Giveaways
THE Lake Marian Track begins from the Lake Marian Carpark, one kilometre down the Hollyford Road from its intersection with the Milford Road, some ninety kilometres out from Te Anau.
The track has a wooden gantry only 20 minutes in, from which you can admire the Marian Falls, which are really more like rapids. Even if you don’t do the rest of the track to the lake, which is more difficult, you can still walk to the gantry.
In fact, the whole of the Marian Creek, which drains the lake, is pretty wild, and if you fell in you wouldn’t stand much of a chance. The banks of Marian Creek are very slippery, and there are warnings about going off the track. A young girl fell into the creek from a rock and was drowned last summer.
On the way in, this November, I saw two kākā mating. It was a very inefficient process because every time the male kākā got on top he fell off. It’s amazing that any chicks are ever produced by this method!
Lake Marian is really stunningly beautiful, and once there, you can camp overnight.
I made a video while I was there this time.
There is more birdlife there now than there used to be, what with the conservation and trapping being done on the Routeburn: it is so great to see.
There are good views towards the mountainous terrain of the Routeburn Track and Key Summit. Likewise, you can see Lake Marian from there.
All in all, this is one of the best little short trips that you can do from the road in New Zealand! Indeed, the travel writer GirlEatWorld has described Lake Marian as “my favorite experience in New Zealand so far.”
Here is the New Zealand Department of Conservation page on Lake Marian. There is also, as of the time of writing, a very good Wikipedia page.
Serious alpinists sometimes go further: check out this page by Danilo Hegg of Southern Alps Photography.
If you liked this post, check out my book about the South Island! It’s available for purchase from available from my website a-maverick.com.
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