Three-day hike part of challenge to swim all of South Island's 344 lakes

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from Otago News

From reporter Debbie Jamieson:

Liana Smith hiked for three days to plunge into Otago’s remote Lake Unknown and do her part in a challenge to swim all 344 lakes in the South Island.

Smith is a hiking guide and accomplished swimmer who completed the “triple crown” of New Zealand swims last year – swimming Lake Taupo (40.2km), Cook Strait (22km) and Foveaux Strait (28km).

She is also a member of the Queenstown-based Southern Lakes Swimming Club, which established the Lake Attack Aotearoa 2023 challenge, encouraging swimmers everywhere to help complete the goal of swimming all 344 South Island lakes before May.

“I love pushing myself, and I'm in constant pursuit to find my physical and mental limits in life,” Smith said.


The challenge gave her an excuse to take on the solo expedition to Lake Unknown, in Mt Aspiring National Park, which had been on her adventure list for a few years.

It is also the most remote and ambitious of the 50 swims logged so far on the Lake Attack website.


Others include a New Year's Day swim in chilly Lake Alta at the Remarkables ski area, undertaken by several members of the club including Paul Jaquin​ who swam in the 8C water without a wetsuit.

The challenge was open to everyone and people needed to swim for only 10 minutes to log the event.

The 344 South Island lakes were those identified on Topographic maps, but more were being added as people found them, Ashford-Tait said.

Swimmers were also encouraged to log useful information on water quality and biodiversity, which would be collated by club members.

The challenge opened on Christmas Day and there had already been participants from the south, Christchurch and Blenheim.

While the club would like to see every lake swum, the website does warn swimmers to be safe, not swim if the water quality is not suitable, and avoid spreading lake nasties such as didymo.

Queenstown teenager Jacob Marriott is leading the statistics on the group’s website so far with the most swims completed (23), the longest time swimming (370 minutes) and the furthest distance swum (11.3km).