HOW AWESOME IS OUR BACKYARD

Mark Wilson takes time out for a sneaky hunt in one of New Zealand’s true paradises, Lake Lois, Manapouri, Fiordland National Park. 

If emerging from the freezing fog and 2degC high for the day to clear crisp winter sunshine, ice sprinkled beach trees and snow-capped mountains on the western side on Lake Manapouri wasn’t enough to whisk away the stresses of daily life the ensuing hunt through tranquil (barring of course the odd obscenity whispered under my breath as I tumbled over the odd rock) beach forest was.

Looking west up Lake Lois, Manapouri, Fiordland National Park

Through a tangle of tree roots, leafy ferns, slippery rocks and gnarled beach trees I could make out the picturesque Lake Lois glistening in the last hour or so of the winter sun.

Darn I’m there already and no deer! Plenty of sign though and great bush for the most part.

Seeing it’s only 800m as the Kea fly’s through the bush from the main lake you would think it’s easy to find, but I wouldn’t be alone in saying I’ve missed it and ended up emerging back out in a confused state to the main lake on the odd occasion.

The rivers weave and cross over each other and the one that drains Lake  Lois seems to lose itself in the boulders and undergrowth.

Fallen beach tree's add to the vista on a cool winters afternoon

Let’s just say scout camps and compass training actually does pay off in this little outcrop of paradise.

The water was warmer than the air with mist rising still at 3pm in the afternoon and the mountains reflected

in the calmness to create an upside down vista of the surrounds.            

I decided to sit for a while and ponder where the deer had gone too, cheeky buggers I had come all this way and felt I deserved one with a most stealthy passage through the bush.

As I sat in the sand eating a bumper bar I wished I taken a Speight’s with me as it seemed the perfect setting to console my luckless hunt with a cold sip or two of the good stuff.

Lake Lois, quiet, still, isolated, PERFECT

I could have been the only person on earth, yet it was less than two hours drive, 30 minutes by boat and a bit less than an hour carefully by foot to where I was. I have traveled extensively to China, Macau, Hong Kong, North America, Samoa, Australia, Europe, Central America, and The Caribbean not to mention spending the best part of the start of 2010 sifting around Thailand the USA, but this spot and this lake are still my favourites.

I could sell this moment, many people now rely on living vicariously through the moments of others online prowling face book  for worthwhile entertainment enjoyed and shared by friends and strangers. I guess I could just sit at home as well and look at other people’s moments but had just earned my own and it was  far more rewarding!

I think this is why we live down here, one hour looking at this adds years to your life. Silence is so hard to find, but here it flourishes in rich abundance undisturbed except the odd kea calling out and a few fantails curiously twittering by my boots.

On our door step here in New Zealand are some of the world’s most inspiring moments just waiting to be experienced so get off the couch, drag yourself form the noise, congestion and bustle of the world’s major cities or even our own stressful metropolitan areas, log off face book, stop twitting and go for a hunt, a tramp or a kayak in our epic back yard!

There is plenty of open space the fresh air and photo opportunities are free and plentiful and you know your face book and flickr portfolios needs some new epic profile pictures of you streaking through the forest before plunging into a mountain lake with hobbit like efficiency. 

Written by – Mark Wilson, Inappropriate Magazine

Photos by – Mark Wilson

First Published July 2010 for Fairfax Media, Re written March 2011.

All material and photos copyright Inappropriate.co.nz

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