Nelson Lakes National Park - Day 3

25 Jan 2016

We woke up to a splendid sunrise. To get a better view of the sun, I climbed up a mountain in front of the hut and sat there watching the show.

Sunrise at Angelus hut

The last day of the walk was the longest with 20 kms to walk and unlike yesterday, it turned out to be a sunny day. Though we had a long way to the car park and catch the ferry back, we took time to get ready and start the walk. The initial walk was a drastic downhill along the waterfall for more than an hour.

Pic by Nipuni

I struggled with the heavy camera hanging on my front making it difficult to run down. Few sections were really challenging, forcing me to come on all-fours to get down. I was already tired by the time I reached the bottom of the hill. The view from here was splendid. The tall mountains all around and waterfalls running down from them made the walk worth it. 

Walk inside the forest

The rest of the walk was on flat ground inside the forest with beautiful flowers fully blossomed in purple and yellow kept us going. The views of the clean blue sky was gorgeous and I was very tired to stop and click anymore. We stopped at Coldwater hut for a quick lunch break and it my first encounter with Sandflies here. They are real monsters even with a repellent, which gives me a hint of how bad Sandfly Point on Milford track could be. The hut faces the Lake Rotoiti, with ducks swimming close to the banks. It felt so relaxing soaking the feet in the water for a short while before continuing along the river bank for the last stretch of the walk.

View from coldwater hut

The route to Whiskey falls suggested a 45 min walk, which never appeared until 90 mins. We were slogging so slowly. We sat for a break at the falls which was a 10 mins climb up in the forest. I was not able to pull through any extra mile but the sight of the falls could not be missed so we threw our bags by the side and went up. In about 5 mins the tall falls appeared in the scene. The water drops falling on the face felt soothing and it is always mesmerizing watching nature’s grandeur. 

Whiskey Falls

Back on track, we walked towards the carpark as swiftly as possible. Scott, our organizer went ahead to drive the car closer to some save time as we were behind schedule. Our return ferry was at 915 from Picton which was more than an hour drive from Nelson.

View of the surrounding mountains

When the last person hit the road, the rest of us were lying flat on the ground waiting for the car. We threw ourselves inside the van and I only opened my eyes when we reached the ferry station. I had bad cramps already and struggled to get off from the van.

View from Angelus hut

The café in the ferry served hot dinner. We were all so hungry that we grabbed plate full of meals and hogged. Joked around the table pulling each other’s legs and found a place to catch a nap for the rest of the journey.