A Gravel Beach on the Eastern Shore
About halfway along Timaru Creek Road on the eastern shore of Lake Hāwea, a gravel beach reserve sits beside the water with no town, no café, and almost no signage to announce itself. What it does have is a stretch of grey-white gravel lake shore, public toilets, a big old sheltering willow, and a kind of remote charm. Go swimming on a calm Summer day, or hang out with a picnic.
The Setting
This reserve is one of the few easy access points to the lake along this stretch of road, where the hillside above is steep, and the scrub between the road and the water is otherwise dense. The gravel beach shelves gently into the lake, and the water is clear and cold. The willow tree, one of those big, weeping old specimens that are a feature of so many Central Otago waterways, leans out over the shore, providing welcome shade. There is also one of the few toilets (a longdrop) along the road.
A Place to Stay a While
For travellers driving the length of Timaru Creek Road towards the Dingle Burn car park, this is a natural stopping point. The lake water is clean and, while it is cold even in Summer, swimmers will find it refreshing. The view north from the beach shows the lake stretching away towards its head, with the Young Range on the far horizon and the long ridgeline of mountains between Lake Wānaka and Lake Hāwea to the west. There are no facilities beyond the toilets, and maybe an old couch under the willow!
How to Get There
From Lake Hāwea township, follow Cemetery Road east, then turn left onto Gladstone Road, which becomes Timaru Creek Road as it heads north along the lake edge. The beach reserve is on the lake side of the road, roughly halfway between John Creek and Timaru Creek Reserve. The road is gravel but generally manageable in a standard two-wheel-drive vehicle.
Other places to explore around and near the lake include the Lake Hāwea Track, Hāwea River Track, Breast Hill Track, Grandview Mountain Track, the Hāwea Dam, the Isthmus Peak Track, Kidds Bush and the Sawyer Burn Track.
