Lake Hayes Walkway, New Zealand - December 2014

With a couple of hours to spare before Sam flew into Queenstown last year I was looking around for a quick adventure close to town to tear me away from the great coffee shops, before I headed out to the airport to pick Sam up. I've been past Lake Hayes numerous times but didn't realise that there was a walking track around the lake, that changed however when I picked up a new book at the Queenstown DOC office called Excellent Short Walks in the South Island, a book that's main claim to fame is that it lists over 250 walks under 2 hours, perfect I thought for my sloth like walking pace. Anyway opening up the book I discovered the walk called the Lake Hayes Walkway, and at under 2 hours it would be a perfect walk for me before heading to the airport.

Heading off from the car park.

Heading out of town on the highway towards Cromwell I soon arrived at the signposted trail head at the southern end of the lake. The trail follows the highway for a short distance, past a memorial to one of the early settlers before dropping down to the lake shore and crossing some board walks. Now as opposed to some of my walking in New Zealand, this walk promised to be a fairly tame affair and almost immediately I found myself walking between the lake shore and some flash country homes. The lakeside track kept generally to the shoreline so the houses and the highway behind them was never really intrusive and the easy gravel path allowed me ample opportunities to look around without tripping over a stray root or rock.

Robert Lee was an early settler who ran an irrigation system to Threepwood Farm in 1911, the water trough was  a memorial to him, the trough was designed for horses to drink from the top level while the dogs could drink out of the bottom.

There's a nice boardwalk at the southern end of Lake Hayes.

The wind today was chopping up the surface of the lake a bit and I couldn't help but think of Sam about to fly into Queenstown Airport, always an experience even in good weather. According to my literature Lake Hayes is home to a healthy population of Australasian crested grebe but all I managed to see today were ducks bobbing away on the choppy surface, oh and a big tin turtle. Walking around the northernmost section of the lake the track passes though a large section of parkland which even had what looked like a couple of nice beaches to take a dip, well once global warming works its magic a bit more anyway.

No Australasian crested grebe today, but there were a few ducks bobbing away on the choppy surface.

And a turtle.

The lake walk passes by some pretty flash homes.

The track passes through a pretty park at the north end of the lake.

And even has a couple of nice beaches, that's the view down the lake towards The Remarkables.

Looking at my watch I was starting to realise that while my guide book had suggested that the walk was less than two hours in duration, at my sloth like pace it was going to take at least three, hmmm Sam wouldn't be happy if I didn't turn up at the airport in time to pick her up, so I figured that I'd better crank it up a bit. As soon as I came to the realisation that I needed to crank up the pace a bit I came to the only real climb of the whole walk, who'd have thought hey! Rounding the north west corner of the lake the track climbs up and sidles along some hills above the water line, now I didn't exactly need oxygen but it did raise the pulse rate a little as I powered (maybe a slight exaggeration) along the picturesque western shoreline. Nearing the end of my circumnavigation the track drops back down to the waterline and the walking starts to feel very bucolic with nice little farm houses, barns and hay bales in the field, all very well but I was on a mission now. Arriving back at the car I took off back towards Queenstown, arriving at the airport just as Sam's plane was due in. Yeah it was due in, but as was always going to be the case the plane was late and it turned out I had another 40 minutes to wait before we were finally reunited in the airport.

The stroll along the western shore was the section I enjoyed most.

The Lake Hayes Walkway isn't a hardcore tramp but it is very pretty in its own way.

The Dirt.

This is a very easy walk that would be suited to families with young children or even people in wheelchairs. Its around 9 kilometres around the lake if you start from the carpark to the south (the Queenstown end) of the lake, if you started from one of the lake side carparks you'd knock a kilometre off it. The walk is fairly level, the only notable climb is around the north western corner (hey its a square lake), and even then it would be less than 50 metres I reckon. Like I mentioned earlier this walk is written up in a book called Excellent Short Walks in the South Island by Peter Janssen, the notes are very brief though and there is no map so I think you'd be better off with the DOC brochure Wakatipu Walks, which also has brief notes but more importantly a map. On a hot Summer day the lake would be a nice spot for a swim, otherwise I think Autumn would be the best time for this stroll when some of the trees change colour. 

The wide gravel path would be suitable for ages.