We try to avoid superlatives like “must-do”, “best walk”, “top 5”, etc, but the dully named Big Totara Walk is a truly exceptional short walk. It is easy to add it to a visit to Lake Hauroko, Fiordland, as the access is along Lillburn Monowai Road, off Lillburn Valley Road, about 6 km from the intersection with the Southern Scenic Route. The only downside is the distance – 17 km to the start of the track, albeit the metal section of the road is mostly flat and straight.
As you approach the walk, the farmland disappears, and you enter into a section of beech forest that overarches the narrow road, creating a magical and surreal effect. From the car park, it is a short walk to the track, which forms a double loop around a section of swampy rainforest with boardwalks and several enormous 1,000-year-old totara trees. These trees, which grow to 30 metres and have reddish wood, used to be common in Southland; this is a small surviving pocket that was never logged. Even without trees, walking through the swamp and rainforest is superb, and the few minutes it takes will easily stretch out.
