Lake Ellesmere/Waihora at Lower Selwyn Huts.

Lower Selwyn Huts sit on the western edge of the lake, bordered by the Waikirikiri River on one side and farmland surrounding the rest of it. It’s a small settlement dating back to 1880’s and has been a popular fishing spot for years. It’s remote, people come here to get away. Recent floods and lake level rises have made it’s long term future wobbly.

Walking out past the huts along the anglers path to the lake edge, though regenerated native bush with tall flaxes was unnerving, I couldn’t see the lake, just hear the birds and the wind. The path ends abruptly at a torrent of a murky water. The lake is polluted, chemicals used by the farming industry leech off the land and drain into the lake. Evident in the pools of shimmering stagnant water near the lake edge that I discovered. They look like satellite images of our earth, predicted weather patterns perhaps.