Sunday 30 March:
This morning I travelled east along the coast from Pohara to the Wainui River Valley in order to visit the Wainui Falls. The road was lined in places by huge limestone bluffs such as —–
—– these at the port area. The road passed through a tunnel between the two left hand limestone structures ——
—– with this view looking through the opening back into the port area.
Not far on was the Abel Tasman Memorial, —–
—– a very tall white marble column commemorating Tasman’s discovery of NZ and his anchoring in the bay here with his two ships on December 13, 1642. Unfortunately his men ran into trouble with local Maori and 4 sailors were killed, leading to Tasman naming this place “Murderer’s Bay”. Tasman then sailed north up the west coast of the North Island, but nowhere were tides and weather suitable to land to replenish water supplies. After leaving land at Cape Maria van Diemen (just south of Cape Reinga) he eventually reached Tonga where they got their first fresh water in months.
The memorial column is quite striking, located as it is on a limestone headland.
The Wainui Falls Track had a warning about using it during or after heavy rainfall as parts of the track could be flooded including the viewing area at the falls. No problem today though. The 2km walk up was a steady climb of 40 minutes (as indicated on the sign), but coming back downhill took only 30 minutes.
The only bird life on the way was fantails again, —–
—– a bird that is always willing to play “peek-a-boo” after chasing insects around you.
DoC is always thorough in placement of warning signs ——
—– but this was the first time —–
—– I had come across such a young child on such a walk.
The forest walk climbing up to the falls was full of nikau palms —–
—– with limestone boulders forming the riverbed alongside the track.
As for the falls, —–
—– at 20 metres tall they were pretty impressive, and well worth the walk. I was gradually wetted with fine spray from the cascade, —–
—– and certainly would not want to be here on a rainy day.
Monday 31 March:
On the way into Takaka after leaving Pohara Beach I spent an hour walking in the Labyrinth Rocks. At the entrance the leaflet holder for maps of the intricate track system was empty – “you need to take one with you as it will help if you get lost” – so I pressed on using dead reckoning to keep track of where I was, making sure when I got to a specific feature I retraced the path back to the entry point for that sub-track, in many cases avoiding the temptation of going down off-shoot tracks.
The main track ran the full length of the site, with all sub-tracks leading off to the right, with off-shoot tracks leading away in any direction.
Each special feature was numbered, with its name cited on the map (I photo’d the map at the entrance and now, having looked it up, can say that No. 11 is “the camel’s head” – ??).
Here is an off-shoot track, with its own door and window formed naturally from acidic water over millennia dissolving holes in the limestone.
Patterns in the rocks were highly variable, changing from smooth to corrugated.
Once again a friendly fantail adopted me as a companion for the walk, fluttering and flashing around and over me. I was intrigued how he would perch before me on a branch or at my feet, then would flash his tail and take off zip-zapping here, there, and everywhere. “How do you do this” I asked, and he obligingly showed me, “first, —–
—– I raise my tail, second, I spread my wings, and third, I take off”. “OK, I get it” I replied – but he was gone.
After resupply at Takaka Fresh Choice I took off west through Collingwood, then up to Pakawau and turned south on a 30km drive (25km of which was a very winding gravel road and at times extremely rough) passing alongside the shoreline of Whanganui Inlet.
The inlet is tidal, receiving inflow from a quite narrow gap to the ocean, and with the tide just turning as I passed through —-
—– the outgoing tidal flows under this bridge were very powerful.
It was a relief to reach the coast at the mouth of the Paturau River, and spend the night freedom camping right on the foreshore —–
—– with this view from the van window.
Tuesday 1 April:
My reason for trekking so far south on such a rough road was to visit the Mangarakau Swamp Scenic Reserve, the largest remaining freshwater wetland in the Nelson Marlborough Region. Surrounded by farmland created out of forested flats the 400 hectare wetland has remained pretty much intact and contains many rare species of plants, animals, fish and birds.
So after an early morning walk around some of the limestone rock pools exposed by the retreating tide I headed back up the Paturau Valley —–
—– where sure-footed sheep were grazing below the limestone bluffs.
Then on the flats nearby (cattle country) these pine trees had adapted to the windy weather by keeping low to the ground rather than rising tall and straight.
Reaching the Swamp Reserve Visitor Centre at Mangarakau, and after examining their displays, —–
—– I took the Mangarakau Lake lookout track, past Big Pond (above) and —–
—– then to the lake with —–
—– its clear reflection of the hillside in the stillness of early morning.
So after an hour and a half covering two walking tracks it was back to the main road via the 25km dusty gravel bone-shaker road. This is the bridge under which “powerful outgoing tidal flows” were pictured yesterday. Now, with the tide out, it shows the 5 metre tidal range from high tide reaching the bottom of the bridge deck, to low tide exposing the mudflats.
Joining the main road at Pakawau I continued north alongside the Golden Bay tidal foreshore observing thousands of black swans floating and feeding (bottoms up) in the shallow water.
This view of these birds continued for mile after mile as I neared the end of the road at the entrance to the special permit area beyond which only the Eco Tour Buses travelling out to the end of Farewell Spit could go. There are some 14,000 swans here over late summer through to winter, returning to breed in the North Island at Lake Wairarapa every spring.
After lunch I decided to do some bird watching while I waited to get photos of the buses entering the beach for today’s late afternoon tour. This would be the last tour this week until next Saturday as with mid-afternoon high tides from tomorrow (Wednesday) there would not be enough daylight hours to get in the 6½ hour trip. My trip booked for Saturday leaves at 6.30 am.
This lone gannet was flying back and forward along the beach diving into the outgoing tide for small fish ——
—– while this pied shag was diving in front of me then reappearing some 10 metres up the shoreline presumably having had a fish meal while submerged.
There was even a kingfisher taking a break from fishing in the local stream to come out to the shore to see how the seabirds were faring.
Around 4.50 pm the Eco Tour Buses arrived to head a kilometre up the inner bay beach, then across a track through bushed sand dunes to the ocean beach and down to the lighthouse near the end of Farewell Spit.
They pass through a locked gate to gain access to the beach, as they are the only vehicles which have a permit to do so.
Once on the beach their high clearance and 4-WD capability give them ample scope to handle sand dunes and vegetation —–
—– as they travel some 35km east to the lighthouse. The Spit continues 5km beyond the lighthouse to the foreshore gannet colony located just above the high tide line, then another 5km of sand flats to the low tide line.
Wednesday 2 April::
Occasional light rain throughout the night changed to steady rain by 8.00 am. However by 9.30 it eased and I was lucky to get two walks in (totalling around 2 hours) before lunch without getting wet.
The first walk was short, across farmland to Cape Farewell, the northern most part of the South Island, where a DoC notice close to the lookout point urges parents to “keep small children by your side at all times due to strong wind gusts along unfenced cliff faces”.
Whew, I hope that this warning was a precautionary one and was not triggered by a kiddie being blown off the cliff at some time in the past – the wind was very strong this morning due to the weather system gearing up for heavy rain later today. You can also see a predator resistant fence above the cliff edge in the distance – maybe for shearwaters (certainly not penguins). Actually along the main road foreshore from Collingwood north, and also in Pohara Bay near Takaka, there were warning signs for penguins crossing in several places.
This column propping up the cliff face may not be here for long given the large vertical split visible in this close-up.
The second walk was the much longer one, from a DoC parking area just near the campground I am staying in for two nights. It is the Wharariki Beach and Archway Islands walk across farmland (sheep poo on the track everywhere) into large vegetated sand dunes before opening out onto a huge beach.
In the grassland before the main dune there were two young DoC workers checking out one of their mice tunnels – these use ink tracking cards which record footprints of animals passing through so they can get an idea of numbers around.
The first view from top of the dune was the two Archway Islands (one hiding the other here), so I had to walk south well down —–
—– the beach so as to be able to look back —–
—–to see any arches. This closest island had two arches —–
—– as seen here in close up, but the second island’s arch —–
—– is best viewed from out at sea (with only a peep visible here behind the edge of the inshore twin-arch island).
By the way, the Windows 10 screen-saver on my computer is of a lady running along Wharariki Beach past the Archway Islands. I have only just spotted this as up until now I had no idea where these islands on the screen-saver were photographed. I used to tease Lexie that this is what she would do as she loved jogging on a beach.
Screen-saver version in the setting sun, and ——
—– todays version in dull very windy conditions, taken by chance at almost the same place as the screen-saver version.
The north-eastern end of the beach had a headland and small island that were being buffeted —–
—– by huge seas, with the wind so strong I had to carry my hat for the walk back to the van.
However, although cold and very windy these walks were invigorating. So it was lunchtime when I returned to the van, following which I returned to camp as rain set in mid-afternoon. I am hoping the 450mm overnight rain and flooding forecast for Tasman District will miss Golden Bay where I still have 4 nights to go.
Thursday 3 April:
Pouring with rain all night, so —–
—– had to pack up in the wet and abandon walk plans to visit the Pillars Lighthouse today.
The gravel road out from Wharariki Beach campground was beginning to flood as creeks rose, but —–
—– grazing sheep just moved to higher ground as the swampy area next to the road accumulates the rising waters.
Meanwhile dairy cows alongside the main road back to Collingwood are bits of softies as most hunker down with their backs to the wind and rain.
And the hundreds and hundreds of black swans along the foreshore could now stand on the seagrass flats to graze instead of head-down bottom-up feeding when the shallow tide is in. It is so shallow here that this far up the inner bay the tide goes out some 7 to 8 km.
I arrived at Collingwood for lunch, and later checked into the Holiday Park a day early, as all I could do for the rest of the day was keep battened down against the wind and rain.
Friday 4 April:
The heavy all night rain continued through the first half of this morning, easing off slowly from 11am, with clouds clearing and sun shining by noon. Whew – quite a night with rain and high winds buffeting the van!
I was originally booked on a waterfront site (there is a power take-off pole by the bench left of the tree) but Reception said “we will put you back on the grass where it may be more sheltered” – it wasn’t really.
So it was with relief to see the hills over the bay from 12 noon as cloud cleared and sun eventually came out hot and humid.
Collingwood is a small village-like township, with this the largest commercial place (other than the pub) —–
—– which includes the lot next door, the whole complex having a distinctly “hippy” flavour.
For a more conventional experience I went to main café in town —–
—– located in the old courthouse building (its name obviously has to be “The Courthouse Café”).
Saturday 5 April:
Up at 5 am, report to Eco Tour depot 6 am, and away 6.20 am to the ocean beach to travel down to the lighthouse at Farewell Spit.
Sunrise on the ocean beach at 7.50am with two oyster catchers, which pair up for life.
There was a huge flock of these birds along the beach, having their breakfast of tua tua – they are pied oyster catchers with their white belly,
Beach glowing pink at the sunrise stop.
Part of a sperm whale skull and jaw-bone from a 31 October 2024 stranding. We were unable to get out of the bus to view it as apparently there is still an unbearable stench from decaying flesh in the sand. Many bones have been washed down the coast as tidal activity shifts them.
We got our first good view of the lighthouse from the ocean beach at 20 past 8, but reaching it involved travelling across soft dune sands —–
—– which bogged us down until a lot of shovel work and a hard push on the empty 4-WD bus got us out onto the hard standing in the lighthouse area.
The first lighthouse was was erected on a timber tower in 1870, but in 1897 this steel lattice structure replaced the decaying timber frame. The kerosene light shone through a special Fresnel lens —–
—– with the surface of each curved glass panel having to be cleaned daily. The original lens system here is in storage awaiting restoration and display.
Did you notice how the four feet of the tower are painted red up to about 6 feet in height? Well this came about in 1995 when Peter Blake began wearing red socks during the victorious America’s Cup races, and the whole country bought into this idea and began wearing them. The lighthouse keepers decided to paint the legs of the tower red as though they were socks, and this tradition has remained with every re-paint.
During the 9am morning tea break at the visitor centre (in one of the original lighthouse keeper’s dwellings) we had an explanation by one of the two drivers on how the light was powered over the years, from kerosene lamp, to a 50 watt electrical bulb using generators, then mains cable down the 35km length of the spit, to now 6 tiny LED lamps with dinner-plate size reflectors powered by solar panels. In the 6.30am dark on the way up the inner bay coast we could see the light flashing on the skyline across the bay every 15 seconds.
On the way back we climbed the tallest sand dune on the spit to get a view back across the inner bay and mountains beyond.
It was like a bunch of climbers getting to Everest at the same time
I took time out to photo one of the sperm whale vertebrate (which had been washed down the coast and landed up near the foot of the dune) —–
—– as well as one of the many wind-blown patterns in the sand. The strong wind was continuously blowing sand over the edge of the dune, and we were told that these dunes keep moving east at 30 metres per year.
After leaving the beach and the inner bay back to the main road we took a side trip up to Cape Farewell which I had visited in dull windy conditions on Wednesday.
Wednesday I walked up the 300 metres from the public parking area, but this time we were driven up the sheep tracks from the parking area in the buses.
Cape Farewell was named by Captain Cook as he left NZ in March 1770 to cross the Tasman to Australia. He also named Farewell Spit.
So, it was farewell from the Eco Tour bus as we headed back to Collingwood to arrive at 12.45 pm, with time for lunch at “The Courthouse Café” before finishing off these weekly travel notes back in camp.
Tomorrow, Sunday, another travel week starts, and you will read all about it next Saturday.
Meanwhile, an extra hour of sleep tonight with Daylight Saving putting clocks back an hour at 3am tomorrow.
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