St Arnaud

St Arnaud is the village at Nelson Lakes, and it surprises people by being alpine rather than coastal — 650 metres up at the northern end of Lake Rotoiti, about an hour and a half from Nelson or Blenheim on State Highway 63. Around 130 people live here.

Be clear about services before arriving. The village store trades seven days and sells fuel, groceries and tramping supplies, and the Department of Conservation's visitor centre on View Road handles hut bookings, track conditions, maps and beacon hire. But DOC states plainly that there is no ATM and no vehicle charging in St Arnaud, and no supermarket. Come with what you need.

The walks start at the lake edge. The Bellbird Walk is 15 minutes and built to wheelchair standard; the Honeydew Walk 45 minutes; the Loop Track an hour and a half. Mount Robert's circuit and the full Lake Rotoiti circuit are advanced days out, the latter seven to ten hours. The forest around Kerr Bay is part of a restoration project running since 1997, and great spotted kiwi have been returned to it, though the population is still establishing.

Winter here is genuine but not simple. The village itself rarely gets snow. Rainbow Ski Area, up the road, did not open at all in 2025 for lack of it, and now runs a community-led model operating mainly at weekends, with no scheduled schools programme — check its status before planning around it. Dogs are not permitted in the national park.