Lakeside: keeping out of the cold...

It was very cold overnight, and the frost was heavy. Once again I was glad to have a four-season tent.  My campsite is in a very sheltered position, and didn’t catch any sun until quite late. I will have move to a sunnier position to get the tent dried and packed in good time tomorrow morning.

The chill southerly wind is still blowing down from the snow-covered tops, but at least the sun is out today. Hopefully by tomorrow the wind will have changed and it’ll be a good day to cycle.

Mavora Lakes would, but for the dreaded sandfly, be a lovely place to camp in warmer weather. But while this cold wind keeps blowing the only thing I can do it stay in a sheltered spot and enjoy the sun.

I took my fishing rod out and tried my luck, once again in vain. The locals seem to think it is just too cold for the fish to have become active, or at least for the insects on which they feed to have bred up in the numbers needed to get them going.

A little later the ranger dropped in to check my registration. He pointed out a spot where he had recently seen trout, not more than 200 metres from where I had been fishing, but I was more inclined to stay out of the wind than to brave the bloody sandflies for another try.

Just waiting for a trout to swim past my table...

At the head of the lake, the Greenstone and Routeburn tracks pass...

See if anything will dry...