Red Tarns Walk

Red Tarns - 2 - 3 hours return

Start at the Public Shelter.

A very pleasant walk along a footpath beside a tinkling stream takes you to Black Birch Stream bridge. Once over that, you climb steeply up the side of Mt Sebastopol. Hundreds of steps lead to a small plateau where a plane table enables you to identify the peaks. The tarns, red because of the red water weed growing in them, are a few metres on. Reflections of mountains in the tarns are lovely in the late afternoon. The last time we did the walk we started early in the morning when mist still wreathed the mountains.

It was awe-inspiring to see snow-covered peaks suddenly loom out of the mist. Whatever the time of day, the views are magnificent, and as you descend you see the village clearly laid out below. Governors Bush - 1 hour return Start at the Public Shelter. This walk gives you an idea of the forest which used to cover the foothills; it’s hard to credit that sheep once grazed the slopes of Mt Sebastopol after early runholders burnt the forests.

Fortunately, an early Governor, Sir George Bowen, impressed by its great beauty, requested that this stand of bush be protected. The track climbs steadily through silver beech forest to a lookout. You descend through beech, totara and ribbonwood to Black Birch fan and from there you take the footpath alongside a lovely little stream back to the Shelter.

Image Credits: NomadicBuzz