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Thread: Lake Okareka good for swimming?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Warkworth , NZ
    Posts
    1,404

    Default Lake Okareka good for swimming?

    Looking at going to Lake Okareka in Dec; does 'pristine' mean the lake is clear water and good for swimming. Can't actually find anywhere that says yes it is good for swimming!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    UK to Roto-Vegas
    Posts
    279

    Default

    Now I have never actually been swimming in Lake Okareka but it is just down the road from me.

    It's not the most popular lake for swimming in - most people go to Tikitapu (Blue Lake) for some reason. You can swim from end to end in a straight line so makes for a good training lake if you're into insane swimming distances (and yes, I include myself in that group).

    I have friends who went to Okareka instead of Tikitapu over the holiday period as they were more likely to find a car parking spot but they said there was a bit of a current going on.

    I have another friend who lives out that way and has a problem with the swans, or maybe they have a problem with her?

    It is a pristine lake, but you have to make sure you swim in the recreational part of the lake so look for the signs that say boats or skiing.

    The lakes I would personally avoid swimming in are Green Lake (because it's a Maori thing and no one is allowed onto the lake unless they have customary rights or something), Lake Rotoehu (it has the largest algae count I think of all Rotorua's lakes and was given a health warning over the summer) and Lake Rotorua (just doesn't appeal to me for some reason, maybe because of the algae/sulphur at the city end? The Hamurana end looks ok but apparently it's not very deep and you could practically walk to Mokoia Island).
    Lake Rotoma has hosted an open water swimming comp, Lake Rotoiti looks nice enough (seen a few people swimming there over summer) and Tarawera is allegedly a good spot though I've not made it over there yet.

    And in December it will still be a bit chilly, wetsuit required for long periods of swimming (by me anyway because I'm soft).

    I've not been much help have I? It is rather gorgeous out there though and practically no cellphone coverage.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Cambridge, Waikato
    Posts
    2,586

    Default

    It looks clean enough, but is not quite as appealing for swimming as Tarawera or Blue Lake, maybe because it is a waterfowl sanctuary, so loads of birds, plus their poo.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Chesterfield - Rotorua
    Posts
    51

    Default

    Think we'd recommend the Blue Lake although it gets a little crowded,and Lake Rotoma. Lake Tarawera is nice but seems to get deep real quick, bit scary if you're not too hota swimmer - that'll be me then.

    You could use Lake Okareka as a base as the other lakes are all pretty close. As Ally says it is damn pretty but there again so are the rest.

    December might be a bit chilly, we finally made it in on New Years Day last year and it was still bbbbbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2016
    Location
    United Kingdom
    Posts
    4

    Default

    (Yes, I know this is an ancient thread.)

    I would *so* like to swim in Lake Tarawera if I had the opportunity. Though, it's bigger than I thought. A circuit around the shore is too long for me. I remember it being deep and clear. I've never actually swum in Blue Lake, but have water-skiied there as a young teenager in the 1970s. We visited in 1999 again, and I didn't see swimming then. (I would have joined in if there was.)

    Why would December be chilly? Surely that's summer in NZ. Last time I visited NZ was mid-winter, and the west coast water temp was 17C. I wouldn't bother wearing a wetsuit for that.

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