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I was again lucky enough to have 10 days off, so we set out to visit the north-western part of the South Island, one of the last places we had yet to visit-because it is quite a long drive from Timaru, about 9 hours.
We reached the farthest section first, and stayed in a lovely hostel named “The Innlet” which is past Collingwood, a tiny town in western Golden Bay. It is quite a cute little place, more like an inn than a typical hostel. The property was lovely,wooded and quiet, set back from the main road. They have some old bathtubs set into the ground beside the river, called “Safari Tubs” and guests can use them at night lit by tea candles. Somehow there is hot water supplied to them. Very nice, soaking out under the bright stars. Very romantic, too, until another guest sauntered over to inquire if he might fill the neighboring tub if we were not using it. Sure,…..as I sank deeper into the water in the shadows!!!
Our big event in this area was a horse trek along “Old Man Range,” a mountain range which enabled us to see out over “Farewell
Wharariki beach again
amazing rock formations on the beach Spit”; a big sandbar jutting north into the Cook Strait which James Cook named when leaving NZ on one of his 5 trips here!! The views were magnificent from the height we climbed to on the backs of our horses, Mickey and Woody. My horse, Mickey, must have the middle name “Schlepper”, but that was fine by me; he knew the way without much input from me!! I was pretty happy that I didn’t have to climb by foot up this long trail, but by the end of our 3 hour trek my pubic bones had taken quite a beating!! Randy and I were the only guests on this ride along with our private guide, Mink.
In the morning, before the horse trek, we took a long walk out to Wharariki Beach on the West Coast where we saw unusual rock arches, caves, and huge sand dunes. The beaches there are quite different from the East Coast beaches; much wilder and less protected.
The following morning we drove around Whanganui inlet, a huge body of water that, at low tide, recedes almost completely and leaves only mudflats. The road has bridges over these mud flats and
Astride "Schlepper"
You can see Farewell Spit in the background continues a very long way. Beyond the inlet, the road continues, and the rock formations and views along the coastal road were beautiful and unusual, not to mention rarely populated.
Golden Bay itself is a long protected bay that does indeed have golden sands.(although it is named so not after the sand, but after the gold rush that occurred here in the late 1800’s) Its main town is Takaka, which can only be reached by driving over “Takaka Hill”; a 750 meter mountain (about 3 feet to the meter). The road is remarkably twisty and steep, and can be scary. A local resident told us that several times per year a tourist will make it over the hill to Golden Bay and then refuse to drive back; having to hire a local to drive their car out!!
We stayed in an interesting inn called “Sans Souci” in Pohara, just outside of Takaka. It was hand built of locally made adobe bricks by its Swiss owners, and has a quiet, restful, Mediterranean feel. It is quite eco friendly and the shared, pretty tiled bathroom has composting toilets that don’t smell!!
We took several drives and
walks in the Golden Bay area; one to the largest and clearest fresh water springs in the Southern Hemisphere (Te Waikoropupu Springs), and another to a waterfall named Wanui Falls. We also took a very unique walk in The Grove Scenic Reserve: it looks like a small forest arising suddenly out of a flat field. Limestone formations inside the forest made it look like the setting for a fairy tale; I expected a gnome to jump out from behind a gnarled tree any second!!
After crossing back over the “hill,” we stayed one night in Marahau, the border town at the entrance of the Abel Tasman Park, before setting out on our 2 day Abel Tasman Park expedition. We began by taking a water taxi to the northern beach near Tonga Island, and then kayaked with our group of 6 kayaks over to the island to see the seals up close, including some young ones (they are about 5 months old now). We then kayaked to a beach called Mosquito Beach, which was fortunately misnamed-no mosquitoes in sight!- and there was a lovely, warm, sunny sheltered area where we had lunch. When we returned to our kayaks for
our afternoon paddle, the wind had really whipped up the sea, and we truly had ocean like conditions for the second part of our trip. Waves were 4 feet high and several crashed over our kayak! Our guide, Mary, said it was the second roughest conditions she has ever kayaked. But since the skies were sunny we were not cold, and we made it all the way to the end point at Anchorage Bay.
We spent the night at a floating backpackers (on a converted catamaran) along with a group of women trampers who call themselves “The Ladies and the Tramp.” A few of our fellow kayakers were with us as well, including a very outgoing Frenchman named Max. The next morning we walked (tramped) 12 km along the Abel Tasman Coastal Track with Max back to our starting point in Marahau. It took us about 3 ½ hours to do that distance. The first part of the track was up a steep hill, but the rest was along a ridge and through beautiful forest with frequent glimpses of the turquoise sea below.
Upon returning to Marahau, we set off for Hopewell resort, about 2 hours
Cows!!
Replacing the usual sheep picture. All the cows were staring at us!! east in the Marlborough Sounds area. I had visited this hostel/resort in February with my parents, and it is one of my favorite places. It is quite remote,located in an arm of the Kenepuru Sound, and we took a water taxi there from Havelock. The owners, Lynley and Michael, are the loveliest, friendliest people, and Michael cooks wonderful dinners for the guests, since the resort is far from any stores. It turned out that there were only 5 guests staying at the resort for the 2 nights we spent there, so we enjoyed each other’s company at dinner both nights. Max joined us there as well as a young woman named Elyse, an American working in NZ as a kayak guide at Mt Cook Glacier, and her mom, Gretchen, who was visiting from Arkansas. Typically Americans are scarce at Hopewell, and we rarely meet American travelers in hostels, so this was unusual.
Michael cooked us fish, Thai curry, steak, chocolate mousse and rhubarb crumble with vanilla ice cream during our stay there. The second day, Randy gathered a whole bucket of mussels from the dock, which Michael prepared with cilantro and garlic. He serves 2 TONS of green
"pupu" springs
reportedly the clearest water in australasia lipped mussels, the local specialty, every season!!! No starving at Hopewell!!
We awoke on our full day at Hopewell to gorgeous bright blue skies and fairly warm temperatures (at least in the sun!). We kayaked on the Sound and it was as still as a lake; the water is amazingly clear and clean. We had a long soak in the hot spa overlooking the Sound, and also had a walk along the road near the property, and we mostly relaxed!!
On our last day we caught the water taxi back around 11 am and drove about 6 hours to Christchurch, where we spent our last night in Sumner, one of our favorite beach resort towns.
As we passed Kaikoura, we stopped to do a brief walk to a waterfall at Ohau Point, near a seal colony. We were amazed to see that the seal pups swim up the creek into fresh water to play amidst the rocks and pools in the stream below the waterfall!! These seals are not old enough to swim free in the ocean yet, so this is a Water Park for seal pups!!
Then, back to work for
a few days of reality check!!
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Deb
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Great Pix
Hi you two - it's been a while since I've commented on your blog. These pictures were gorgeous. We never got that far south. Did you already see Waitomo Caves? If you did, I missed that blog and will have to go back and check. Today's Derby Day so we're off to celebrate it with some horsey friends. Keep enjoying yourselves. Deb