The CJ way Guide to Lake Rotoiti Jetty

​

​

 AT A GLANCE 

​

A short but picturesque wooden jetty on Lake Rotoiti, surrounded by lush Kiwi mountains

Located in Nelson Lakes National Park on Lake Rotoiti

No walk required - you can park right up on the waterfront

Easy access 

Free

Best time to visit: sunrise or sunset

Jandals/sandals are suitable

​

 WHERE IS THIS EXACTLY? 

​

• Coordinates: -41.806752, 172.843869.

• Park right next to the jetty.

• Lake Rotoiti actually has two jetty's (both quite close to each other) but we think this one is the most picturesque and quiet (the other jetty has cement on one side of it [making it less symmetrical], a boat is often anchored there, and as it is right opposite the DOC campground it is usually busier). 

​

 best time to visit? 

​

• Worth a visit at any time, but sunrise is usually best here as it is the quietest, the wind is usually at it's lowest and you can get some colour in the sky.

​

 cj travel tips 

​

• If you had the luxury of choosing when to visit, we would recommend coming as close to the summer solstice as possible. The jetty never lines up perfectly with sunrise or sunset but December 21/22 is when it's the closest! We like sunrise as when we visited at sunrise there was no-one else around. 

• We love getting Vinnie in our shots, and since you can easily get a vehicle down onto the waterfront here, you can get some awesome pictures of your home on wheels with the mountains acting as the backdrop. 

• There are quite a few eels underneath the jetty so be mindful when swimming!

• A little to the left of the jetty is an awesome old school pontoon. If you have a zoom lens, a great photo would be getting someone out on the pontoon with the mountains in the background. (The eels scared me - Char too much to do this haha). 

​

 cj photography tips 

​

• We wanted to capture the movement of the clouds so opted for a long exposure (above 1 minute). We needed our 10-stop ND filter in order to achieve this. Use the free NiSi app on your phone to determine equivalent shutter speed!

• We needed to take a second shot of us with a much longer shutter speed and then use photoshop to blend the two images together (as we couldn't stay perfectly still for over 2 minutes and were dancing/spinning around).

• You can shoot the jetty straight on for a nice and clean shot, but it also looks great from the side if the clouds are better one way.

​

 what we found useful to pack 

​

​In addition to the usuals (camera gear, suitable clothing, water and food, first aid, etc. we found the following items useful:

• Picnic gear – the lake is a beautiful spot to sit and relax at.

• Insect repellent (so many sandflies).