Jess Wanders Off

Misty Lake Marian

Well, Dan and I headed out bright and early to Queenstown.  It was a scenic drive for the most part, although it involved a lot of pastoral landscapes.  Lots and lots of sheep.  We are driving in a wonderful little vehicle called the “Starlet” which somehow missed out on production in the United States (shocker!)  It took about 2 hours to get to Te Anau, and our weather was miserable.  Cold, cold, cold, and wet.  This is New Zealand’s summer?

Nevertheless, after getting situated at our Te Anau hostel (the YHA) we set out again, had some crappy food from a fish & chips stand, and headed into Fiordland National Park for some hiking.  It took awhile to get there (maybe an hour one way) — Fiordland National Park is very, very, VERY remote.

We did a hike in Fiordland up to a beautiful lake called Lake Marian.  The hike itself was brutal because of all the rain.  It was through rainforest, so the trees (mostly) shielded us from the raindrops themselves, but the actual path had become a raging flood.  In some places the trail was indiscernible because it had turned into a waterfall.  I’m not at all exaggerating.

Dan tries to find our path…see the trail?

 So we got quite wet and my feet got cold after plunging repeatedly into the pools of water that constituted our trail.  Even so it was enjoyable scenery.  The whole forest was very eerie, with moss smothering nearly every tree around us.

Moss-covered temperate rainforest around Lake Marian

 Once we actually reached Lake Marian (took us about an hour and a half or so to get there) it was well worth the effort.  The whole place is SO green, with tiny shamrocks everywhere, and huge black rocks.  Actually it makes me think of Ireland, or an idealized version of what Ireland might look like in dreams, seeing as I’ve never been.  The lake itself was a beautiful aqua color, perfectly clear. 

The waters of Lake Marian

But the best part about it was the mist.  The whole area was shrouded completely in mist, which would periodically pass through and leave certain parts of the snowcapped mountains visible, then covering them up again.  A beautiful series of waterfalls came down the mountainsides: again, sometimes they were visible, sometimes they weren’t, because of the fog.

The whole place was ethereal and hauntingly beautiful.  I bet it would look completely different on a clear day with no mist.

Lake Marian Disappears

After hiking back (another hour and a half — it was still raining, and the trail was still a waterfall) we got in the car and drove home to the YHA, had dinner (pizza) and fell asleep early.  Tomorrow we have to be up at 6 am for our kayaking tour on Milford Sound.

Black Rocks Around Lake Marian