Day 57 Ruby Bay, St. Arnaud, Nelson Lakes National Park, Murchinson

We left Kaiteriteri this morning after thoroughly enjoying ourselves for three days.  It was a lucky find for us and really is a beautiful spot.  The plan was to make a quick stop in Motueka for groceries and then head to St. Arnaud.  The problem was that we missed the turn and instead decided to drive the Ruby Bay Scenic Route before we turned around.  It was only a short drive and after a couple of pictures we were back on the road.



Ruby Bay




Ruby Bay



The main problem in finding the right road was that we were cutting across country and driving the back roads to get to St. Arnaud.  We finally found ourselves on the right path and leisurely made our way to St. Arnaud and the Nelson Lakes National Park.  The drive took us through a lot of farming country with the mountains providing a stunning background.  We are just starting to see the northern end of the Southern Alps.



Good Art is found in the stangest places.



The South Island is not nearly as populated as the North Island which makes for lighter traffic.  This allowed us to slow down to be able to really enjoy the drive.  We finally made it into St. Arnaud and discovered it is a small alpine village that is the gateway for anyone going into the park. We stopped in at the visitors centre and found out the park has two main lakes, Lake Rotoroa and Lake Rotoiti.   Lake Rotoiti can be seen from the Visitors centre and that is where our hike started.  It was only a short hike, a little more than an hour and we didn't take many pictures but it was pleasant.



Lake Rotoiti



Once we finished out hike we got back on the highway with our ultimate destination being Murchinson.  It is our stopping point for the night but first we had to make a couple of detours.  The first was a turnoff that led us to a vantage point overlooking Lake Rotoiti and the surrounding area. 

The second stop was Lake Rotoroa as we were able to drive down to the shore.

Lake Rotoroa

We completed the drive into Murchinson and got a campsite for the night. Today was one of the hottest days we have seen since our arrival in New Zealand. Once we reached the campsite we took full advantage of it and just layed around for awhile.  It was another great day in the land of the Kiwi's.