The name of this track is all too apt; starting at Kerr Bay in St Arnaud, the trail circles the entire lake, a depression hollowed out by Travers Glacier and fed by the Travers River.

The circuit can be hiked in either direction and will take between 5-7 hours (crossing the Travers River between Lakehead Hut and Coldwater Hut) and 7-10 hours (going via a swing bridge north of Lakehead Hut, adding approx. 3 hours to the walk) to complete. We opted for the shorter route that crosses the river and hiked clockwise, saving one of the circuit’s highlights, Whisky Falls, a vertical waterfall on the western lakeshore, for last.

We had just finished the 4-day Travers-Sabine Circuit, passing via Blue Lake and over Travers Saddle at 1787 m with stunning views into the Travers and Sabine valleys, when we embarked on the circuit around Lake Rotoiti, and I thought that maybe the tranquil lakeside scenery might be no match for the stunning backcountry wilderness of the previous days.

That worry, however, was completely unfounded I quickly came to realize, even on a rainy day when clouds chasing across the sky threatened rain at any moment as we set out on Lakehead Track, hugging the eastern lakeside. And sure enough, after a few minutes, the sky and lake dimmed into sickly, uniform greyness and heavy rain pelted down on the thick tree canopy that reluctantly admitted some of that rain to soak the moss cushions on the valley floor.

A robin, a sparrow-sized grey bird endemic to New Zealand, playfully hopped along the path in front of us, dodging the thick drops that slowly rolled off the fern leaves. It stayed with us for a while as the path gently meandered through beech forest and bush, closely skirting the lakeshore, and frequently dipped down to small bays and pebbled beaches framed by beautiful rata flowers splashing scarlet in the green shadows.

Luckily, the clouds reluctantly relinquished their grip before the rain muddied the ground too much and when the trail escaped the bush and Lakehead Hut came into view, the sun had won the upper hand.

We followed the markers along the direct river crossing route to Coldwater Hut, traversing a plain of gleaming wet tussock that spread far back up the valley to where the mountains met in a V-shape. That plain is the natural bed of the Travers River but it is mostly dry and in mid-January, with no significant rainfall the previous week, the river was only ankle deep and slow-moving and remained hidden from view in the tall grass until we were just about to cross it.

We passed Coldwater Hut and continued north on Lakeside Track that runs along the western lakeshore with the warm air suddenly imbued with the sweet, syrupy scent of flowering manuka and kanuka that grow on the lower slopes of Mt Robert.

After 3km, a short detour leads to Whisky Falls – named after an illicit whisky still discovered here in the 1880s – where water plummets vertically down a thickly covered moss overhang for 40 meters before cascading into several rock pools. 

After the falls, the trail then skirts the shore for another hour before turning away from the lake and climbing towards Mt Robert Road. The gravel on-road section is short and sees very little traffic and we soon crossed the Buller River outflow before we arrived at West Bay jetty and followed the track curving east around the bay back towards St Arnaud.