Linger by the lake

By DANIEL HUTCHINSON

Lake Rotoiti is so close, but a world away at the same time.

Just an hour's drive from Blenheim takes me to a forest of diamonds and a veritable feast of nature at the Rotoiti Nature Recovery Area.

The jewel in the centre of this fabulous project is, of course, the lake. While visitors can tackle one of the many walking tracks or kayaking trips, you can literally step out of your car into an absolute gem of nature.

The Rotoiti Nature Recovery Project is for endangered and dwindling species of birdlife. Predators which dare to desecrate this place do so to their peril.

Setting foot under the canopy of beech forest, the intensive work of the Department of Conservation is obvious.

Traps keep predators such as stoats, ferrets and rats away from the precious cargo within what is called a mainland island.

The department uses the island as a haven for native species, and an experimentation ground for new techniques of pest control. The spin-offs for the nature lover are huge and offer a magical experience through a good selection of well-maintained tracks within the 5000ha forest.

There are walks ranging from the 15-minute bellbird track, half-day excursions, or more adventurous day-long treks to huts at the other end of the lake or further afield to the Travers River, Mt Angelus or Mt Hopeless.

For those with a bit of time to spare there is the five-to-seven-day circuit track along Lake Rotoiti, up the Travers River, Travers Saddle, down the Sabine River to the larger Lake Rotoroa and back to Lake Rotoiti.

But you don't have to go that far to enjoy the best of Rotoiti and the beautiful beech forest. The wheelchair standard Bellbird Walk provides a pleasant sojourn for those with limited time, limited mobility or children.

The recovery area is famous for its dawn chorus. Getting up at dawn for the deafening cacophony of birdsong is well worth it but it lasts only about 15 minutes.

Through the trees, the lake glistens like a diamond, contrasting starkly but pleasantly with the distinctively beautiful blackened red beech and the rich green moss which blankets the decaying leaves and fallen trees.

Stretching like an expanse of green velvet between the eastern shores of the lake and the St Arnaud Range, the forest of Rotoiti is beautiful.

DOC campsites are available at Kerr Bay and West Bay near the township of St Arnaud. There are more than a dozen huts for trampers in the Lake Rotoiti and Lake Rotoroa area. These huts are either category two or three. Your own cooker is required. Motel and lodge accommodation is also available at the St Arnaud Village.

DOC accommodation at powered campsites is $9 for adult and $4 for children. Unpowered campsites cost $8 for adults and $4 a child.

Trampers' hut accommodation costs between $5-$10.

- NZPA