The Lakes of Craigieburn Road
Another pocket of lakes near Arthur’s Pass is located down Craigieburn Road, just up the road from Castle Hill (kind of). Whilst I continue my achilles/foot/ankle recovery (it’s complicated), I’m picking locations that are easy to get to and require very little hiking. This is not at all what I want to be doing with my photography life but it will suffice for now. Epic multi-day hikes into the wilderness, dodging swarms of wasps, avalanches and other people..that’s what I’m really looking forward to.
Anyway, the three roadside lakes are Lake Sarah, Lake Hawdon and Lake Marymere. I would recommend visiting Lake Hawdon and Marymere early morning as the lakes lose the sun too early in the evening for my liking. Lake Sarah isn’t as close to the hills so either early morning or late afternoon would be fine. It warrants a few trips out there and wouldn’t it look great with some snow! Winter is close now and there’s been a good dusting of snow this week (late April 2026). I could be due another trip.
