Lake Wilkie Nature Walk, Tautuku Bay, Catlins, Southland: 3rd October 2022

 Heading south into the Catlin's

The next stop on our way south to Curio Bay was at the Lake Wilkie Walk near Tautuku. It is a couple of kilometers south of the Florence Hill Lookout and is one of many excellent tracks in the local area. 

Start of the Lake Wilkie Walk near Tautuku

 Lake Wilkie is on the Southern Scenic Route and sits in the forest in behind Tautuku Beach in the Central Catlins area. It is five minutes walk to a viewing platform with the lake below or you can walk the full track to access the side of the lake. 

Lake Wilkie Walk carpark is next to the highway

Lake Wilkie is an old depression between some cliffs and the sand dunes which has filled with water and now hosts a shallow tarn like lake and Raupo swamp. It will eventually dry out and become forest as it silts up...as this type of lake invariably does. 

View of  Lake Wilkie from the lookout near the start

So...lets go have a look at the attractive Lake Wilkie..

At the Lake Wilkie Walk:

From the carpark on the Southern Scenic Route you head to the track entrance at the northern corner and head off into some mature Coastal Podocarp forest. The track is to a high standard and is wide, well maintained and flat for the first couple of hundred meters. 

On the Lake Wilkie Walk at Tautuku

Map: Tautuku area of the central Catlins

There are a mixture of mature trees here including Kamihi, Totara, Southern Rata, Rimu, Matai and Kahikatea. Some of the trees are massive and will be several hundred years old. The understory is thick and luxuriant and features a lot of ferns, vines and coastal grasses. 

The forest is coastal Podocarp at the Lake Wilkie Walk

Fernery along the Lake Wilkie Walk

There is a nice viewpoint down to the lake about 200 meters along the track and from a clearing in the forest canopy you can see the lake, the forest and down towards Tautuku Beach. It was calm and still in the forest and there was a nice reflection of the forest canopy on the top of the lake...great for still images. 

Lake Wilkie from the lookout spot

Reflection of the forest on Lake Wilkie

There is an excellent information panel at the lookout which explains how the lake was formed, the flora and fauna of the area and the changing vegetation types as you get closer to the coast. 

Information panel at the Lake Wilkie Lookout

You can turn about at this point if time is tight but I would encourage you to continue along the path for another 10 minutes and go down to the short boardwalk along the side of Lake Wilkie.

Start of descent down to Lake Wilkie

...you drop about 60 meters to the side of Lake Wilkie...

The bush at the bottom of the track is proper three tier forest and there are some very large examples of Southern Rata, Kahikatea and Rimu here.  There were a lot of birds flying around and it was a glimpse a what most of New Zealand probably once looked like. 

Three tier forest at the Lake Wilkie Walk

The forest is open along the lakeshore as these huge trees tend to block the sunlight so the understory is always a bit stunted under them. 

Open forest and start of Lake Wilkie boardwalk

Area of windfallen trees, Lake Wilkie Walk

Stay on the boardwalk to view Lake Wilkie

Keep following the track as it goes past an area of fallen tree trunks then leads to the side of the lake and the boardwalk over the Raupo swamp. 

...Lake Wilkie boardwalk is about 30 long...

The boardwalk is quite short...perhaps 30 meters long but it gives you an alternate view of the lake from down at its side. From here you can get some awesome reflective shots of the trees around the lake on its still surface. It was well protected from the wind by hills on two sides and a border of high Podocarp trees around its perimeter. 

Lake Wilkie, Tautuku, Catlins

Information panel next to Lake Wilkie

Boardwalk track at Lake Wilkie, Tautuku

The boardwalk follows the edge of the lake down towards its southern end and then loops back into the forest to rejoin the main track. It was quiet here except for the call of some ducks and the attention paid to us by a couple of curious Fantails. 

Northern edge of Lake Wilkie  

Raupo swamp on the margins of Lake Wilkie 

There is a cliff on the west side of Lake Wilkie

There are some massive Kahikatea trees along the lake shore as they are species that do not mind inundated roots so this is ideal territory for them. 

Large Kahikatea Tree, Lake Wilkie 

There are a couple of information panels at the lakeside which explain the transition zones these type of bog lakes go through from reedy lakeside to fully mature forest. The plant species change the further away from the lake you get. 

Informational panel on the edge of Lake Wilkie 

...looping back to the main Lake Wilkie track...

You loop around and rejoin the main track just east of the lake and from here you follow the same path back up to the carpark. There are a couple of huge Southern Rata Trees here which strangely I do not seem to have photographed.... 

...on the Lake Wilkie heading for the carpark...

Start of climb up from Lake Wilkie

When you get halfway back up the rise to the lake lookout you can look out at the top canopy of the surrounding trees. You can see the top of the forest and the many plants which make their home in the canopy of these big Podocarp trees. 

Looking across the canopy of the forest at Lake Wilkie

Track near the lookout point, Lake Wilkie

The sides of the track are heavily covered with ferns, grasses and smaller brush like the fern pictured below. It is a verdant native forest with a thick, wet layer of old leaves, branches and decaying plants on the forest floor. 

Fern at side of Lake Wilkie Walk

It was totally still when we got back to the lookout at the top of the track so we captured some more photos of the trees reflecting off the mirror like surface of the lake. 

It is very picturesque...

There is a ridge between Lake Wilkie and the sea

Lake Wilkie is 1.7 hectares

We only saw one other couple the whole time we were at the Lake Wilkie Walk and they passed us just past the lake viewpoint on their way down to the lake. It really did feel like this was our own private section of forest...

Kahikatea trees along the Lake Wilkie Walk

A short walk from the Lake Wilkie viewpoint and you will find yourself back at the nearly empty  carpark. 

Approaching the Lake Wilkie carpark

It was very quiet down in the Catlin's...even before Covid this was a lesser visited section of the country as it is so remote from any of the larger cities. It is also early in the summer season as well but we saw few people anywhere we visited. 

End of the Lake Wilkie Walk

Things will begin to pick up now tourists are allowed back into New Zealand but I would assume the majority of them are probably bound for the tourist Mecca's like Queenstown, Te Anau, Milford and Aoraki/Mt Cook rather than here. 

Our campervan at the Lake Wilkie carpark

I really enjoyed the Lake Wilkie Walk...the forest and lake is beautiful and it was still and quiet here which was just what Karen and I were looking for. Think about stopping by if you ever find yourself travelling along the Southern Scenic Route. 

Access: The Lake Wilkie Walk is halfway between Papatowai and Tautuku on the Southern Scenic Route. The track is approximately 500 meters south of the Tautuku Outdoor Education Centre on the coast side of the road. 

Track Times: The track is about 600 meters one way and will take 30 minutes return.

Miscellaneous: Walk through a scenic reserve of old growth coastal podocarp forest to a lake and Raupo swamp. There is a very nice lookout just 100 meters along the track above Lake Wilkie with a fine view of the lake. I recommend walking down to the lakeside boardwalk for a closer look at the lake. No amenities at this location. 

You Tube: Lake Wilkie Walk