Lake Hauroko is located in a mountain valley in Fiordland National Park in the South Island of New Zealand

The long S-shaped lake is 30  kilometres in length and covers an area of 63 km². The lake is 462 metres  (1,516 ft) deep and is New Zealand’s deepest lake. One of the country’s southernmost lakes, it is 35 kilometres northwest of Tuatapere.

The name Hauroko is of Māori origin and translates into English as “sounding wind”,

We  had  wanted to  visit Lake Hauroko  for  a while but  we always had the dogs with us  and  dogs aren’t allowed  in any National park.  As Lake Hauroko is in the Fiordland   National Park the only way was to smuggle them in. They had a good  run  and a  swim at Clifden so they  would be ok for a couple of hours  in the  boot of the  truck  and of course we  had no intention of letting them out.  We left the boot open so they had plenty of fresh air and headed off to explore the area,  that was fine until we walked out on the jetty and  Billy must have lost sight of us.  e then started to bark!! He has quite a deep loud bark which echoed around the whole area.   We closed the boot, took some more photos and left. As we drove out of the park we passed a DOC (Department of Conservation) ranger heading into the park and wondered if someone had rung DOC to tell them about the dog. He probably spent  hours looking for that dog,,,,,oops!!!!

We couldn’t have picked a better day to visit the lake, warm and no wind, The water is very clear and the mountains spectacular, it’s a beautiful, peaceful and quiet spot – most of the time!!

The culprit on the left – silly Billy!!!

Jet boats rides are available across the lake and down the Wairaurahiri River – 27 Kms of Grade 3 rock strewn whitewater rapids to the wild south coast and return. Also  transport for trampers to and from the South Coast Track, Hump Ridge Track, Waitutu Lodge, Wairaurahiri Hut. We will definitely look into one of these jet boat trips next time we are in the area.

To get to Lake Hauroko from Tuatapere, head north towards Clifden (12 km, 10 min), and turn west along the Lillburn Valley Road (about 36 km to the carpark, 20 km of which is unsealed road).