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Published: March 22nd 2022
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We have a reasonable distance ahead of us today as we move camp over the Takaka Hill and into Golden Bay ready for a trip out to Farewell Spit tomorrow.
But first we need to travel via Richmond on the outskirts of Nelson where we are meeting up with Gretchen’s brother Chris and his wife Marilyn (hereafter in this blog to be known as C&M to shorten the typing process when their names come up)
C&M have a new home in Richmond having moved there about a year ago from Alexandra for a warmer climate.
Our Corolla didn’t have the new street that C&M are now living in and nor did it have ones that might have given us clear direction to Countdown supermarket in Richmond resulting us in over shooting the shopping centre and were unable to get off the bypass for a further 5km when we were nearly in Nelson City!
With the situation sorted out and shopping done we eventually managed to find where C&M lived and had a welcome reviver of coffee before we headed off in convoy towards the Takaka Hill enjoying lunch at the Mapua wharf café.
The Takaka Hill
road has a bit of a reputation as it is windy and relatively steep and over the years including recent months is often closed when bad weather damages the road closing it for days on end until repairs are done.
The hill road is the only road access between the Nelson area and Golden Bay and therefore is a vital link to the people who live in the Bay especially.
Despite the windy nature of the road the Corolla with Gretchen behind the wheel made the trip with ease and we were soon down and into the Golden Bay motoring on towards the largest town in the Bay, Takaka.
Takaka in one of those towns that probably hasn’t changed in years with mainly stores that date back many years looking the same as they ever have.
The elongated valley from the bottom of the hill down to the township is 23km with the valley supporting mainly dairy farms.
Heading out of Takaka we kept going generally west to Collingwood and then a further short distance to where our accommodation was in a small settlement of a mix of permanent and holiday houses on a piece
of land that jutted out into an estuary.
We settled in and rested up until it was time for dinner which we decided would be at Tinkers Tavern in Collingwood.
Seafood basket (no blue cod though) and seafood chowder filled the gap with a bunch of noisy kids in the next door booth while their parents sat further away for peace and quiet.
Before heading back to our accommodation we checked out the small village which is one short street with a handful of shops and then another few streets with the local’s homes.
We will be back tomorrow for a stroll around the historic points in the village before the bus leaves for Farewell Spit at 2pm.
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