I see the wide paddling interests of OCKC members as a major strength for the club. OCKC has also been fortunate in having members who were prepared to share their interests and knowledge with newer members.

Two such people have been Les Coxhead and Rick McGregor. In 1988 they collaborated in producing a short written guide to the rivers and Lakes of Fiordland. This guide was as a supplement to our usual club newsletter. Before PC s producing the newsletter was in itself a major undertaking, so providing a guide meant even more work. It is not surprising that we miss them both. Rick now lives in Sweden, but Les died in 1997.

Rick was a slalom paddler and winner of several National events. Despite his high skill level he was prepared to make us lesser paddlers feel we could tackle the harder grades, introducing me to the upper Taieri and Kawarau long before I had a clue on how to roll.

Les, the flamboyant veteran of many Coast to Coast races introduced anyone who was willing to the outdoors. Sometimes this was on the grandscale of Fiordland other times closer to home. I remember one night when he misjudged the tide heights at Waihola, in the middle of the night the river entered our tents and we had to retreat to our Kayaks. Another time we spent the weekend paddling bath bats down the water race at Nasby.

Between them Rick and Les covered the full spectrum of canoing opportunities and this is evident in the guide. The only disappointment with the guide is in the shortness.
Maggie Oakley 2000.

The Fiordland Lakes and Milford Sounds by Les Coxhead

This publication was originally issued in 1988. Lakes and Rivers have a tendency to change. Use this resource as a guide only
Te Anau	Manapouri
Monowai	Hauroko
Milford	Rivers in the Milford Area

Fiordland is a wilderness area of world class and is right at our back door! Road access is minimal, tramping access is very limited and in most areas impossible, yachts and motor boats give access to the area and can be used with the huts provided, but as canoeists, we have the ideal vehicles to explore the shorelines intimately, to stop for boil-ups on the beaches and camp where we feel inclined.

Dense bush extends from the lake shores to one thousand meters over the entire area and above is tussock and rock. Dotted through out the area are innumerable small lakes, waterfalls and streams. Trout and deer are abundant, the bush and bird life are varied and fascinating.

The rocky shoreline is water-worn and provides sheltered bays for canoeists. Firewood is plentiful and it is rare not to be able to find a flat sheltered spot for a tent in the bush at the top of a beach. The rain fall is reputedly high ( seven meters per annum at Dumpling Hut on the Milford Track ) but in more than thirty trips we have had very little rain, a lot of sunshine, some strong winds but often, flat calm sunny conditions. We have never been held up in any way by weather and many of our trips have been in mid winter.

Some suggestions regarding equipment
Our earliest trips were all in slalom boats and apart from the limited carrying capacity and the hassle of packing gear in plastic bags they were satisfactory. The acquisition of a Nordkapp with watertight storage made things a lot easier to manage and more recently, a double, with sail and rudder and storage for a months supply of food has facilitated the taking of non- canoeists into the area.
Gear for wet weather and cold conditions is essential – you may not need it but you must have it.
A bug proof tent is a recent refinement for us and is especially useful in summer when daylight ( sandfly time ) is nineteen hours of the twenty – four. Insect repellent is a must. Inch to the mile topographical maps are essential. A compass is useful. A frameless day pack is necessary for day walks. It is best not to have gear tied to the deck. Canoeists should not attempt serious tramping in this region without previous experience.

Party size and management are important. Some of our trips have been solo, many have been just two person and more that four or five is unwieldy. Individualists who want to do their own thing in their own way can be just a nuisance. In rough weather especially, a party must travel together within travelling distance of each other – the rougher the closer. Trip intentions should be left at Te Anau, Manapouri, or Clifden with details of party numbers, plans, panic date ect. Times for trips have shown that five kilometres per hour is an easy speed to maintain with a loaded kayak.

Milford Sound This is spectacular , scenic cruising at its best. Large tourist boats look tiny at the base of these sheer mountain walls. Three hours would get you to the lighthouse at St Anne-Point but on the way you will need time to look at the Bowen Falls and the Stirling Falls from close-up, where the gale caused by the falling water will literally bowl you over. Wear a parka for the spray! Also keep your spray skirt on ready for the inevitable encounter with the resident pod of porpoises who will dive under you and tap your keel gently with their tails, look at you looking at them and provide you with a bow wave on which you can surf along at top speed! There is a good camping spot at Anita Bay with an ancient stone hut in the bush and bowenite ( equals tangiwai, equals greenstone, but this is not nephrite) can be gathered in the intertidal zone near Greenstone point. It is worth reading the history of this area before going there.

Milford Track This takes three days. In mid-winter the track is deserted but the Park Board huts are open. You will need an early start. There is a half-hour paddle to Sandfly Point then walk and carry your boat to Lake Ada ( three Kilometers). Paddle up Lake Ada and on up the Arthur River to Boatshed. Walk up the track to Dumpling Hut. Next day, start early and walk to Sutherland Falls, then up to the McKinnon Pass for the view and back to Dumpling. Take a torch in case you run late. Day three – back to Milford. Alternatively - leave your boat at Sandfly Point and walk all the way past some spectacular falls which you would miss if canoeing. Icicles along the track can be impressive.

Personal note A mid winter skinny dip in the plunge pool of the Sutherland Falls is quite an experience. The rewards justify the pain! Be prepared to defend your lunch / gear against the Keas at the Pass.

Te Anau

Worsley Arm ( Te Anau )

This is one of the longest trips – about seven hours paddling. The route takes you past Lee Island to the head of Lake Te Anau. Lee Island is interesting for its huge rock shelters used in the 1600s by a party of parrot hunters who left behind bundles of feathers, a totara-bark basket and some worked nephrite. Did the owner of this material drown when his canoe foundered in a storm on the lake? The Worsley Stream is tramping country and a climb up St Mary’s Falls and up Saint Creek or up Castle Range will probably show you some deer. The Worsley is also renown for trout fishing. In mid-winter the sun does not reach the valley floor and the place is like the inside of an ice box. Summer is better.

North Fiordland ( Te Anau )

A trip for fishermen! A short burst takes you to Welcome Point where the main lake is quite narrow. There is a very sheltered beach near Entrance Island, then a straight run up North Fiord to the Narrows. Three kilometres beyond this is the hut near the Glaisnock River which must be just the most beautiful trout stream. This bush overhung stream is deep and crystal clear and full of trout. At a waterfall up the track the trout can be seen waiting in the huge plunge pool for food to come down the river. The track continues up to a very serviceable rock bivvy and then over a low pass into the Edith R.

Personal note. One frosty mid-winter night we paddled out from the hut with thermoses of coffee to wait for the moon to rise over the snowy tops. It was so magical that we packed our gear at midnight and paddled gently down the Fiord listening to the moreporks and distant waterfalls, then slept on a beach near Entrance Island until there was a scream as someone’s sleeping bag – too close to the fire – went up in smoke.

Middle Fiord ( Te Anau )

Watch the weather before crossing the main lake as you will need at least one hour to get to the nearest point. The islands on the south side of the Fiord are good places for a lunch stop as they seem to be free of sandflies (? no running water for breeding). Near the islands is the Snag Burn ( Takahe country – keep out ) with a very good track up to a little olde worlde hut with deer running around it. Further up the Fiord there is a split into a North West arm and a South West arm.

North West Arm At the head of this arm a short portage ( fifteen minutes ) takes you to Lake Hankinson and at the head of Hankinson, paddle up the river to the hut. From the hut, a short walk upstream brings you to Lake Thompson and behind this is, a hut on the Wapiti R. George Sd is just one long days walk away – up the Ruggerd Burn on the boggiest track you will ever encounter, past Deadwood Lagoon and over Henry Pass from which you can see Lake Katherine in the valley below.
If leaving the canoes at Harrison hut, pull them well clear of the river which has a reputation for spectacular flooding. The river connecting Hankison with Ta Anau can be run with care.

South West Arm There is a good hut at the Junction Burn and a track leading upriver towards Dorizac Falls. The track becomes a bit fudged after a couple of hours walking and we have never quite reached the falls. The rocky point at the junction of NW and SW arms causes wave reflection in a nor wester and the lake simulates rodeo conditions.

South Fiord ( Te Anau )

This is a good introductory trip with interesting scenery, and no exposed unavoidable lake crossings. At the entrance to South Fiord a jetty in Muscle Cove gives access to a complex of walking tracks to East Cove, West Beach and a number of beautiful little lakes.

At the head of the fiord is my favourite waterfall on the George Burn, just five minutes from the lake. A bush track climbs up beside the fall for intimate viewing. It is worth paddling the fiord host to see this waterfall. There is no track but it is possible to tramp up the Gorge Burn and walk to Charles Sd. This is serious tramping however. The McKenzie Burn across the arm leads to Robin Saddle but the same comment applies. Don`t camp at the Gorge Burn, the sandflies will love it but you won`t. Go back a kilometre to the Delta Burn where there is a greater chance of survival. On the way back to the main lake, there is another small waterfall opposite Moa Point. Walk up the creek! Just to round out the South Fiordland trip, stop at Brod Bay and it is just two and a half hours walk to the hut on Mount Luxmore – start of the Kepler Track. The Kepler on a clear day gives good views of the South Fiord.

Manapouri

Manapouri is great value for canoeists and can be used for short or long trips. There are numerous islands, some of which form a convenient chain across the lake, several interesting arms, good mountain scenery, a complex of tramping tracks, lots of huts and boat traffic comparable with Milford. First a warning: the Fiordland boats generate huge waves that spread over the entire lake and any canoe left at the lake edge will either get swamped or washed out onto the lake when the wash hits the shore.

Just out from Pearl Harbour is Stoney Point – a good camping and boil-up spot. Further round past Bellevue and Mahara Islands is Hope Arm and if you stop at grid ref. 623004 you should locate track markers which will lead you to the top of the Monument. This walk is a must. Take your camera. Across the Arm at Stockyard Cove is a nature walk and this too is well worth a visit. Travelling close to the shore is always far more interesting on all lakes than being out in the middle of the lake – you will be constantly surprised by the sudden appearance of thundering waterfalls as you round small promontories. South Arm has road access from Borland so ignore that. Opposite North Arm are good beacher and L Lois and L Virginia which can be visited ( ? swim?). North Arm has a hut at the start of a tramping track up the Freeman Burn.

Persona note A small lake at grid ref 458195 attracted our attention so we went there for a swim ( we make a point of swimming every lake we can reach – been there swum that ! ). This particular one while only three kilometres off the track, took ten hours for the return trip and nearly cost us a night out on top of a rock face. Note the route carefully if you visit that lake!

West Arm is tourist country but the underground power station is interesting, and transporting canoes from here to Doubtful Sound is one way of getting to the coast. Shellow Bay has a neq hut and tracks lead from there up the Iris Burn and also to Balloon Loop on the Waiau River ( Kepler again ).

Lake Monowai

A sheltered lake suitable for an introductory trip. The shoreline is littered with dead trees – many still standing and it is possible to slalom through groves of bare trunks in some places. From a hut at Rodger Inlet tramping tracks lead to Green Lake or, in the opposite direction, straight up to the tops. Eel Creek has a pleasant hut and at the head of the lake is a large hut with track leading to Clarke Hut in the Grebe. ( Three hours each way.) Monowai is a short lake and can be explored in a long weekend.

Lake Haurok

Hauroko is the wildest, least known, least used of the lakes. It has a reputation for rough winds and rough water. Although our trips to the head of the lake have been trouble free, the surrounding hills often look dark and broody and mysterious. Mary Island on the border of the main lake is the site of the famous burial cave circa 1600. The female skeleton still leans against the supporting stakes but the concrete steps to help tourists view the cave have recently been removed.

At the southern end of the lake the Wairaurahre river leaves for the south coast about thirty kilometres away. The river is canoeable but the sea conditions to the road end in Te Waewae Bay are less predictable. It is possible to walk along the beach or the remains of the forestry tramway. North from Mary Island there is an entire bay full of driftwood and there have been many hazardous trips home with wood tied to the deck. There is a good hut across the lake and another at the head of the lake by the mouth of the Haroko Burn which is navigable to canoes for quite a distance with overhanging trees and in some places a brilliant iridescent green moss on the river banks. A track leaves form here for Lake Roe and Dusky Sound. It may be the remoteness of Hauroko but there is always a sense of adventure setting out on it. We keep going back.

Personal note There is at least one belligerent eel in the lake which attached the bare foot of someone bringing a canoe ashore at night – blood ! screams !

Rivers in the Milford Area by Rick McGregor

This publication was originally issued in 1988. Lakes and Rivers have a tendency to change. Use this resource as a guide only
Arthur River	Cleddau River
Tutoko River	Hollyford River
Grebe River	Eglinton River
Fiordland Lakes and Sounds

Arthur River

Access: From the Milford Sound fishing wharves, paddle across the bottom of the fiord to Sandfly Point at the end of the Milford Track, about a quarter of an hours paddle, and portage about three kilometres up a good tractor track to Lake Ada.
This river, from Lake Ada down to Milford Sound, has yet to be paddled in its entirety, but the bottom two rapids provide excellent grade 3 – 4 water at high flow, or, grade 2 - 3 at low flow.
There are two channels which leave the lake: the left-hand one has been paddled down to the end of the island where it meets the right-hand channel: at high flow this is grade 4 - 5.
The right hand channel out of the lake has been paddled at low flows, at least to the bottom of the first rapid. The next section of rapids, where the river swings left, may have to be portaged ( easiest on the left ), as it drops around large boulders, until a final short sieve rapid leads down to join the left hand channel.

The middle section of the river, where it is near the track, consists of reasonably straightforward graveyard type rapids. Where the river again swings right to leave the track, there is a long pool. The right hand, or straight ahead, branch of this has not been explored to date ( to my knowledge ): the map shows it as dividing around an island, before dropping back into the left-hand channel in the pool between the last two rapids. This rapid has not been paddled, and ends with a steep drop onto two large boulders.

Otherwise from the pool a short steep rapid ( portaged on the right ) leads down to the left into the pool at the top of the second - to - last rapid of the left-hand channel ( see above ).

Cleddau River

This river needs very high flow to be worth canoeing, but it can then be paddled from just below the Donne River confluence, at about grade 4, down to where it hits the road, and at grade 2 – 3 from there down. There is a good rapid beside the Milford Hostel before the river reaches Milford Sound and the take-out at the fishing wharves. ( About 5-6 kilometres)

Tutoko River

The Tutoko River flows into the Cleddau, and can be paddled from the road bridge at high flow ( grade 3-3+). Take out at the Milford Hostel or the fishing wharves at Milford Sound. About 1 kilometre to the Cleddau, a further 2-3 kilometres to Milford Sound.

Hollyford River

There is a section of 1 ½ - 2 kilometres of sustained grade 3 – 4 ( easier at low flow ) down to the Gunn`s Camp / Hollyford Road turn off, where a steep drop should be inspected and probably portaged (on the right): this is on a left-hand bend followed immediately by a right-hand bend.

The next 1 ½ kilometres down to the Marian swing bridge are paddlable at grade 3 – 4.

The river continues at a gentle gradient for a kilometre or two past the Marian swing bridge, but then the river steepens, and the next about five kilometres are very steep (dropping at a rate of about one hundred feet per mile), probably grade 5 at low flow, more difficult at medium to high flows.

From Gunn`s Camp to just above the Moraine Creek rapid is a popular stretch of grade 2 – 3, the main hazard being fallen trees and logs in the river. This stretch is about seven to eight kilometres long if started from Gunn`s Camp. About three kilometres shorter from the airstrip. The first section is mainly easy shingle rapids, but the last couple of kilometres include more rocks , and may be grade 3 – 3+ at high flow. Take out Right at the bend where the river meets the road, about one kilometre above the Moraine Creek rapid.

Moraine Creek, or Dead Horse, rapid is about one kilometre long, continuous, and begins about two hundred metres above the Moraine Creek track swing bridge. Steep, tight and technical paddling ( grade 4 at low flows, harder at high flows ) leads down to shortly before the take out at Humbolt Creek.

It is possible to continue down the Hollyford to Martins Bay – there are reported to be further rapids below Hidden Falls Creek – but exit would have to be by air or along the coast to Milford Sound ( a two to three day trip )

Grebe River

This river flows into the South Arm of Lake Manapouri and is reached from Monowai over Borland Saddle via the transmission line road.

“ This road is closed to public traffic, but a vehicle concession is run by Borland Saddle Scenic Tours, Monowai, Otautau.

The final three to four kilometres of the river, from the bridge above the Percy Stream confluence down to Lake Manapouri, provides excellent continuous white water at medium to high flows ( grade 3 – 4 depending on the flow ). The most difficult water is downstream of the bridge. There is a Fiordland National Park shelter and toilets at the lake and campsites.

Eglinton River

This river, which runs alongside Highway 94 between Lake Te Anau and Cascade Creek on the Milford road starts from Lake Gunn and has been paddled from Cascade Creek. From where it emerges onto open flats near the Mistake Creek confluence, down past the Knobs Flat MOW camp to Walter Creek, the Eglinton is shallow with easy shingle rapids.

Back to River Contents

Otago Canoe and Kayak Club

A Guide to Some of the Rivers and Lakes of Fiordland
Les Coxhead and Rick McGregor ( 1988)

The Fiordland Lakes and Milford Sounds by Les Coxhead

This publication was originally issued in 1988. Lakes and Rivers have a tendency to change. Use this resource as a guide only

Te Anau

Worsley Arm ( Te Anau )

North Fiordland ( Te Anau )

Middle Fiord ( Te Anau )

South Fiord ( Te Anau )

Manapouri

Lake Monowai

Lake Haurok

Rivers in the Milford Area by Rick McGregor

This publication was originally issued in 1988. Lakes and Rivers have a tendency to change. Use this resource as a guide only

Arthur River

Cleddau River

Tutoko River

Hollyford River

Grebe River

Eglinton River

Otago Canoe and Kayak Club

A Guide to Some of the Rivers and Lakes of Fiordland Les Coxhead and Rick McGregor ( 1988)

The Fiordland Lakes and Milford Sounds by Les Coxhead

This publication was originally issued in 1988. Lakes and Rivers have a tendency to change. Use this resource as a guide only

Worsley Arm ( Te Anau )

North Fiordland ( Te Anau )

Middle Fiord ( Te Anau )

South Fiord ( Te Anau )

Rivers in the Milford Area by Rick McGregor

This publication was originally issued in 1988. Lakes and Rivers have a tendency to change. Use this resource as a guide only

A Guide to Some of the Rivers and Lakes of Fiordland
Les Coxhead and Rick McGregor ( 1988)