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Published: January 1st 2014
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Wednesday 25th December, 2013. Christmas Day in Golden Bay, South Island, New Zealand
We loaded the car and set off for the drive to Golden Bay. This bay is located north of the Abel Tasman National Park and its name reflects the riches of the area. Plentiful seafood and forest resources for the first Maori inhabitants, then later the coal, timber, gold and minerals sought by the European settlers. Now it is a mix of farming and alternate lifestyles. To get to the main town, Takaka, we had to drive on highway 60 over Takaka Hill which is a very long wiggly climb in both directions.
We arrived at the YH in Takaka where we would be spending Christmas Day. This is the main town in Golden Bay. The YH is a very tranquil place with a lovely garden. The weather was also very good. We put our perishables in the fridge and dumped our stuff in our room before setting off in the car. Our first target was Wharariki Beach which was another on M's bucket list. On the way we stoped at Pakawau Beach and took some photos of M on the beach in her Santa hat.
Then we turned off left and headed for our destination. When we arrived at the car park M changed into something more practical for walking. We followed the path from the carpark to the beach. It was extremely windy and the Santa hat had to be removed sporadically to prevent it blowing off. We arrived at the sand duned beach after passing a really lovely river, plenty of sheep and some wind flattened trees. Off the coast were 3 large rocky outcrops called the Archway Islands. It was quite hard work walking up and down the dunes.
We made our way back to the car and headed for Farewell Spit. It forms the northern end of Golden Bay. It is the longest sand spit in New Zealand, stretching for about 26 km above sea level and another 6 km underwater. The spit runs in from west to east, and is made from fine golden sand. Farewell Spit is a nature reserve and bird sanctuary of international importance. Public access is restricted to the first 4 km only. It is more strictly protected than the national parks! "Oneetahua" is the Maori name for the spit. It means "The Sands
of Tahua" whose wife was abducted by one of the gods. This spit was one of the landfalls in Tahua's pursuit of his stolen wife. It is a great site for
Pounamu (greenstone) which the Maori people love. What really surprised us about this place was that the cafe was open and busy on Christmas Day! We took some photos of the spit from the terrace outside and then walked down into the garden where there is a skeleton of a small whale.
We left the spit and stopped at a pretty place called Whanganui Inlet in the Westhaven Reserve where we set up our picnic table and chairs and had a pleasant Christmas lunch of ham rolls and a beer. We called in to the seaside town of Collingwood just because we could. It was very quiet - in all probability everyone was enjoying their Christmas lunch!
We still had plenty of time so we decided that we would visit the northern end of the Abel Tasman National Park. The park was opened in 1942, 300 years after its namesake first sighted NZ. It is NZ's smallest National park, a coastal paradise with golden beaches and tranquil
lagoons, clear water and forested hills. The park is home to harakeke (native flax), Nikau Palm Trees and birds such as Kereru (NZ Wood Pigeon), Bell Birds, Tui and Pukeko. We drove back to Takaka and on to Pohara where we took a look at the beach. There was a lovely sign reminding us to look out for the penguins.
We continued the drive into the park and came to the Abel Tasman monument. This is a white obelisk structure on Abel Point accessed by a 5 minute walk up a track. Along with the monument there is a viewing platform. Abel Janszoon Tasman was the Dutch navigator (born 1603) whose expedition made the first European sighting of New Zealand in 1642. The monument was built in 1942 to commemorate the centenary of Tasman's visit. The memorial was 'reopened' in 1992 by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.
Tasman’s log records that a little after night-fall on 18 December 1642 while his ships the Heemskerck and Zeehaen lay at anchor in the bay, four canoes manned by local Maori came to the ships. No real contact was made on this first visit and the canoes returned to the shore.
In the uneasy dawn the next day, eight well-manned canoes came out again. As tension mounted a small boat from the Zeehaen acting as a ferry between the two ships was rammed by the leading canoe.
A skirmish followed and four of Tasman’s men were killed. Anchors were quickly weighed and the Dutch ships swiftly did a runner. After this incident Tasman named the bay Murderer's Bay. They sailed off to Stephen's Island near the Marlborough Sounds and celebrated Christmas by slaughtering two pigs and issuing extra rations of wine.
We continued on to Tata Beach which was a lovely sandy beach with two small islands, the Tata Islands. off the coast. We drove along until the road turned to gravel at which point we turned around and returned to the YH where we had some bubbly (well it is Christmas). We enjoyed our Christmas dinner of smoked salmon followed by venison/filet steak washed down with a posh bottle of vino. Then we had chrismas pud with a nice little bottle of desert wine. Bliss.
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