Lake Dispute

Lake Dispute is a small lake in a hollow above the Glenorchy road, twenty-five minutes' walk from the car and out of sight of everything. Nobody comes here by accident, which is most of the appeal. Where the name came from is not recorded anywhere we can verify — there are stories, and we are not going to pick one.

Getting there

The Lake Dispute Walkway is signposted on the Glenorchy road 1.4 km past Wilson Bay. The small car park is on the left, and the track starts on the other side of the road. The Department of Conservation is blunt about this stretch in summer: parking is very busy, and extreme caution is required getting in and out. Go outside the middle of the day if you can.

The walks

• Lake Dispute Walkway — 5.6 km return, about 1 hour 30 minutes, easy to intermediate. Around 25 minutes of that gets you to the water.
• Lake Dispute to Moke Lake — 5.8 km one way, 2 to 3 hours, intermediate tramping over the saddle.

Both cross private land, so stay on the track. Riders should know the first climb up from the Glenorchy road is graded advanced, easing to intermediate past the lake, and that biking is not allowed on the connector to the Mt Crichton Loop. The Mt Crichton track carries on above the lake with views back over Lake Wakatipu.

Fishing and swimming

Brown and rainbow trout averaging two to three pounds, no mechanically propelled boats, 1 November to 31 May. There is no camping at the lake — the nearest sites are Moke Lake, which must be booked, and Twelve Mile Delta, which does not.

Lake Dispute is not a monitored swim site and there is no water quality data for it. People swim; nobody is testing.

Nearby

Twelve Mile Delta, further along the same road, is where the Ithilien camp scenes in The Lord of the Rings were filmed. Bobs Cove is a shorter walk on the same stretch.