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Nice little shops in Takaka Hello everyone!
I've just got back from my week working on a dairy farm in Whararoa and I am in Franz Joseph the glacier county and preparing to go off on a glacier hike tomorrow. The farm was excellent and was a real eye opener, I got lots of good photos to so it will hopefully be an interesting blog, but for now here is the blog for the two days I spent in the Golden Bay area before going to the farm.
After finished the Abel Tasman walk I decided to hire a car again and head up to the furthest nothern tip of the South Island to the Golden Bay area for a couple of days. The area had been highly recomended by other travellers as having a really laid back atmosphere and beautiful places to visit so I decided as I had time to go and see for myself. The evening before I set off a guy who was staying in the backpackers at Nelson was telling me about a local yoga studio that was doing "hot yoga' sessions for an introductory price of only $5, which is about two pounds - I was still freezing
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Ha ha my favourite kitchen Dangerous Kitchen cold from the coastal walk so it sounded like a really good idea, the guy lent me his yoga mat and gave me directions to the place. When I got there it turned out to be Bikram Yoga, it was an hour and a half session in a tiny studio packed full to the rafters and heated to fourty degrees. I did manage to survive it but I'm not quite sure how - out of politeness probably. It was like a form of punishment & I discovered that small spaces, non deodrant wearing hippies, hot rooms and deep breathing exercises are a terrible combination that I won't be trying again. I do love yoga but theres no need for that kind of heat - I could feel my hearbeat in my head and some of the people were taking it all just a little bit too seriously. As it was the night of the solstice they were all staying behind afterwards to do 108 ''oms'' to celebrate it and they asked me if I'd like to join them. I decided to give it a miss. They had already made me do one ''om'' at the beginning of the session and
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Pu Pu Springs I felt like a right idiot then & I doubted if I would be able to keep it together for 108 of them.
The next morning I headed up to a little village called Takaka, it is a hippy community & I expected a bit of something to be going on there with it being the solstice - maybe a bonfire or something but there was nothing going on. The hostel I stayed in there was called Annies Nirvana Lodge and it was the YHA run by an eccentric bloke called Alan, his very young Japanese wife and a really strange cat called Fluffy. They were a bit of a strange bunch but I liked them. Alan kept saying "hey up lass"in his best Northern accent everytime he saw me, which was nice. Takaka was beautiful, all rolling fields, little craft shops and cafes and a really relaxed and laid back atmosphere. There also looked to be some live music & poetry readings on at the weekend. I found a cafe called the "Dangerous Kitchen" that I liked, I only really liked it so much because of it's name though. I had some lunch and then headed off to
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The main pool at Pu Pu Springs the Pu Pu Springs, which is the largest freshwater creek in the world. The walk around is quite nice and the water is crystal clear even if it's name doesn't counjur up such a lovley, fresh image. There were signs all over saying you wern't allowed to touch the water as it made a fungus called ''rock snot'' from the bacteria on your skin.
After Pu Pu Springs I got back in the car and headed over to Pohara stopping at a hippy market on the way. For some reason they were doing this wierd campaign where you didn't spend dollars but "hands" I didn't know what they were on about and I didn't want to ask. It was very strange because it was all priced in ''hands''. I just had a quick wander round and then left. There wasn't anything I needed at the moment anyway as it was all chai and pot plants. Pohara was stunning, it was my favourite place in Golden Bay and there were huge rock formations everywhere. I went for a walk at the Grove Scenic reserve and then to the falls which is actually part of the Abel Tasman track. The falls
walk was an interesting track and it included a one person, really wobbly suspension bridge and a dead cat. I only saw one other person the whole time I was on the falls track and he was from Blackburn! I also went to look at the Abel Tasman memorial and found a ''no farting'' sign on the DOC information board for the track! The funniest part of all was that it was in a part of town called "Puponga" which seemed quite apt.
The next day I set off up to Farewell spit the biggest & longest sand spit in the world. I started the day off with a walk along a beach and round a farm and then went and had a hot chocolate and a scone in a cafe to pass a bit of time until the tide went out far enough to go and see Whareiki Beach - where everyone said you had to go. There is a seal colony down there on the rocks and it is very scenic and full of huge sand dunes. I didn't see any seals though and I got lost and managed to find another bloody dead cat! I'm sure
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The clearest freshwater springs in New Zealand they are bumping them off around there or something it's a bit too convenient to find two in two days. A couple of Japanese girls from the hostel were up there with an Australian guy that had a car and when they asked me how I'd got there and I told them I had a car I couldn't get rid of them! One of them managed to freeload a lift back to Nelson off me the next day. I drove her all the way back and her English was terrible so the conversation was like pulling teeth and then she didn't even offer me any petrol money! She wanted to add me on Facebook so that she could ''find me when she came to England'' but I don't think I will be taking her up on that one. I really liked Golden Bay and had a nice time up there, I've got to say though I did seem to spent a lot of time giggling to myself at all the place names, being as mature as I am about that kind of thing anyway. I can't believe that someone would call a place "Puponga'' and then just expect people to
talk to each other about it with straight faces, its just not going to happen is it?! Everytime anyone spoke about it everyone started smirking.
Anyway that's all for now & there won't be many blogs after here as I am home in three weeks time. Be warned there will be random, quick fire questions for all of you to make sure you have been reading them so brush up! Ha ha.
Take care, lots of love to everyone
Rach
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Mum
non-member comment
Golden Bay sounds nice.
Good description here Rach, feel like I was alongside of you. The photo's do have a look of home except for the beach ones - they look lovely. Glad you have had a good time on the farm. Your journey is drawing to a close but I feel sure when you have been home a while you will be making more plans to travel. This is just the beginning.................Mum.