A short walk at Lake Rotoiti...
The other short walk I did while on my recent tramping trip to Nelson Lakes NP was the Honeydew Walk. I zipped around this track on the way out from Lakehead Hut...I stayed there the previous night. It is a great little walk and it branches off the main track running along the lake side.
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| Mt Robert from one of the Lake Rotoiti beaches... |
It was heinously cold the previous night (-9 degrees Celsius) but by the time I got up near Mt Robert it was a balmy 10 odd degrees, sunny with light winds. I passed about half a dozen people on my way out from the hut...mostly day walkers but also some people heading up to Lakehead Hut for the night.
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| Jon stopping at the Loop Track junction with Lakehead Track |
I had contemplated walking the longer Loop Track but as that took another hour and involved climbing steeply up a series of terraces for four kilometers I decided to go with the slightly easier option.
On the Honeydew Track:
The Honeydew Walk is a short side track off the main Lakehead Track...it is about one kilometer long and takes 25 to 30 minutes to make your way around. The southern terminus starts about a kilometer from Kerr Bay and it climbs up onto old glacial terraces before sidling around and back down to the main track about 300 meters from the carpark.
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| Map: Honeydew Walk, Nelson Lakes NP |
Just to clarify things a bit...on the map above I is the Honeydew Walk, II is the St Arnaud Range Track and III is the Lakehead Track. The southern end of the Honeydew Track comes off the Lakehead Track while the northern end attaches to the end of the St Arnaud Range Track. You can walk the track in either direction...clock wise from the northern end is probably best...
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| Start of the Honeydew Walk, Nelson Lakes NP |
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| Honeydew Walk: the life cycle of a beech forest.... |
The Honeydew Walk travels through a magnificent area of beech forest and is a part of the Lake Rotoiti Recovery Project. The Project aims to restore a vast swathe of forest in Nelson Lakes NP back to a pre human condition. To this end they have an extensive trapping program for introduced pests and they also undertake planting to restore the forest cover.
Initially the project only covered about 100 hectares but it has since grown to cover over 5000 hectares of forest, tussock grasslands and mountain tops. It has created a virtual 'Inland Island' where birds, insects and small animals are able to thrive.
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| Climbing the first terrace on the Honeydew Walk |
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| ..the Honeydew Walk is on an old glacial terrace... |
The Honeydew Walk is an all weather track with just the one bridged stream crossing. The track is dirt and covered with leaves but it is well drained and elevated so it is usually quite dry. Although it is not wheelchair friendly it is not far off...it is wide, well maintained and easy to walk along.
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| Only bridge along the all weather Honeydew Walk |
After the initial climb up onto an old glacial terrace you find yourself sidling along a mostly flat track with a variety of beech species and podocarp trees. You can see quite a way out into the open forest and it is a very pleasant place to go for a stroll.
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| There are several information panels along the Honeydew Walk |
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| Honeydew Walk: the fauna of Nelson Lakes NP |
You turn along the track and head north towards the St Arnaud Range Track. The track weaves in and amongst the trees and it was awesome walking along in the dappled sunlight coming in through the forest canopy.
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| Good quality track along the Honeydew Walk, Nelson Lakes NP |
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| The Honeydew Walk sidles through the beech forest |
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| Fallen tree debris cleared from the Honeydew Walk |
After about 15 minutes walking you come to an area of jumbled glacial erratic's...huge boulders and rock slabs deposited here when some ancient glacier came to a halt and dumped the heaviest debris. The whole of Nelson Lakes NP was formed by and shaped as a result of glaciers evidence of which can still be spotted.
As late as 20 000 years ago there was a huge glacier coming down the Travers Valley carving out Lake Rotoiti on its way north. The other major influence is erosion by both wind, rain action and by the gradual erosive force of the big rivers you find in the park.
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| Honeydew Walk: tree growing on a erratic boulder... |
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| The apex of the Honeydew Walk, Nelson Lakes NP |
The apex of the Honeydew Walk is near the old glacial spoil...from here it starts to drop down to a junction with the St Arnaud Range Track before descending further to the main Lakehead Track. The walk through here is elevated over the forest so you can see way off into the forest towards old swamps and silted up kettle lakes.
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| Information about Wasp infestation in Nelson Lakes NP |
You eventually arrive at the St Arnaud Range Track/ Loop Track coming down off the surrounding peaks. I last travelled up the St Arnaud Range Track way back in 2016 when I did a day walk up to Parachute Rocks nearly 1100 meters above you.
I am planning on stopping by to walk the Loop Track the next time I am up this way...probably in mid October on my way to Abel Tasman NP. It is about four kilometers or 1.5 hours to walk the full Loop Circuit which joins the St Arnaud Range Track about 20 minutes past the junction with the Honeydew Walk.
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| Honeydew Walk and St Arnaud Range Track junction |
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| The rest of the walk is on the St Arnaud Range Track... |
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| St Arnaud Range Track leads up to the St Arnaud Range |
I headed down the St Arnaud Range Track on my way back to the main trail on the route out to Kerr Bay and the end of the tramp. It was very quiet in the forest...I didn't see any people at all the whole time I was walking around the Honeydew Walk even though it is close to the carpark.
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| Honeydew/St Arnaud Range Track heading to St Arnaud |
I did see and hear a great many birds in this forest including Silver Eye, Fantail, Kaka, Bellbird and Tui. A New Zealand Robin or Tomtit followed me along the track for a way hoping for an easy meal of bugs kicked up by may passage. I didn't see any Weka/Pukeko on this trip which is unusual as I often see a few around the Kerr Bay Campsite and on the flats around Lakehead Hut.
Probably too cold for them...
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| Information panel about the vision of a restored forest |
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| Sidling down the Honeydew/St Arnaud Range Track |
The end of the Honeydew Walk is a gentle descent down to the main track running along the side of the lake....an easy end to an easy track.
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| Near the St Arnaud Range Track and Lakehead Track junction |
From the end of the St Arnaud Range Track you turn right and head along the Lakehead Track back to the car park at Kerr Bay. From the track junction you are only 300 meters away from the end of your tramp...
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| ...northern terminus of the Honeydew Track...Lakehead Track |
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| Kerr Bay is just 300 meters away... |
The Honeydew Walk is a real gem....it travels through some really nice beech forest and would make an ideal intermediate track if you only had an hour or so in St Arnaud. I can thoroughly recommend the walk to you as I really enjoyed the experience.
Access: Honeydew Walk starts and finishes off the Lakehead Track near St Arnaud. Follow Kerr Bay Road or Lake Road off SH63 (Main Road) and down to the jetty at Kerr Bay. Numerous tracks start from this location and branch off the main Lakehead Hut Track. There is a track sign about 700 meters from the carpark at the start of Honeydew Track/St Arnaud Range Tracks.
Track Times: It takes 30-40 minutes (1.5 kilometers) to cover the full circuit of the Honeydew Walk.
Miscellaneous: High quality track, with multiple interpretation boards along the route. All weather track but potentially muddy after rain.
