Manapouri in Fiordland National Park is one of the most beautiful lakes in New Zealand. With its 33 islands, white-sand beaches, and crystal-clear water reflecting the spectacular Southern Alps, it’s a superb place for kayaking. Alina Suchanski takes up her paddle to explore the lake’s undeniable charms.
Gripping the metal chain anchored to the rock turns my fingers white. I’m hot, but can’t let go to wipe the perspiration from my brow. Finding my next foothold I pull myself up on to a narrow shelf inside the rock chimney. I glance down and see George looking a bit nervous.
"You can do it," I encourage him. We are climbing to the summit of The Monument, a distinctive feature of Lake Manapouri, Fiordland. Although only 290m high, it is a short but challenging climb, with steep sections through the beech forest followed by a few minutes walk along the ridge, before the real fun starts near the top.
We get through the vertical rock chimney, but can’t relax just yet, as there is still some steep crumbly rock to climb and a narrow ledge to negotiate above a precipitous drop on one side.
When we reach the top we are rewarded with breathtaking 360-degree views of Lake Manapouri, its many islands and the surrounding mountains. It is probably the best reward-to-effort-ratio climb in Fiordland.
The original Maori name for this lake was Moturau, meaning a hundred isles. And it was due to a surveyor’s mistake that the name Manapouri (intended for the North Mavora Lake) landed on the map, and stayed there.
The hike is a diversion on a kayaking trip to Hope Arm, one of the four arms of Lake Manapouri.
My partner George and I drove from Te Anau to Manapouri for the weekend and pulled up at Frasers Beach where we launched my kayak and George’s inflatable dinghy. The good thing about having a support boat on a kayaking trip is that it can take your heavy gear and all you have to do is get yourself into the kayak.
This is my fifth trip into Hope Arm and George’s first. What I love about it, apart from absolutely fabulous views, is that it feels very remote, yet it’s so easily accessible. You can walk from the other side of the Waiau River in Manapouri to Hope Arm Hut in three hours. Kayaking the long way, around Stony Point, also takes three hours, but on this trip I want to check the portages that can cut quite a lot of paddling time and sometimes can take you out of trouble, if you are caught out on a windy day in choppy conditions.
Of the two portages, the shorter one takes you from Surprise Bay to Circle Cove in just five minutes, saving half an hour of paddling. The longer portage goes from Surprise Bay to George Bay, and though it takes 10 minutes to carry your kayak through on a clearly marked track, it saves about an hour of paddling.
On the way into Hope Arm I take the shorter portage that starts at the north end of Surprise Bay. George helps me to carry my kayak across and catches up with me in his "rubber duck" on the other side.
As I turn the corner paddling out of Circle Cove, the nose of my kayak points halfway between two conspicuous landmarks. On my left is The Monument with its characteristic bluffs near the top, and on the right, further in the distance, is Mt Titiroa covered with white granite rock that masquerades as snow.
There are two boats anchored by the golden beach at the foot of The Monument, but their owners are nowhere to be seen. We pull our vessels on to the sand and find a shady spot for a picnic lunch. Surprisingly, even though it’s sunny and calm, there are hardly any sandflies. Rested and nourished, we head for the track that’s clearly marked with a large orange triangle. On our way up we meet the owners of the two boats and each time we stop for a chat; first time with a group from Gore on a fishing trip to Lake Manapouri, then with a lovely couple from Mossburn.
From the top we can see the beach below with my kayak looking like a toothpick and George’s boat resembling a bean. The Cathedral Peaks in the distance crown the lake, and many islands dot its waters, the two largest — Pomona and Rona — respectively to the left and right of the Cathedrals.
It takes us an hour to walk down to our boats, nearly as long as it took to climb up. By the time I get back into my kayak the wind picks up and I battle its strong gusts for 40 minutes, with George keeping an eye on me from his dinghy, before we both reach the beach at the head of Hope Arm.
We are surprised to see smoke drifting from a burned-out fire on the beach, and take it as a sign we are not alone here, but when we enter the nearby hut, there is no-one inside. George is keen to try his hand at fishing in the lagoon at the end of the beach. We put-put there in his dinghy. He is lucky and after about four casts, pulls in a beautiful rainbow trout.
We cook the fish wrapped in tinfoil in the hot ashes someone left on the beach. What a treat!
At 10pm, as we are doing our evening ablutions outside the hut, a dark apparition emerges from the forest, startling us both. Tall and muscly, with a rifle over his shoulder, he is a dead ringer for the German tennis player Boris Becker, but turns out to be a Wellingtonian on a hunting trip to Fiordland.
Asked if he was successful, he says he has a deer in his pack and proceeds to set up camp away from the hut. In the morning, by the time we pack our gear and are ready to leave, the hunter is gone. I follow the dinghy in my kayak to George Bay to try the other portage.
As before, George helps me carry my kayak across. By the time he takes his rubber duck around Stony Point, I am well on my way to Frasers Beach. As we look back towards beautiful Lake Manapouri we make a resolution to come back soon, as this truly is a kayakers’ and boaties’ paradise.
If you go
• Access: Lake Manapouri is on the Southern Scenic Route (SH95 from Te Anau).
• The track to The Monument starts and finishes in Hope Arm on Lake Manapouri, Fiordland, 2km north of Hope Arm Hut and is accessible from the water only.
• To get to the start of the track you can travel by water taxi, private boat or kayak.
• Distance: about 15km of paddling plus 290 vertical metres of climbing (optional).
• Time: 1-2 days (kayaking and tramping).
• Accommodation: Hope Arm Hut (12 bunks).
• More information: www.doc.govt.nz
