To Farewell Spit and Back in an Afternoon

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Waking amidst all these trees it was hard to tell what the weather overhead was like and we wanted at the least a dry afternoon for our 6 hour return journey out to the lighthouse on Farewell Spit and back.

The times of departure from Collingwood depends upon the tide on the ocean side of the Spit.

As the only way the public can travel the greater length of the Spit is by bus we had to book our afternoon trip a couple of months ago as numbers are restricted. The public can walk the first 4 kilometres from the car park and then come up against a sign telling them this is the limit.

The weather is continuing to play ball and although the sky is overcast, there is little wind and more importantly, no rain. The weather forecast over the past few days, which we had followed with our fingers crossed, had been for rain today but this looks like that will hold off.

We all took a short stroll along the road where our accommodation was located and down to the beach where there was a stiff easterly blowing that wasn’t apparent amongst the trees down the road.

A huge change in the tide had taken place as the morning had passed by with the sea now almost lapping at the sand dunes at the beach whereas last night it was hundreds of metres, possibly a few kilometres out in the bay.

None of us realised what we were walking towards as we strolled slowly onto what was left of the beach.

Then all of a sudden I realised that the ‘large log’ lying prone just above the water line, wasn’t in fact a log but a good size seal.

Thankfully we hadn’t startled him but all the same we backed off from carrying on down to the water line, and gave him some space.

He raised his head a couple of times and eyed us and then rolled into the surf as a larger wave came ashore. We watched him rolling around in the waves and swell and then he was gone.

Whether we had disturbed what he intended to do for the rest of the day out of the water or whether it was time go head and catch some food we will never know.

Down at the end of the point where the estuary started the tide was now fully in and the acres and acres of sand that was the beach last night was now fully covered by the sea as was the estuary all the way over to the road to Collingwood where a couple of boys last night had larked around throwing muddy sand at each other while only a narrow sliver of water was in the channel.

We wouldn’t be home from the trip out to the Spit until at least 8pm tonight so we thought it best to have a satisfying lunch before we had to check in for the bus at Collingwood. So we chose the old courthouse, now a café and diner, to pass the time with something to eat and a coffee.

There were around 18 people gathered at the bus depot to take the trip out to the Spit and after we were all checked for masks and vaccination passes we were allocated seating on the ex-Japanese imported bus with a tall suspension capable of travelling on the unsealed road and beach ahead.

We could tell our driver had been driving to and from the Spit for many years as he told stories about places we passed by heading out to the first stop at Cape Farewell, so named by Captain Cook in 1770 as his crew sighted land in New Zealand for the last time on their first voyage to New Zealand. The cape had been charted by Abel Tasman in 1642 well over 100 years before Cook’s first voyage of discovery.

The cape is the most northerly point on the South Island and features an arch looking not unlike an elephant’s trunk there the sea had carved out an opening.

The viewing point gives you a great elevated view of the cape with the seas crashing into the rock today being as rough as our driver said they get.

A small area of the cape had a predator fence erected a couple of years ago to protect seabirds, rare native plants and geckos and it was interesting to speculate how they managed to construct the fence over the cliff face by 3 or 4 metres.

As we drove onto the beach on the inner side of Farewell Spit our driver pointed out the last of a pod of whales that had stranded and died a few days earlier.All the rest of the whales had been towed away to a point further away for their bodies to decompose.He was unsure why this one had been left where its life ended.Farewell Spit over the years has been a graveyard for many whale strandings such is the unusual setting that seems to attract these events happening.

Next stop was Fossil Point and we had time to wander around the large boulders that had come out of the cliff face over the centuries and deposited on the beach with multiple fossilised shells etc etc embedded in the boulders.

Then it was onto the ocean beach itself making our way along the strip of land that curves gently partially enclosing the vast Golden Bay as you head further east.

It was at this point that we found out that this was really a two person exercise in getting us out to the lighthouse and having a cup of coffee and muffins ready for us when we arrived.

We had noticed a 4 wheel drive Toyota RAV go onto the beach ahead of us at the car park before we went up to the cape.

Now, as the driver gave us an ornithology lesson about the various seabirds on the edge of the tide as we drove along, he also had to watch the line of the tyres of the Toyota RAV that would have been 15 minutes or so ahead of us to make sure he didn’t end up in any soft sand or get caught in one of a number of shallow streams that ran across the beach and emptying into the ocean.

For the first 30 or so minutes all that was ahead of us was the gentle curve to the right of the Spit and sand dunes immediately to our right and the ocean to our left.

And then as the Spit straightened a bit a patch of green came into view way in the distance and low on the horizon that slowly became obvious it was a group of macrocarpa and native trees.

Eventually we reached the site that is now an automated lighthouse and our driver stopped the bus short of a lagoon which gave entry to the stand of trees and a well grassed area, the only fertile area we had seen in the last hour or so.

The driver walked along the bank of the lagoon noting where the Toyota RAV had left the beach and crossed the lagoon.

He returned to the bus and we headed into the shallow lagoon at a steady speed presumably with the plan to get through it as quickly as possible and not get bogged down.

It was then a bumpy ride through the sand dune and we emerged onto a large grassy area where we encountered the first of 3 houses that had been built for lighthouse keepers and their families to live in.

The lighthouse was first lit in 1870 after many vessels founded on the spit. The first structure lasted until 1897 when the hardwood structure was replaced by a steel latticework tower which still stands today.

The area where the lighthouse and the houses are was at first just sand dunes and very open to the elements but just before 1900 one of the keepers arranged to have soil bought along the beach and he planted a windbreak of macrocarpa trees which still stand today now supplemented by other natives that survive in the ocean climate conditions and wind.

Our driver asked the passengers why we thought the bottom of the four columns that supported the lighthouse were painted red. No one had the right answer. They were painted at the time of the Americas Cup when the NZ public were urged to buy and wear red socks to support the NZ campaign. An interesting piece of NZ history way out here on the Spit!

After a wander around and a cup of coffee and a muffin while the driver continued to pass on history of the lighthouse and Farewell Spit it was time to board the bus for the return journey as light started to dim in what would have been a beautiful sunset had the sun been shining.

As we started the return journey our driver took us a further kilometre of the ten kilometres of Farewell Spit that we hadn't driven on to see the gannet colony.

The driver continued with his commentary of the bird life and history of the Spit as we retraced our original wheel markings to a great degree as the tide started to turn and come in.

About half way along the beach we stopped to climb the tallest sand dune along the Spit and get an appreciation of the it’s length looking both east and west along the Spit.

By the time we reached the sealed road the light was failing and it was nearly 8pm by the time we got back to Collingwood.

Some of our fellow passengers were going into Tinkers Restaurant, where we had dined last night for a meal, but we decided that nuts and chippies washed down with a beer or wine at home would satisfy us until tomorrow’s breakfast.

It had been a very memorable day with so much crammed into 6 hours that it is impossible to put everything that we saw or had happened in that time, in this blog.

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