Pupu Springs,The Wainui Falls and the Abel Tasman Memorial.....or Bust

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We have a few local walks planned for the next 2 days so we were not in a hurry to rise and shine and in any case the weather was still grey and overcast and the forecast predicted rain at various stages during the day although this was also supposed to happen yesterday but never came to anything.

There was a scattering of showers now and then so we decided to give it until closer to midday before heading out in the hope that the moisture would at least dry up.

And as we hoped the drizzle did clear enough for us to head out late morning with 3 places in mind to visit in the local Takaka area.

Heading towards the township we took the turn off the highway and drove up to a car park where there was access to the world famous Pupu Springs or more correctly known as Te Waikoropupu Springs which is the largest freshwater spring in New Zealand, the largest coldwater spring in the Southern Hemisphere and reputedly has some of the clearest water ever measured although I am not sure if that is just in NZ or the World.

We had been here once before quite a number of years ago but couldn’t recall taking the forest walk that was there today.

Strolling along the well laid path it gave you a feeling for what would open up for us as we emerged from the bush.

Despite the overcast sky the large pool of water with a huge amount gushing up in front of us is impressive. We wonder what it might have changed to look like had there been bright sunshine on the water.

We also did wonder just what the raft of ducks that were in the middle of spring area might be doing to the purity of the water!

The drizzle came back as we departed the springs thinking about some lunch to give time for the weather to clear again.

We headed east towards Pohara, a seaside suburb of Takaka, and found a café on the main road for a coffee and a bite to eat before we took on the trek up a gorge to a waterfall that has been recommended to us for a visit.

The coastal area of Takaka has a couple of attractive places to own a seaside property and although there weren’t any ‘flashy, decadent Auckland style homes’ there were plenty of new or relatively new homes that had some flair to them and many built with the surrounding environment in mind.

The road sort of came to an end at the car park for the Wainui Falls walk. I say sort of because beyond the car park the tar seal ended and the road headed up a steep hill and disappeared into the forest. Apparently it did carry on a few more kilometres but we didn’t feel a need to find out what was at the end of the road.

There were a couple of other cars in the car park so we expected to meet some people on the trail.

It was an easy walk through dense bush with a river flowing over large boulders mostly well below the track. Just in a few places we were reminded of the notice at the start of the walk to be wary of drop off’s from the track down to the river and keep your kids under control, not that we had any kids with us!

As we got to a fixed bridge over the river we met a guy who appeared to be a paraplegic in a motorised wheelchair who had a carer with him. We now had a good idea whose transit van we saw parked just before the bush line probably belonged to. He had managed the trail until now but getting over the bridge looked to be too much of a challenge and as we pressed on we wondered how he would fare as the trail got a bit more difficult.

Then as there was a need to cross the river again there was swing bridge before us!

It was nowhere as lengthy as the one we encountered at the start of the Heaphy Track 18 months ago and in frightful windy weather had held our progress up for half an hour or so while we waited for the wind to abate and the bridge stop swinging more than a swing bridge should ever do!

We went individually and in no time were on the other side and our fears conquered!

There was one more obstacle in our path and that was an almighty landslip that had taken out the trail. To get to the other side one had to scramble down a bank and pick your way through temporary steps someone had cut into the sandy soil bought down in the slip.

That done the waterfall, the largest falls in Golden Bay and the most accessible, was the next thing you saw and its height and volume of water coming over made the walk all worthwhile.

We had walked mostly uphill to get to the falls so the return journey seemed very easy, even getting back over the landslip and the swing bridge.

We didn’t see the man in the wheelchair again so we assume the trail had become too difficult for him to negotiate.

Taking the road back towards Takaka we called in at the Abel Tasman memorial and reminded ourselves from the narrative on the display that Tasman had ‘discovered’ New Zealand well over 100 years before Capt James Cook but of course he never claimed it for the Netherlands and therefore we don’t have Dutch as our principal language today.

Tasman had sighted land on the northwest coast of the South Island first but made his first landing in the Golden Bay hence the memorial near Takaka. The rather gruesome place name of Murderers Bay is in the history of Tasman’s landing but I haven’t been able to find exactly where that was in Golden Bay. An incident with local Maori and Tasman’s crew resulted in 4 Dutch sailors losing their lives.

Having made the best we could of the overcast day and ticking a few more places from our ‘must do list’ we headed back for home for some relaxation before dinner out at a nearby country restaurant.

The Mussel Inn was a few kilometres back along the highway towards Collingwood. It is in what looks like a very old wooden building from the early days of the Golden Bay history but in fact was only built in 1992 and made to look like it had been around a longer time than that period. There is a brewery on site and we plan to pick up some of their beer at the local store for tasting when we get back to Tauranga with our good friends Ruth and Owen.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow for the cloud to break and we can get the sun in our photos and video of day two in and around Takaka.

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