St Arnaud

The second part of our kiwi Christmas found us in the little town of St Arnaud, about an hour and a half south of Nelson on the northern part of the Nelson Lakes National Park. Rich with the essentials for survival in New Zealand, the town included a place to stay when the campground was full, a grocery store and a fish and chips shop. Okay, there was a cafe and a restaurant as well but the restaurant never looked open. We went for the peninsula walk that separated Kerr bay from West bay where we were greeted with this spectacular view.



It was in color, but for all the modern lives out there this scene might as well have been from when the world was in black and white.

The next day we hiked from the town up to Parachute rocks. The beautiful hike up the side of the mountain looked like this for most of the trip up.



While I know nothing about Lake Rotoiti or where St Arnaud is perched on it, it would appear the lake has a good supply from at least one river keeping it topped up.



In case there was any doubts that I was actually along for the hike, Callie saw fit to make sure I was documented in the woods. While Adam was thoughtfully and artistically documenting the trek for posterity's sake, Callie was too exhausted from the nonrelenting incline to even raise the camera long enough to focus.



The view from Parachute Rocks shows off the northern end of Lake Rotoiti beautifully. Kerr bay is the closer one with West Bay being on the other side of the peninsula.



This bit of the journey was through a swamp, and despite the 98.9% DEET bug spray, I was able to determine the best way to keep from getting bug bites was silly walk #2, flailing arms and legs.



Down in the carpark, we got this shot of the climb up but your guess is as good as mine which spur we actually went up. The area does not lack for tree cover which made the hike both beautiful and well hidden.


This area provided a great escape and a nice change of pace from the much more touristy areas and allowed us a good opportunity to take in some of the beautiful life on the waka.