Blue Lake in New Zealand’s Nelson Lakes National Park is internationally known to have the clearest freshwater in the world. It is most important to note that in 2014, New Zealand’s Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō Claims Settlement Act 2014 officially changed Blue Lake’s name to Rotomairewhenua to honor the Māori indigenous people who have inhabited the region since the early 1300s.
Nelson Lakes National Park, on the South Island of New Zealand, at the northern end of the Southern Alps, is a mesmerizing alpine region rich with forests, steep and rugged mountain peaks, and 16 stunning glacial lakes. According to official New Zealand figures, this park covers 393.8-square miles (102,000 hectares).
The village of St. Arnaud, 27 miles (42 kilometers) north of Rotomairewhenua on Rotoiti, serves as the gateway to the trails that lead to Rotomairewhenua. For all park information, please visit the Department of Conservation Rotoiti / Nelson Lakes Visitor Centre in St. Arnaud. It is a popular park, with many visitors. However, this region is extremely remote, and the more you know about the terrain, trail conditions, and weather, the better.
Is the Blue Lake in New Zealand the Clearest Lake in the World?
Yes, Rotomairewhenua (aka “Blue Lake”) is so clear that visibility is often 252.5 feet (80 meters). Rotomairewhenua is quite small but deep, at 252.5-feet (80 meters) deep, dream-realm clear, and shaped like a boomerang with two arms. Each arm is about 700-feet long (200 meters). Visitors must hike into Rotomairewhenua and/or take a water taxi part of the way.
What Is Special About Blue Lake, New Zealand?
The Māori do not perceive Rotomairewhenua as merely special. Rotomairewhenua is “tapu”, or sacred, to the Māori people and specifically to the Iwi group of the Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō people. The Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand, also known as Aotearoa. Māori voyageurs landed in New Zealand in several immigration waves of ocean treks via canoes between 1320 and 1350.
The Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō’s crafts, language, mythology, and performing arts evolved over time and distance from other eastern Polynesian cultures. Traditional Māori culture dictates that only those of a certain status or rank can sport tattoos. Their tattoos represent family heritage, social hierarchy, and identity and pop out of the flesh with intricacy.
There are several things visitors are forbidden to do at Rotomairewhenua because of the Māori’s spiritual beliefs. The Māori used Rotomairewhenua’s waters to cleanse the deceased bones of men and Rotopōhueroa’s (Lake Constance) waters for women’s bones. These rituals release their souls on their journeys to Hawaiki, or the afterlife. They buried their loved one’s bones in the Sabine Valley.
The prefix “roto” means “lake” in Māori. Rotomairewhenua means “lake of peaceful lands”. Rotopōhueroa means “lake of the long calabash”.* Underground springs from Rotopōhueroa feed Rotoairewhenua. The Maori call their tribal lands Tākaka. Rotopōhueroa is much larger than Rotomairewhenua and covers 132,448 acres (53,600 hectares).
Can You Swim in Blue Lake?
No, you cannot swim in Rotomairewhenua. Their Iwi name refers to their journey towards the setting sun. Certain members of the Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō are tasked specifically with protecting Rotomairewhenua and the other Nelson National Lake Park’s lakes. Swimming in Blue Lake’s sacred waters is prohibited.
In fact, nothing of man should touch any waters, gear or humans, in Nelson Lakes National Park. Visitors cannot touch, drink, or use the water in any way. The Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō call this park Rohe, or their tribal lands. In 2023, New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (DOC) Community Ranger, Sandra Wotherspoon, reported,
“We’re asking people to check, clean, and dry any clothing and gear that comes into contact with freshwater between every waterway and every water body every time in Nelson Lakes and in other areas to protect their water quality and aquatic life.”
How Do You Get to Blue Lake New Zealand?
Getting to Rotomairewhenua takes work. It is tucked up high in the mountains. It is easy to spend more than a few days of tramping to get to Blue Lake. Mesmerizing views await every turn of the tramper’s foot. New Zealand’s DOC provides huts scattered throughout the park with campsites. Huts provide bunks.
St. Arnaud, New Zealand, is about 26 miles (42 kilometers) north of Rotomairewhenua. At peak times, the Blue Lake Hut will host 50 trampers, as they call hikers in New Zealand. Ranger Wotherspoon also reported,
“The Blue Lake Hut wardens are talking with visitors about respecting the sacredness of Rotomairewhenua and Rotopōhueroa lakes by not touching the water or swimming in these lakes”. Native people serve as hut wardens. The Māori are known as fascinating storytellers and incorporate music and dance, with one special traditional dance called Kapa Haka.
Kapa means line and Haka means dance. This war dance is powerfully emotional and incorporates chanting, dance, and song plus emphasized pūkana, or facial expressions. Trampers to Rotomairewhenua may chance upon a Māori demonstration at the right time of the year.
Ways to Get to Blue Lake
Sabine Valley to Blue Lake Hut
- Total Nights in Huts: 1 Hut Night
- Total Days Hiking: 2 Days Hiking
- Day 1: 8.5 Hours
- Blue Lake Hut
- Day 2: 7.5-8.5 Hours
This is the quickest route to Rotomairewhenua on foot. The two days on this trail are long and exhausting. It is a challenging trail with loose rocks and gravel. The elevation is slight compared to other trails in the park and only gains 2,111 feet (645 meters).
Sabine Valley with a Blue Lake Day Trip
- Total Nights in Huts: 2 Hut Nights
- Total Days Hiking: 3 Days Hiking
- Day 1: 5 Hours
- West Sabine Hut
- Day 2: 3.5 Hours
- West Sabine Hut
- Day 3: 5 Hours
Yes, trampers will stay at the West Sabine Hut twice on this trail. They visit Rotomairewhenua on day two. It is a popular route, and visitors may pass large groups of other trampers. This trek is a tramp with a steep hike to Rotomairewhenua and challenging, but tramping times are much easier on the muscular wear and tear than on the Sabine Valley to Blue Lake Hut trail.
Traverse-Sabine Circuit with Blue Lake Side Trip
- Total Nights in Huts: 3 Hut Nights
- Total Days Hiking: 4 Days Hiking
- Day 1: 7.5 Hours
- Upper Traverse Hut
- Day 2: 6-9 Hours
- Blue Lake Hut
- Day 3: 3.5 Hours
- West Sabine Hut
- Day 4: 7.5-8.5 Hours
This is a route that offers many more breathtaking sightseeing options. Visitors can take water taxis or ferries on Rotoiti and Rotoroa respectively and save tramping time. Day two is the most strenuous over the Travers Pass to the West Sabine Hut. It is advised to get a good night’s sleep on this route. Its most challenging tramp is a steep decent, from the Upper Travers Hut to the West Sabine Hut.
St. Arnaud, New Zealand
St. Arnaud, with maybe 400 homes, but between 100 to 150 residents at any given time, offers a B&B. The Nelson Lakes National Park Visitors Center in St. Arnaud has all the information on how to navigate its trails and waterways. Visitors can save time and energy by taking a water taxi part of the way to Blue Lake. Kiwis love to vacation in Nelson Lakes National Park, and international visitors are frequent tourists.
Water taxis run via Rotoiti and Rotoroa. They are more expensive than other means of travel. A more budget-friendly option is to take a ferry. Also, visitors can employ a shuttle service, reserve other accommodations than huts to stay at overnight, and take guided tours.
* Calabash appears to be a Latin based French/Spanish translation form of calabeza, meaning a calabash gourd, which Lake Hub could not distinguish from a true Māori meaning. Some calabash gourds resemble the geographical shape of Rotopōhueroa.
