With temperatures dropping and a touch of snow on the mountains, the winter heliski season is just around the corner.
It is also the time of the annual salmon run. From the ocean to tiny Mellish Stream in the south east corner of Lake Heron, this annual event is one of life’s extraordinary cycles. Adult salmon that started life in this trickling high country stream, navigate a long journey back to this spot to spawn and die. In their persistence to complete this cycle, they leave the ocean to travel up the Rakaia River, into the Lake Stream and then across Lake Heron to Harrison’s Bight and finally Mellish Stream. Witnessing their last battle weary hours is a poignant sight.