BEAUTIFUL WALKS AT LAKE ROTOITI IN THE NELSON LAKES NATIONAL PARK OF NEW ZEALAND

Lake Rotoiti West Bay from Rainbow Skifield Ridge

Reflection of from West Bay Lake Rotoiti looking towards St Arnaud Range and Mt Robert

Lake Rotoiti

is situated at St Arnaud in The Nelson Lakes National Park about an hours drive from Blenheim and Nelson near the top of the South Island in New Zealand. It is a beautiful spot to relax or to do as much as you like. I have been lucky enough to enjoy this magic place once or twice a year for my entire life with the use of the family bach.

Kerr Bay Lake Rotoiti

Click on any one of the photos above to view a range of activities you can do there.

One of the activities I have been fortunate to enjoy is the many short and not so short walks and tramps in the area which is great for health and happiness.

Take a look at 7 shorter walks.

1.The Peninsula

Overlooking Lake Rotoiti with the Peninsula in the Middle. Taken from top of Mt Robert. Click photo for more photos on The Peninsula

The bushy land in the middle of the lake making it look like a U is the Peninsula. There is a track in the bush which goes from one bay to the other around the perimeter of the peninsula. This takes about an hour 1 way to do. The two bays are called Kerr Bay ( on the right ) and West Bay ( on the left )

2. Black Hill

Walk to Black Hill. Click on photo for more photos on Black Hill

In the picture above under the title Peninsula, look at the end of the left hand bay. You can see a curved dark piece of bush. This is Black Hill. 

3. Loop Track

Loop Track Is Situated in the St Arnaud Range section seen at top edge of lake in this photo. Click on photo for images of The Loop Track.

This track is nestled at the base of the St Arnard range as seen in the photo. It goes out away from the lake for about 20 minutes with a gradual incline. You meet a stream and then via left and continue along parallel to the ridge and lake. I would just like to point out that at the stream you can via left and cross it. You can then continue up a graded track to a rock just out of the bush and then walk to the top of the ridge in the open. The track is situated in the bush on the third section from the left.

Getting back to the loop track. Eventually the track will decline and head towards the lake edge. You continue along the lake edge track and meet up with the start of the track…hence making a loop.

The whole loop track can take 60 -90 minutes depending on speed and how many photo and view stops you wish to take.

4.The Honeydew Walk

Honeydew Walk St Arnaud Range at Lake Rotoiti. Click the photo for more photos of the walk

This track is a smaller loop track situated within the larger loop track mentioned above. It is a wide well graded track with information boards along the way. It takes about 20 minutes continuous walking but if you take time to soak in the information and the bush it will take longer. 

5.The Lake Side Track

Lake Rotoiti Click photo for Lakeside walk photos

Lake Rotoiti is shaped like a U with a tail. In the picture above the tail of the lake goes between the St Arnaud range on the left and Mt Robert on the right.The Travers river feeds into the lake from the head of the lake seen at the end of the tail. And the Buller River goes out from West Bay and travels up through the Buller Gorge into the Tasman Sea at Westport on the West Coast of New Zealand.

Buller River Mouth flowing from Lake Rotoiti at West Bay

Buller River near the bridge at the mouth flowing from West Bay Lake Rotoiti

There is a track which goes right around the lake and this takes about 7 hours to walk. If you just do the lakeside walk at the base of the St Arnaud range from Kerr Bay to the Head, then this takes three hours. There are a couple of huts at the head of the lake 1 on each side of the Travers river. Trampers use these huts as a starting point or ending point for longer tramps within the National Park.

If you want you can take the 3 hour bush walk along the side of the lake and then take a boat ride back. There is a water taxi you can hire or if you have a boat or know someone with a boat then you can use that as an option.

6. Mount Robert Circuit

Mt Robert. Click on photo for images of the Mt Robert Circuit Track

There is a track which goes up one side then along the top and down the other side. The whole trip takes from 3 1/5 – 5 hours depending on fitness. 

The Pinchgut track goes up the right side of the mountain.  A gravel road goes passed West Bay, over the Buller River and up the mountain a little and ends in a carpark at the base of the Mount Robert Walkway. The pinch gut track starts and there are 30 zigzags which lead you to the top and out of the bush. The first 18 zigs are in the open and the 18th zig continues into the bush and then comes out of the bush on zig 30. 

Then you reach a hut called Relax and go passed it. You will then come across a fork and a sign. You go left to walk across the top of Mt Robert and carry on straight  if you want to go up to the ridge.

You will come across 2 huts a short distance apart. Kea Hut  is not open to the public and Bushline Hut is used by the public. You the carry on down Paddy’s track which is the track on the left side of Mount Robert as you look towards it.

A long way down this track there is a fork. The upper track leads you to a carpark about 5 minutes down the road than the carpark at the base of the Pinchgut track. The lower track leads you to the lakeside track and comes out to the road lower down and closer to West Bay.

If you are lucky enough you will have someone to pick you up at one of those points or you can walk back up to your car at the carpark at the base of the Pinchgut track.

 7.Black Valley Stream Walk

Black Valley Stream. Click Photo to see photos of the Black Valley Stream Walk

This is a short walk about 15 minutes starting off from Kerr Bay along the black valley stream in the bush and ends upon the main highway to Nelson or Blenheim. You can exit this track to go to the chapel, the St Arnaud shops and Bridge Street. 

It is a lovely relaxing walk through the beech forest. 

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IMAGINE A DAY…

…when it is raining sooo hard and the wind is sooo strong. You feel as if all the windows are going to break with the force of the water and that whole house is going to cave in with a possible fallen tree from the wind.

Next minute the power goes off.

You then look at the cats stretched aimlessly across the mat in front of the fire with no care in the world. Thoughts of peace, love and relaxation flow effortless through your body.

You think to yourself “How Lucky I Am!!”

How are you feeling right now?

Imagine A Day…

…where the sky is blue with the sun shining  brilliantly across the lush green pastures surrounded by tall, ragged mountains in the far distance. There is a light breeze, which gently moves the tree branches and the beautifully coloured flowers embedded amongst the most amazing garden you have ever seen. This garden leads towards a swimming pool stretching the length of the huge timeless mansion behind.

You are standing by this swimming pool and are about to dive into the depths of the crystal clear blue water. You take the plunge and feel every drop and every bubble of the water as it glides gently passed you. You love swimming and are in a state of emotional bliss with no worries in the world. You rise up to the surface with your arms raised firmly above your head and you announce to the world

“I’m Free”

How does this make you feel?

Imagine A Day…

…when you wake up in the morning and see that a whole ton of money has gone into your account all due to simple facebook strategies.

Just feel the moment…

~ the racing heartbeat

~ the eyes filling with tears of excitement

~ the goosebumps protruding upwards from your skin

~ the overwhelming joy of success with a warm fuzzy feeling glowing throughout your entire body.

You think to yourself  “I Can Do It”

And

You Yell Out Loudly To Yourself “I…. CAN… DO…. IT!!!!!!!!!!!”

in a Strong Firm POWERFUL Voice

HEALTH AND HAPPINESS

People purchase products everywhere from the retail and wholesale store, mail order and in the internet. In fact without products where would we be? This article covers cover just two products, to be purchase online and have the potential to benefit your health and wellbeing.

Product One: Health Biz In A Box

This business was created by Dr Suzanne Gudakunst from North America. She created a website whose focus is health. She decided to choose health because she has medical knowledge, researching skills and television presenting skills on health and millions of people search out the net for health products and information daily and she wanted to combine the two.

Basically the website has a full shop of health products including ones on weight loss, skincare, womens and mens health plus health ebooks which people can buy. It is fully operational and automatic with an eight week money back guarantee if not satisfied.

This business provides you with a chance to buy and sell health products for the benefit of being in good health and also to sell on the business and earn some money which benefits your well being.

Product Two: The Simple Golf Swing

This product is for the golfer who would like to improve their swing and overall golfing performance. Maybe you are a beginner and would like to learn properly from the start. Maybe you have never won a game of golf with the same group of friends and want to surprise them one game ( or more!! ).

This popular product created by David Nevogt, will help you improve your swing in just two weeks by giving you a simple step by step system with photos for anyone to follow and master. People have noticed their stroke number drop with a better swing technique learn from the book.

This product comes with bonuses and a 60 day money back guarantee if you are not satisfied with the product.

This product improves your golf style and hence overall enjoyment of the game which makes you feel good. Golf is a game that helps with your overall fitness levels, health and emotional well being.

So there you have it. You can run a business with great health products to purchase at the same time as getting to the outdoors and improving your swing and hence your overall golf game. These two online products for purchase for your health and well being could be just what you need to thrive in life.

For further information on them

~ on the health business Look Here [

~ on improving your swing Look Here.

SWIMMING FOR THE BENEFIT OF HEALTH AND WELL BEING

I enjoy swimming for the benefit of my health and well-being. After doing lengths and aqua jogging it is great to relax in the spa pool. Swimming helps me feel relaxed, energised, happy and ready for other things especially if I have a comfortable swimming costume.

On one particular day when I was in the warm therapeutic pool for aqua jogging, I noticed a group of young mothers all lined up with their adorable toddlers in arms taking instructions from 2 swimming instructors. They were in the shallower learners pool next door to the therapeutic pool and they all looked like they were enjoying themselves.

The toddlers were being moved in all sorts of directions- in and out and around. The group did activities in lines, circles and even had some freer moving around the pool.

After about 15 minutes doing aqua jogging I hopped into the spa pool. Then I heard some sounds…

“Roll Over”

I turned around in the direction of the adult-toddler group, along with someone else in the spa pool. All the adults were singing and moving the toddlers over in time to words and music. It was Soooooooo Cute. The two of us looked at each other and smiled.

The song they were singing was called “Ten In A Bed“

This group looked like they were having fun.

The benefits to this group is social interaction, giving toddlers some enjoying water fun in a playful way as well as giving them confidence about being in the water. Singing and moving in the water stimulates the brain getting the right and left brain working. After the class was finished some mums and toddlers enjoyed a relaxing moment in the spa pool too.

Anyone who does water activities such as aqua aerobics, aqua jogging, water yoga, swimming lengths benefits from a wide range of factors.

Take swimming lengths for instance. 

When you swim length after length after length it gives you a chance to reflect, think of your next meal, build a blog or even plot continuing chapters in a book. Whilst you are deep in thought you can clock up many lengths without realising how many!! And this extra exercise must be good for you.

However some say it is best to focus on the Now rather than what has been or what is going to be.

So you can focus on:

~ the power of your arms and legs as they move against the resistance of the water thus increasing your strength.

~ your breathing.

Feel a regular pattern of breathing in when your head is out of the water and breathing out slowly and evenly, creating bubbles, when your head is in the water. It feels better to exhale constantly in the water rather than holding your breath in the water as this makes one tense up more and want to breathe more. Getting a flowing breathing pattern leads to a more relaxed smooth rhythmical stroke free from tension.

Swimming can be beneficial to anyone who plays a wind musical instrument eg flute, as it helps increase your lung capacity by strengthening heart and lungs, increasing delivery of oxygen and making your muscles’ use of oxygen more efficient. Thus making it helpful for wind players to play longer phrases.

~ mixing up your strokes ie freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly. Moving your arms and legs in different ways can build up your muscle strength. Combine this with aqua-jogging, aqua-aerobics for a full muscular workout.

With every stroke you take you are moving the entire body. This is great for increasing the circulation of the blood throughout. It is hard getting blood to circulate from the lower parts of the body to your heart and this gets worse as we age. Therefore if one exercises, like swimming, then the muscles around the veins, which are working more, can push the blood up to to heart more easily.

After lapping up the lengths and aqua-jogging in the warm hydrotherapy pool I like to relax in the spa pool. It is soooo relaxing and peaceful just to shut your eyes and feel the bubbles flow over your entire body … a great stress release. When I have my eyes open in this tub of blissful happiness I can see many people of all ages exercising, cooling off or relaxing in the heated pools, having fun and enjoying the social interactions with their friends and families.

There you have it – a session of aqua therapy.

So why not

Take The Plunge

Move Every Muscle

Feel Every Breath

Aqua-jog With A Friend

Take Tots To A Class

Combine It With A Mental Workout

and

Create A Blog In Your Mind

The benefits of swimming begin when you are little and carry on for life

SWIM FOR LIFE TODAY

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