Lake Hayes is a small

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

in the Wakatipu Basin in

Central Otago Central Otago is located in the inland part of the Otago region in the South Island of New Zealand. The motto for the area is "A World of Difference". The area is dominated by mountain ranges and the upper reaches of the Clutha River and tributa ...

, in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

. It is located close to the towns of

Arrowtown Arrowtown (Māori: ''Haehaenui'') is a historic gold mining town in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand. Arrowtown is located on the banks of the Arrow River approximately 7.5 km from State Highway 6. Arrowtown is locat ...

and Queenstown. The southern end of the lake is close to , while the western side is bordered by Slope Hill. The main area for access to the lake is the northern end which has a large grassed area for recreation activities. The Lake Hayes Showgrounds which have a pavilion and parking area has an annual show called ''The Lake Hayes A&P Show''. The nearby large residential sub-division of

Lake Hayes Estate Lake Hayes Estate (often shortened to LHE) is a town nearby to Queenstown in the South Island of New Zealand. It is named after and situated near Lake Hayes; however, the lake is not visible from most parts of the estate. The population of the ...

is just across the main highway and takes its name from Lake Hayes. A track called the ''Lake Hayes Circuit'' runs around the lake and forms part of

The Queenstown Trail The Queenstown Trail is a cycle and walking trail funded as one of the projects of the New Zealand Cycle Trail (NZCT) system in Otago, New Zealand. It links the towns of Queenstown, Arrowtown, the suburb of Jack's Point and the area of Gibbsto ...

and is popular for use by walkers, runners and cyclists. Lakes Hayes looking southwards

History

The local

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

(tribe) of Kai Tahu originally named the lake ''Te Whaka-ata'' or ''Te Whaka-ata a Haki-te-kura'' after an ancestress called Haki-te-kura whose image was said to be reflected in the lake. Settlers originally knew the lake as Hays Lake after D. Hay, an Australian who came to the district looking for sheep country in 1859. Its name gradually changed to Lake Hayes, as its discovery was credited erroneously to Captain "Bully" Hayes, an early local character of the district.

Fauna

Birdlife that can be seen on the lake include the introduced

mallard The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Arge ...

, feral goose, the native New Zealand scaup, Australasian crested grebe and the black shag. Exotic fish in the lake that can be taken recreationally include

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morph ...

and

perch Perch is a common name for fish of the genus ''Perca'', freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Percif ...

, while native fish include

upland bully The upland bully (''Gobiomorphus breviceps'') is a species of fish in the family Eleotridae endemic to freshwater habitats in New Zealand. Both sexes have distinctive orange-brown dots all over the head. Adults generally reach a length of . Des ...

, koaro and long-finned eel.

References

Lakes of Otago Queenstown-Lakes District {{Otago-geo-stub