This week I was able to explore the other major lake in Nelson Lakes National Park- Lake Rotoroa. If you recall from a few weeks ago, I went for a hike around Lake Rotoiti, which was incredibly scenic and a great introduction to the area where I am living. I decided to venture slightly farther this time, and drove about 40 minutes… or what should have been 40 minutes if I didn’t manage to get a little lost…. to another beautiful lake nestled in between lush green hillsides. After some research before-hand, I decided to do the Braeburn Track hike, which is meant to take about two hours round-trip and goes up to a pretty little waterfall in the woods. I struggled a bit at first to find the start of the hike because it really isn’t a very well marked park, but once I figured it out, I was off! In retrospect I really wasn’t doing very well following directions that day….

The path was well maintained at first despite how wet everything was from all the rain we’ve been having, and I found myself missing my horse, because it would have been a perfect horse-riding trail! Once in the thick of the woods, the trail narrowed and I was again surrounded by lush greenery and plants that I have never seen anywhere else. I don’t have the slightest clue what this tree (is it even a tree?) is, but I am completely fascinated by it! It looks like it has fern leaves, but is growing like a tree? The hike was wonderfully quiet with just the constant sound of running water from the stream and the occasional bird. Somehow even when I’m alone, hiking never feels lonely, and I think it’s because there is always something familiar about it. The refreshing smell of the wet earth, the comfortable squish of mud under my hiking boots, the feel of tree bark in my hands when I have to grab onto a tree to keep from falling into that same mud…. really, I’m just as clumsy here as I am everywhere else in the world. But seriously, the hiking here as all been so beautiful and the Braeburn track at Lake Rotoroa was no different.

The last part of the path was not as steep as I would have thought and came out to a view of a long, skinny waterfall that gracefully fell down into a stream below. I had the option to climb down to the bottom of it, but with how wet, muddy and generally bad the footing was, I decided to just turn around and follow the path back. The return loop followed the stream most of the way and there were some lovely views of the water as it cascaded over rocks on it’s way to the lake. The whole trek took only about an hour and fifteen minutes, but every second of it was beautifully serene.