I’m no scientist, but turns out, after heavy rains, rock and sediment from upstream river-banks will wash down and dirty any (rumoured) clear-blue watering-holes.

Leaving Cameron Flat campsite (after a near sandfly-enduced panic attack), we drove 2mins along Haast-Pass and parked the van at the Blue Pools Walk carpark.

In the early hours of that morning, I woke several times to howling winds, flashes of lightning, and the thud of rain drops – which sounded a lot like the noise rocks would make if they were tumbling from the hills around us.

After all that moisture from the long-white clouds above, would we be rewarded with crystal clear blue pools on the first day of 2017?

No. The Makaora River suffered a serious case of gangrene thanks to the rain. Instead, we found a murky green river flowing beneath the suspension bridges, and mossy walking platforms.

On the upside, we found hundreds of rock piles beside the not-so-blue river.

Using my imagination, I could only assume these would normally be the shit-yeah inducing Blue Pools Walk we’d both read about.

For your own good, maybe don’t go out of your way to do the Blue Pools walk if it’s been raining the night before. You could always pop into the Makaora Tourist Information Centre, 8kms away, and ask the friendly folk at the desk if you really CBF doing the 25min walk in the rain.

On the other hand, we still enjoyed a stroll beneath the mossy trees. And you should too.