Time: 1 hour and 20 minutes (includes twitching)
Distance: 2.9 km
Start: Car park near corner of Lower Lake Road and Timber Yard Road
End: Same place - it's there and back
Date: Friday 19th December 2025
December. Gosh. The year went by in a flash, and today is the last Friday Walkies of the year 2025. High time to head to a winery for a knees-up. But first, a shortish walk on the Waitatari/Harts Creek Track. Harts Creek is one of the numerous spring-fed tributaries that flow into Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere.
We parked in the rough and ready Harts Creek car park. The track starts through the gate with all the hazardous signage. Almost immediately there is a turn-off to a picnic area which we checked out. Back on the main track, we were following the clear, slow-moving creek most of the way. We came upon two white swans and their six signets. Beautiful but also scary. Probably invasive as well. When we stopped for photos, the parents open and closed their beaks - I guess they were hissing at us, but you couldn't hear them over the sound of the running water. My mum always said they can break your arm.
After about 20 minutes, we came to another picnic table. Here the track turns onto a rickety boardwalk which took us through the reeds and across the swamp. Last time I was here with my hoa rangatira we got wet feet because it was mostly submerged. Today however, it was high and dry.
The boardwalk came to an abrupt end at a small platform overlooking a sea of reeds and Lake Ellesmere/Te Waihora. Apparently there used to be a birdhide here but it got too rickety. However, there is a plan underway to rebuild both the hide and the boardwalk.
Te Waihora (spreading waters) is New Zealand's fifth largest "lake". It's not exactly a lake - it gets regularly artifically opened to the sea for flood protection. So it's salty and shallow (on average 1.4 meters, max 2.7). In pre-European times it was a mahinga kai for local iwi Ngāi Tahu who called it Te Kete Ika o Rākaihautū (the fish basket of Rākaihautū). After the arrival of Europeans and subsequent procurement of the land (essentially theft), farming increased, and sadly, now the lake is one of the most polluted in New Zealand. Nitrogen, phosphorus, sediment and faecal microbes are the main culprits. Basically cowshit and fertiliser. The lake catchment is vast - 276,000 ha spanning Kā-Tiritiri-o-te-moana/Southern Alps, the Rakaia River, the Waimakariri River, Banks Peninsular and the plains in between. So Te Waihora is essentially the "the sink at the end of all drains" or "the bowl that catches everything".
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| Willow galls, containing the eggs of the sawfly |
In 1996, Te Waihora was returned to Ngāi Tahu as part of their Tiriti settlement. There are restoration moves afoot and according to Te Waihora Trust, the problems are fixable - but formidable and will take generations and input from many people. Waitatari/Harts Creek is part of this movement. In the 1990's a group of farmers formed the Harts Creek and Birdlings Brook Streamcare group. I found the information video heartening.
Back at the lake, we were all teetering about on the narrow boardwalk and tiny viewing platform. We took turns to look out across the lake with Kim's bins. On the opposite bank stood a cluster of Royal Spoonbills - my all time favourite bird. Also a shag, some black swans and heaps of ducks. A flock of pied stilts flew overhead, their legs looong and straight behind them. Te Waihora is still a significant wetland and, despite pollution, it is the "most diverse site in Aotearoa for bird watching". Birds we didn't see (but might have seen) that have cool names include the: marsh crake; bittern; red-necked stint; golden plover; wrybill, ruddy turnstone. Some are critically endangered.
It was time for the return, which always feels faster somehow. We did quicken our pace past the swans (at least I did). We were soon back at the car, suprised that the whole walk took a total of 1.5 hours because it felt like about 40 mins.
Five minutes drive down the road is Timber Yard Point, which has good views of the lake and where you can camp for free. The water was a bit chopped up by now. From here it was exactly eleven minutes to Leeston for coffee at Suburban Eatery. Next door there was the quirky second hand shop High Street Collectables run by twins. Nicole and I each bought a pair of tweezers (might be useful for crafts). I was also sorely tempted to buy a zither. But perhaps another day. Two doors down, Selwyn Law also incorporated a small second-hand shop at the front, where Linda procured the heaviest cake stand (steel and glass) you ever did see. Leeston is old town New Zealand, peppered with wonderfully quirky shops. We could easily have lingered longer, but we had other fish to fry.
