28th September 2024
The five club members on this day walk were Brent, Anand, Haran, Jocelyn and Czarina. We met at the BP and despite the overcast day we headed off to South Westland in search of those world famous reflections of Mt Cook on the water of Lake Matheson. The drive to the start of the track is straight forward. Drive to Fox Glacier, turn off the main road onto Cook Flat Road, follow it and then turn onto Lake Matheson road. At the end of the road is a cafe and large tourist carpark.
The track around Lake Matheson is very well graded to the point that it is wheelchair accessible. The forest and lake is absolutely teeming with wildlife and bush is old. We first walked around the east side of Lake Matheson to the track junction with Lake Gault. Here the track begins to climb gently before turning into a series of switch backs. Despite this the track is still extremely well graded albeit no longer wheel chair friendly. Upon cresting the hill the track then gently winds its way down to Lake Gualt where we stopped at the shelter for lunch and posed by the Jetty for a picture. This Lake is a hidden gem less visited by tourists yet is easier to walk to than you think. The DOC website says 3 hours return but it would have taken us two hours at the most.
We returned the way we came to the track junction with Lake Matheson. Here we carried on round the west side of the lake stopping at the many Jetty’s and platforms overlooking the lake along the way. We took our time and enjoyed sitting and observing the endemic Paradise shellducks and Scaups cruising about the lakes surface. Before completing the circuit back to the car park we made sure to climb up to THAT platform responsible for so many Instagram worthy photos of Mt Cooks reflection on the water. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see any reflections due to an overcast sky. All up it was a great day walk enjoyed by everyone and the scenery plus birdlife: 10 out of 10. The perfect beginners trip.
Brent Robinson (Member)
