Lake Brunner ( or ) is the largest lake in the West Coast Region of New Zealand, located southeast of Greymouth. The main settlement, Moana, is on its northern shore. It is an important settlement and waystation for local Māori. The first Europeans in the area were loggers, and sawmills were an important early industry. Being several kilometres inland from the coast road (), it is less frequently visited by tourists than many of the West Coast's scenic highlights, but it is becoming increasingly popular, in part due to its reputation for fishing. Geography Lake Brunner is the largest lake in the West Coast region, across with an area of 4061 ha, just over . The outlet of the lake is the Arnold River, a tributary of the Grey River / Māwheranui, next to the largest settlement of Moana, on the north shore of the lake. The largest rivers feeding into Lake Brunner are the Crooked River from the east, the Orangipuku River and Bruce Creek from the south at Swan Bay, and the Eastern Hohonu River from the west at Hohonu Spit. It is 31 km southwest of Greymouth, at an altitude of 76 m. Two small islands in Pah Bay near the mouth of the Crooked River are known as the Refuge Islands (Takataka and Takatakaiti). The lake is normally reached by heading south from State Highway 7 at Stillwater, or north from Jacksons on State Highway 73. A smaller road connects Kumara and Inchbonnie via the lake's southern shore. Most of the lake shore is only accessible by boat; the only settlements are Moana, Ruru, Te Kinga, and Mitchells. Bain Bay can be reached by a walking track from Mitchells, but a damaged bridge was removed in January 2021 and the track is currently closed. Lake Brunner was created in the last ice age by a spur of the Taramakau Glacier, which split from the main glacier and flowed north either side of Mount Te Kinga, between it and the Hohonu Range. Both these prominent mountains are made of erosion-resistant granite and granodiorite, cooled magma 100–145 million years old. When the glacier receded about 11,000 years ago, it left behind moraines which impeded the flow of rivers to the sea and filled the gouged-out glacial valley; the large blocks of rock it dropped, known as glacial erratics, can still be found in the surrounding bush. At this