Lake Poaka

Mackenzie Basin is known for its great fishing and there are many lakes, canals and waterways to choose from - Lake Poaka is one of these popular spots. 

How do you get there?
If you're traveling south from Lake Pukaki, there's a bridge that crosses over the Pukaki Canal - turn right immediately before the bridge. There are no signs on the main road showing where this lake is. You'll drive onto a gravel road which follows alongside the canal.

There's a turn to your right that leads to the lake, but it's steep and rough so continue on for another 1.6kms and you'll find another right hand turn which is much better.

There's loads of space and lots of choices to park - spots near the trees for shade, large areas for any size campers and the whole area is pretty flat.

The ground is super dry, so dry that when I was walking across it, it was crunching like crispy autumn leaves underfoot. 

Lake Poaka is DOC and is open to freedom camping. You must be self contained and stay no longer than 4 consecutive nights in any calendar month. There are long drop toilets but no drinking water available.

The mountains in the distance make a stunning view and when there's no breeze the lake reflects like a mirror.

There was some bird life around, although not as much as I was expecting being a conservation area. 

Even though the dogs would love exploring this area, there's a 'No Dog' rule here.

If you decide to stay here, there's a dump station ten minutes down the road in Twizel. Plus shopping, fuel and fresh water can be found in Twizel.

Little Loch Cameron - Twizel

Loch Cameron is between Twizel and the Pukaki Canal. It can be found down Glen Lyon Road which is a road that runs along the north side of the Twizel township. Six kilometres down the road passed lots of stunning lifestyle properties, is Loch Cameron.

It's a tiny lake, known for good salmon and trout fishing. Children enjoy the popular fishing competitions that are held there.

In the middle of Loch Cameron is an island with a handful of trees. It would make a good place to swim out to (if you weren't scared of eels!).

The reeds and bull rushes around the edge of the loch provide ideal spots for ducks to hide away.

I'm not sure if dogs are allowed at Loch Cameron or not - here are the two signs that were displayed at the entrance.

On still days the reflections around the loch are spectacular - imagine what it might look like in autumn?

Because it's not a very large lake/loch it only took about 20 minutes to walk around the perimeter.

At the end of the loch, I climbed up the bank to see how close the Pukaki Canal was. It's really close with only a narrow road in between.

That's Loch Cameron on the left and the Pukaki Canal to the right.

Although you're not allowed to camp at Loch Cameron, it's a beaut place to stop for a picnic, try your luck at fishing, take a swim or enjoy a scenic walk.

Lupins - Mackenzie Basin

I've lost count how many times I've been told to back up my photos. And, I'm embarrassed at how often I've remembered to back them up and then decided I'll do it tomorrow instead. Well, you're probably going to guess where this post is going?

I lost them! Yip, thousands of photos ... just like that!

It happened while I was installing an update and my computer froze. It's never, ever done that before. I used my iPad to google how to fix it, but it was hopeless. Nothing I did made a difference.

So, the next day we drove to Timaru and took it to an IT techie. It turned out the hard drive had been wiped and sadly I hadn't backed it up for 9 months. Crazy!

Recently I'd written an article for RV Travel Lifestyle magazine on the Mackenzie Lupins and I had photos to support the article. Well, I did have photos - until the computer crashed. So I was keen to get out and take some more. The good thing was, the lupins were still flowering (just) so I had time to go and photograph them again. Phew!

And in among all the lupins were the tourists!

Not far from here is 'Irishman Creek'. My mum lived there for a year when she was a child. Now, there's not much to mark the spot other than a dinky little building.

Last time I'd driven along this stretch of road I'd noticed a stream with lupins growing along the riverbank, beside the 'Tekapo Military Training Camp', so I headed for that. I clambered down the side of the bridge and down a gravel bank but stopped when I read these signs! 'Danger Keep Out' 

'Live Firing Range' 

'Explosions and Live Firing may Occur at Anytime'.

I was keen to get some photos of lupins - but not that keen!!!

I knew there were still some lupins flowering on the east side of Lake Tekapo, so that's where I headed next. But not before taking a detour to see the temporary fencing going up around The Church of the Good Shepherd. Due to the amount of tourists stopping and trampling over the grounds, littering and entering the church when services are in progress (despite being asked not to), a fence had to be erected. 

It's a shame it had to come to this - here's hoping people will now respect the area.

One positive thing about the fence is that it's easy to take a photo of the church without the shot being photo bombed by tourists!

About ten minutes out of Lake Tekapo is a bridge named 'Edwards Bridge', I'd noticed lupins on the side of the stream below as we'd crossed the bridge coming home from Timaru. So I parked the car and walked along the river to get some photos.

I love wandering along knowing I have all the time in the world to enjoy the scenery and take it all in. Being beside a stream with beautiful coloured flowers everywhere was so special. 

Every few metres a little rabbit would dart out from a clump of lupins and race off to find a safe spot to hide.

As you can imagine the smell was heavenly. The wind was started to get quite strong so getting a shot of a lupin standing upright was almost impossible.

I headed home feeling pleased I had my lupin photos again. As I was getting nearer to Lake Pukaki I noticed the wind was becoming gusty and by the time I arrived at the rig it was blowing a gale. For the next three hours we were shaken and rattled. It felt like the van was going to be blown over. And the noise! 

But to compensate for the din, nature displayed another special sunset. 

Once the sun sunk behind the mountains, the wind eased, and it was silent again. And, all was forgiven.