factory outlets) and a long awaited haircut for me. Of course I had to have a whitebait sandwich for lunch which I enjoyed but I think it wasn't quite as tasty as it should have been with the whitebait being frozen. Len opted for Eggs Benedict rather than the whitebait.
We appreciated Hokitika much more than when we were here last - it seems a nice little town right on the beach and beside the river with cycle tracks which we could have ridden on.

Time to move out!

Lake Kaniere from Debussy

Onleaving Hokitika we at first headed out to Lake Kaniere (pronounced Canary by the locals) which supplies the water for Hokitika - a pretty lake with a nice little settlement at Hans Bay although they all seemed to be closed up holiday homes judging by all the drawn curtains. We drove down a long, windy gravel road to see the Dorothy Falls and then on further around the lake. We had intended to go up through the gorge as apparently the water is a stunning turquoise but when we saw that it was another 20 km up we decided that we would be better to keep moving on towards Lake Brunner.

We had to return to Hokitika to do this and then drove up the coast to Kumera Junction where we headed inland. The turn-off to the west side of Lake Brunner was signposted at Kumera Junction and our map told us that this was a minor sealed road so off we set. However it wasn't long before it turned into a narrow, windy gravel road which seemed to go forever through dust covered bush and ferns until we finally reached small views of Lake Brunner after passing several large signs declaring that places were PRIVATE PROPERTY, KEEP OUT, TRESPASSERS PROSECUTED etc. You have to wonder what they are hiding. After our glimpse of the lake we continued south to where the road at last became sealed and was the "normal" way to the lake. (Don't go our way!!)

Walking the plank at Lake Brunner!

Moana, the holiday settlement at the north end of the lake is lovely - lots of quite nice homes which all seem to be empty at the moment and a couple of motor camps. The lake is popular with fishermen - lots of brown trout, boaties and waterskiers but is very quiet at this time of the year. We were hoping that Len would be able to hire a fishing rod here but sadly not. Next time we will definitely bring one! Our neighbours in the camp, Dave and Chris from Mapua, Nelson are keen fishermen but haven't caught anything yet even though you can see lots of trout in the water and jumping right near the edge.
We have had "Happy Hour" with David and Chris (both retired) both nights we have been here and tonight we are surrounded by people from Nelson with 4 other vans coming in from there, in convoy. They are on a little holiday celebrating the 60th birthday of one of the guys.
Today we did a few little walks in the area - the Valenski Track, the Rakaitane walk over the swingbridge and through the podocarp forest with views of the Arnold River and a walk along the edge of the lake where we fossicked for greenstone and had a swim. The water is about 21° so today it "was warmer in than out" with it being cloudy and a high of about 19°.