Rotomairewhenua / Blue Lake via Travers-Sabine Circuit; Visiting the Clearest Fresh Water of the World
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Travers-Sabine Circuit northern part Toitū Te Whenua copyright Sourced from Topo50 Map BS24 Mount Robert. Crown Copyright ReservedTravers-Sabine Circuit southern part Toitū Te Whenua copyright Sourced from Topo50 Map BS24 Mount Robert. Crown Copyright ReservedRotomairewhenua / Blue Lake Toitū Te Whenua copyright Sourced from Topo50 Map BS24 Mount Robert. Crown Copyright Reserved
About Travers-Sabine Circuit and Rotomairewhenua / Blue Lake
The Difficulty Rating: ★★★☆☆
Travers-Sabine Circuit is an 80-km loop in Nelson Lakes National Park that joins several hiking trails in the valleys around Travers Range. This loop intersects other trails that you can have access to various places such as Robert Ridge (for Lake Angelus), Rotomairewhenua / Blue Lake and beyond. Please check out DOC website fore more information.
This circuit is a great option for a moderate difficult multi-day hike. If you add the side trip to Blue Lake, I believe it will become the most unforgettable highlight of the entire trip. This lake is not only the officially clearest fresh water in the world but also the most beautiful lake I have ever seen. If I can only recommend a lake to visit in NZ, this must be the one.
My partner and I hiked on the circuit plus the track to Blue Lake in December 2016, spending a luxurious eight days to complete it. Unlike the recommendation from DOC, we hiked in counterclockwise direction. Starting from Lake Rotoiti, we stayed at Speargrass Hut, West Sabine Hut, Blue Lake Hut for two nights, and back to West Sabine Hut for one more night, then Upper Travers Hut and finally the Coldwater Hut.
The trails were marked and easy to follow. I could not even recall if any sections might be dangerous (unless you encounter the winter condition or bad weather). Navigation should be fairly simple as long as you are not off trail. The day we moved from Speargrass Hut to West Sabine Hut was the biggest day on the hike but it was merely due to the long mileage.
The ascent from West Sabine Hut to Poukirikiri / Travers Saddle, the highest point of the circuit, may be the most physically demanding section, which is an 1100 m climb. I guess that is the reason why DOC suggests to ascend the Saddle from the other side (providing you can start from Upper Travers Hut). However, walking downhill for 1100 m to West Sabine Hut is even worse to our knees in my opinion.
Travers-Sabine Circuit is pretty long for most of the people with limited time on hiking. Although the most budget way is to start and finish the hike at the trail heads along Mount Robert Road, but taking water taxi can get you entering and leaving the trail quickly. Coldwater Hut and Sabine Hut are the two locations where you can have their service to shorten your trip.
A few years later, we hiked to Blue Lake again via a different route, Sabine Track-Moss Pass-D’Uriville Track, a slightly more challenging hike. Click to see more photos and trip notes from this hike (when the post is published).
Setting off from Speargrass Hut in the morning on Day 2; Except the long drive from Christchurch, our first day was very short, only from Mt. Robert Car Park to this hut. But that 3-hour walk was actually pretty tiring after the drive. I did not even take any photos.The walk from Speargrass Hut to West Sabine Hut felt endless. We skipped Sabine Hut because we would like to arrive Blue Lake as early as possible on the following day.Heading toward Blue Lake; on the bridge near West Sabine Hut, if I am not wrong. The hut was full on the Christmas Eve, with clamor and smells, too crowded for me.There were plenty of scenes to see on the way, but nothing was comparable to Blue Lake.When you see this peaceful clear stream and a big pond, Blue Lake is within a stone’s throw.The first sight of the lake: Wow! So blue!The green (downstream) side of Blue Lake, probably due to warmer water temperature or more nutrient to feed the algae?Looking toward the upstream side of the lake; this lake is a sacred water to Māori. DOC advises people not to touch the water in any ways in order to respect the local culture. Somehow this information was not widely-known during that time.The study by Gall et al. 2013 indicated that the average visibility of Blue Lake was 74.2 m, which was near the theoretical value of pure water, 80 m. This lake was the visually clearest fresh water in the world. There was a poster on the wall of Blue Lake Hut mentioning the investigation by NIWA and the factors contributed to this incredible purity.Following the trail that leads to the south of Blue Lake you will ascend the dam in between Blue Lake and Lake Constance. That is where to have a nice view over the entire lake.Lake Constance, much larger than Blue Lake, where Waiau Pass Route runs along its western shore toward south.A waterfall filling the lakeThe view from Moss Pass Route; The landslide material dammed Lake Constance may function like the filter to remove the particles and organic matter from Blue Lake’s spring inflow, which emerges in the forest on the dam. That may explain for the high clarity of the lake water, the interesting knowledge I learned from the poster and the research.Spring inflow from the forestApart from our “geological investigation”, it was quiet around Blue Lake during our stay. We only met a team who were on the way to Waiau Pass Route. And occasionally a few solo hikers appeared by the lake and left shortly.Although it is possible to have a return trip to Blue Lake from West Sabine Hut on the same day but you will have to rush the hike, not enjoying the scenery. For people who land at Sabine Hut by water taxi, the trip to Blue Lake is a multi-day hike, absolutely not a day walk. I heard some tourists were persuaded to cancel their plan by the water taxi owner because they looked totally unprepared.MosaicWe headed back to the crowded West Sabine Hut after a lovely 3-day stay at Blue Lake.Starting the ascent toward Travers SaddleLooking down the height we just climbed.The gradient should ease off soon.Travers Saddle was a few steps away.Not sure where had other people gone.Poukirikiri / Travers Saddle, the wide and flat saddle; fortunately it was not windy.Beginning the descentMany flowers here had a waxy texture on the surface; maybe that is the protection against high UV and dehydration?The terrain leveled off again.The flat in front of Upper Travers HutTravers RiverUpper Travers HutTravers FallsA long day to move from Upper Travers Hut to Coldwater Hut. But we proceeded smoothly. I could not even retrieve much from my memory related to this section.Always pleasant to walk on summer meadowThe jetty at Coldwater HutWe walked back to our car; it significantly got older in eight days.
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