I spent 3 days in Nelson Lakes National Park to do the Travers-Sabine circuit and I made short videos during those days that I put together so you can see what I'm doing a bit more "live" (the video is at the end), 3 days in 10 minutes, worth having a look no?

I got the advice to do this hike from a kiwi couple I met in Nepal and it was definitively worth it, so nice landscapes, especially with 3 sunny days. I did the Travers-Sabine circuit with the little side walk to Blue lake, which is worth the effort. I left my van at the car park where I will return to be sure that the last walk will end quickly since I planned to do it in 3 days instead of 4. I don’t really know why I decided to do it in 3 days, maybe my competitive side which took over my holiday side to see if it was possible.

After missing my initial alarm clock to start walking at 7am since I didn’t want to pay the water taxi to skip the walk on the side of the lake, which is not special, I finally set up at 9am with my little backpack with everything needed for 3 days plus a little extra in the Nepali version: crocs and shorts. The view at the end of the lake, where the water taxi drops you in case you’re lazy is really nice:

After the track goes through the different kiwi’s forest vegetations until the end of the tree line where there is a hut.

The world is small because I met there one guy, Avi, I saw in Nelson at the info center when I was looking to do the Abel Tasman on a sea-kayak. He was doing the same trek. I didn’t plan to stay in the huts since I had my tent with me, so I kept on and walked to find a good spot for my night.

On the second day I walked with Avi and we made our way through the saddle, down to the Upper Sabine hut and after a lunch break we walked quickly to Blue lake with much lighter backpacks since we left most of the gears in the hut.

And that’s what you can call a blue lake. The colors are amazing, just incredible!! But the water was really cold compared to the current outside temperature that day.

After 2 days of hard walk, a shower wouldn’t be too much. So I went into the river to clean up the dust and sweat, and also my walking clothes... Uschh it wasn’t warm! And the sandflies weren’t the nicest thing you can imagine when you’re getting out of the water.

And for the diner, well, they were even happier to stay with me and called some other friends for the Marco skin’s party. You will see in the video what I’m speaking about here...

Waking up early on the 3rd day, still with a lot of sandflies everywhere. Do they ever sleep?

It was late enough at 7.30am to leave my camp for the longest day of walk. I had to reach a first hut and when to make an ascent of more than 1000m, pretty steep, before walking on a never ending ridge to the last hut, Angelus hut. I didn’t think I couldn’t find water during those little more than 5 hours walk to the Angelus hut so I only had 25cl to start, and I ended very very very thirsty! But it was the nicest day of walk of the circuit.

Lake Rotorua

Angelus hut

At the hut, after having my lunch which was composed of a dry food meal, I could see people coming there just for a 2 days hike with lots of good food like chocolate, fruits, soft drinks, veges... I started to starve again and quickly realize that I wouldn’t resist the evening with my again dryfood bag. So I made the point to go back to my van even if it was already 4.30pm and the walk was described as a 5 hours. I should made it in something like 3 hours, no? It took me a bit more but I made it before dusk and I was soooo happy to get a beer, coke and a proper warm meal, moreover to sleep on my big bed in my van with no alarm clock for the next morning.

The walk on the ridge to the car park after the hut

But yeah, I must say that the crocs might not be the best shoes if you’re not crossing a river during the day. My feet were not so nice at the end of the track... The photo is in the album, at the end.

All the photos are here: http://photos.shakeyourlife.com/New-Zealand/Nelson%20Lakes/

The 10 minutes video

The only thing is that I'm speaking in French in the video. Sorry for the people who won't understand it, for the other, enjoy!

What do you think about the video? Should I do more of them? Do you like to see me more "live"? Leave a comment, thanks.