Lake Monowai walk

On today's visit-list was Lake Monowai and the  Rakatu Wetlands - double tick.  Both are in the Fiordland National Park......in fact, most of everything to the east of the road between Tutapere and Te Anau is in the National Park.  Driving that road today I got a constant hint at what lies beyond........round many a bend, a beautiful rural scene with a mountainous backdrop emerged.  The drive in to Lake Monowai was on gravel and had I gone a bit further along the road I would have come to Borland Lodge.  I have no idea what the lodge is (could be a school camp retreat?) but the name made me curious.  Many years ago we lived in Scotland, in a cottage on an estate outside a village near a town in Dumfriesshire.  The town was Lockerbie and the village was Borland.  My sister began her schooling at Borland School although it was decided that, as the family were moving soon to England, it would be too disruptive for me to start at Borland then have to change schools just a few months later.  Anyway, I digress.......I have very fond memories of our time in Scotland and the name 'Borland' sent my mind back to those days.  T will remember the feather house.......the bran tubs......Bobby & Juney, the ponies we rode......the fox cubs we bumped into.....  Needless to say, this area was nothing like the Borland area I was recalling but I did wonder whether there was a link somewhere in the dim and distant past to a Scotsman who had once called our Borland home? 

The walk I did was a very easy one along a slice of land separating two arms of the lake.  Beautiful beech forest but, not for the first time this holiday, I was struck by how few birds there seemed to be.   I heard zero tuis, zero bellbirds, 1 fantail and a couple of warblers.........very odd.

After Lake Monowai I continued towards Manapouri and stopped in at the Rakatu Wetlands (extra).  I didn't really know what to expect but it turned out the best experience was a short uphill walk to a viewing area overlooking a vast expanse of wetland.  From up above I counted more varieties of birds on the water than I had seen or heard in the forest!  

Finished the day at Possum Lodge, a campground I stayed at 2 years ago when I was last down here.  Very cute and a bit quirky but today I noticed a tiredness in the proprieters demeanour that wasn't there last time.  I'm sure it will be covid fatigue - these small places really are doing it tough.

Speaking of COVID, there were 23,894 new cases reported today; 757 are in hospital and 16 are in ICU.  72.5% of those eligible are boosted.