Lake Brunner

Kōtukuwhakaoka, Lake Brunner, covers about forty square kilometres in a bowl of rainforest inland from Greymouth, and its reputation rests on trout - the local claim is that the fish here die of old age rather than being caught, which is the kind of thing fishing towns say, but the brown trout fishery is long-established and well regarded. The settlement of Moana on the northern shore is small: a hotel, a store, a jetty, a handful of houses. What makes it unusually easy to reach is the railway - the TranzAlpine between Christchurch and Greymouth stops at Moana, so the lake is one of the few places in the country you can arrive at by scenic train and step straight onto a lakeshore. Short walks run into the bush from Moana, including the Velenski and Rakaitane tracks. Still mornings give reflections of the Alps; the West Coast being what it is, rain is frequent.

History

The lake was a resting place for Māori crossing the Hurunui saddle, who fished for eels and kākahi and worked pounamu at Pah Point and Takataka Island. Thomas Brunner and twenty Māori reached it by canoe on 29 January 1848, and in February 1859 the surveyor John Rochfort crossed it in a kahikatea canoe and named it after Brunner (Wikipedia, Lake Brunner).

The landscape

• The brown trout fishery - the reason the lake has its reputation.
• Moana - the small settlement and jetty on the northern shore.
• The TranzAlpine stop - arriving by scenic train at the lakeshore.
• The bush walks - short tracks from the village into rainforest.

When to go

November to April. Fishing season has its own dates and a licence is required. Still mornings for reflections - rain is common here at any time of year.

Good to know

Moana is very small - a store and a hotel, and little else. Sandflies are severe at the shore. The lake is cold. Trains stop once each way per day, so rail arrivals need planning.

Nearby

Greymouth is west; Arthur's Pass is south-east on the TranzAlpine line.

Key facts