Sunday 6 April:
I did not set my clocks back on purpose this morning as I wanted to get early morning walks in before the forecasted heavy rain set in late morning. So getting up at my usual time of 6am was really 5am. I headed north to Port Puponga at 7am (really 6am) and began the 45 minute Pillar Point lighthouse walk early.
From well down the track I was able to see with the tele-photo lens that the “lighthouse” was just a solar powered light sitting on a column, quite “un-lighthouse” looking compared to the Farewell Spit lighthouse of yesterday
However, as the northernmost lighthouse on the South Island, and located on the highest hill on the coast, it was worth a visit. The walking track was fairly rugged (this view looking back down to the track in the valley) but the views from the top of the hill were great.
From the elevation of the lighthouse I was able to look south to —–
—– Cape Farewell (the Cape being the middle of the three headlands in this view) and —–
—- then east to Farewell Spit. The dark “bump” near the end of the Spit is the trees around the lighthouse there. The tide is getting well out in the inner bay on the right of the spit.
The track entrance stated it was a 45 minute walk one way up to the lighthouse, but I did it in 35 minutes, and 23 minutes back down. I then took a 20 minute walk into the disused Puponga coal mine which closed in 1973 leaving behind —–
—– loads of rusting machinery in the forest which is reclaiming the site.
On the trip back to Collingwood I stopped at a foreshore bird hide, and noted this request portraying a pied oyster catcher sleeping, as it does, on one leg with its head and beak tucked into its feathers.
So I looked out from the hide to find that although the tide was now well out, these birds were still sleeping – maybe they were having the extra hour of sleep that the end of daylight saving provided.
After an early lunch in Takaka I left Golden Bay and headed over Takaka Hill as steady rain set in, cloaking the hill in low cloud as I wound up, then down the steep and winding road. At the bottom of the hill I took a left turn north to Kaiteriteri, which involved more hilly and winding driving and then continued to the entrance to Abel Tasman Park at Marahau. On the way I did a return 40 minute steep walk in pouring rain through bush to the beach at Split Apple Rock.
There were loads of steps down the slope to beach and the track itself was becoming almost a small stream due to the rainfall intensity.
Reaching the beach I noticed how golden the sand was, then beyond it this roundish rock on an islet. So I walked east along the sands to eventually have revealed —–
—– the split in this rock.
The granite in the rock originally had a natural plane of weakness into which seeping water froze and thawed during an ice age 120 million years ago, eventually splitting it into two roughly equal parts. It really is a unique geological feature, and due to the rain I had the beach to view it all to myself.
After changing my wet clothes and footwear back in the van I headed into Kaiteriteri and checked in at 3pm to the Kaiteriteri Recreation Reserve (with its 340 camping sites) for a couple of nights. This will enable me to catch up on laundry and housekeeping, walk the golden sands this place is famous for, and hope the rainy weather clears up before heading for Nelson later this week.
Monday 7 April:
A brilliant sunny day developed as I got stuck into my laundry and routine housekeeping. So by 11am I was out on a beach walk and a look around the Kaiteriteri Recreation Reserve. The Reserve is a Government entity covering 250 hectares overseen by a Reserve Board which maintains and operates the campground, apartments, grocery store, restaurant, mountain bike park, forestry, the estuary and the golden beaches.
There are two main beaches separated by a headland, with this view taken from the commercial area of Recreation Reserve, with the Little Kaiteriteri residential beach beyond the headland.
There were plenty of young folk around taking kayaking lessons and ——
—– paddle boarding as well as —–
—– something a bit faster.
I am more inclined for sedate activities myself, and noted —–
—– the coffee cruise option, as well as —–
—– the Sea Shuttle Tasman Bay Cruise option.
So after a lazy lunch at the “Kaiteriteri WATERFRONT Est 1936” restaurant and a relaxing time watching the beach activities I got a message —–
—–from a friendly sparrow in the tree at my elbow, ‘is it not time for home?”.
Tuesday 8 April:
I booked a Sea Shuttle Cruise overnight, even though rain was forecast for today, and at 10.30am boarded the Adele II for a trip from Kaiteriteri Beach right up to Totaranui at the top end of Tasman National Park (a 4 hour trip up and back).
There were five of us on the return trip, and a dozen or so folk who were dropped off either 2 or 4 at time at beaches on the way. They would either be day tripping (getting picked up later in the day by another Sea Shuttle) or camping or doing some of the extensive walks available along the full length of the coast.
I got to visit Split Apple Rock again, this time viewing from the water. The tide was fully out. The 5 metre (15 feet) tidal range on this coast right up to Farewell Spit and down to Wharariki Beach and Whanganui Inlet is the largest in NZ.
There was rain on and off all the way up over 2 hours, but fully sunny on the way back.
Passing Adele Island we maneuvered past some kayakers —-
—– to look for fur seals. This one was well up on the rocks above high tide level. There were other seals in the water.
We passed by Cob Loaf Rock, and noted the stone cairn on top, presumed to be a family memorial – one wonders how someone managed to climb up with these stones.
The largest group dropped off was at a beach that had a commercial lodge including restaurant and concierge with quad bike baggage pickup service.
The water here was dark with fine leaf material washed down in the weekend’s storm. This created a problem when we left the beach as the leaf material clogged the cooling water intakes on —–
—– both diesel engines, and required the skipper to delve into each engine bay in turn to clear the intake screens while we wallowed out at sea away from the beach.
After the final drop-off of a couple of trampers at Totaranui Beach we headed home via ——
—– the Tonga Arches [borrowed picture above] where —–
—– the sea has tunneled through the rock in four places.
The final leg of the homeward journey was at high speed in brilliant sunshine.
Wednesday 9 April:
On a sunny morning I was able to get a view back down to the Recreation Reserve from the Kaka Point headland. There was memorial to Prime Minister Bill Rowling on this headland.
One of the Sea Shuttle boats was fronting up to the beach for the first trip of the day, while the Coffee Cruise boat was biding its time (a bit early for coffee at 8:30). Beyond the main commercial area is the estuary which is a haven for water birds.
With the tide out the sand flats were populated with —–
—– spoonbills, —–
—–a white heron, —–
—– a couple of pied stilts, —–
—– and two black shags (who had just been fishing). There was also a white-faced grey heron and a group of grey ducks.
Leaving Kaiteriteri I traveled back to the foot of Takaka Hill and took the Riwaka Valley road up to the Te Puna Wai o Riuwaka Resurgence where the Riwaka River emerges from a spring at the base of a cliff in the Takaka Hill.
The crystal clear waters of the spring are sacred (wahi tapu) to Maori who believe they have healing powers. The carved entrance way depicts two local tribes with the figure in the centre thought to be Hui Te Rangiora, a Polynesian explorer who is understood to have rested here and used the waters to heal himself after an epic voyage in 650AD from the Cook Islands down towards the Antarctic.
A 300m forest walk along the river reveals a cascading torrents streaming over the river bed ——
—– as the climb gets steeper, ending at an overlook into the —-
–
—– upwelling flow from the resurgence pool discharging the full river flow.
Thursday 10 April:
It was cold overnight in the Motueka Top 10 Holiday Park, but with electricity hookup for the van the electric heater soon warmed the place up before breakfast. However, it was with some surprise that I found —–
—– there had been overnight snow on the tops of the Arthur Range due west of town.
I used the “Walking Motueka” guide for today’s activities, starting with the Inlet Reserve. Tide was out, but ——-
—– a couple of white-faced heron were busy feeding in the tidal pools.
Across the road from the inlet were the Sanctuary Ponds with their extensive English tree plantings, including —–
—– these plane trees which were turning golden with the first tinge of autumn. In the ponds the only bird life was a group of ducks —–
—– with this one happy to pose for a picture. Meanwhile on land, —–
—– when these three quail saw me they made an immediate dash for the bushes.
After a lunch break at the waterfront I checked out this neat sculpture at the marina ——
—– entitled “Arrivals & Departures – Nga taenga mai me wehenga”. It depicts modes of arrival and departure of “diverse cultures, wildlife and seasons”.
On the foreshore back towards town from the marina is the wreck of the “Jamie Seddon”, named after the niece of Prime Minister R.J. Seddon. Built in Scotland in 1901 as an anti-submarine minesweeper the ship served in both world wars, eventually ending up in NZ and converted to become a fishing vessel for the Motueka Trawling Co (the forerunner of Talleys Fisheries). Becoming uneconomical to operate the company beached the vessel here in 1955 and stripped it of valuable gear before leaving it to rust away. It remains essentially as a tourist attraction.
Someone has laid stepping stones out to the wreck so people can access it at low tide, but there are warning signs on the foreshore stating that deterioration of the hulk is such that rusted portions could break off at any time.
My final walk of the day was to the Raumanuka Reserve where the first European Settlers arrived in May 1842.
This was a quiet, peaceful place with fertile soil used by Maori for growing kumara over many generations into the 1800s and with good fishing in the harbour. The Europeans developed a landing port here to support the miners moving into the local gold fields.
Friday 11 April:
I spent the first part of this morning exploring street art in the Town Centre, including works in the new library and its adjacent park.
This 2014 mural “History of Local Industry” celebrates the local production of timber, fruit and vegetables, hops, tobacco and fishing. The sign for toasted Riverhead Gold tobacco assures smokers it has “less nicotine therefore healthier, protects heart and nerves, results in no cough or bite”.
The “Tasman ArtWalk” is a project supported by local councils whereby murals and commissioned art is displayed on buildings throughout Golden Bay and Tasman Bay from Collingwood to Nelson.
An example of the sort of art displayed is this reproduction on a shop wall of Pat Hanly’s painting “Life Goes On”, the original being in the collection of the Suter Gallery in Nelson. Across the street on the wall of Life Pharmacy is ——
—– this work sponsored by the pharmacy itself.
The new Motueka Public Library faces onto a park circled by a pathway that has 55 plaques telling the story of Motueka from earliest Maori occupation to the arrival and settlement by Europeans (one of these plaques is in the bottom left corner of this picture).
Within the library itself I was reminded of the extent to which art works permeated the floors throughout the new Christchurch City Library. On this ground floor building they exhibited art works amongst the bookshelves and computer work stations —–
—– including these Maori poi balls from the ceiling in the entrance foyer, along —–
—– with four snapper around the corner. There was also a “taniwha” whose head is in the far left centre of this picture, but whose body loops twice along the windows (centre left to middle left), and once below the poi in the foyer, and whose tail lies down the wall next to the door centre lower third of this picture.
This guy was really keen to clamber over the wall from the admin office to get at readers in the main area of the library.
I took photos of quite a number of the history plaques, one of which referred the fact that two past prime ministers grew up in the Motueka area, their families being descended from early pioneers – they were Sir Keith Holyoake and Sir Bill Rowling (the latter with a memorial at Kaiteriteri).
On the way south to Nelson I took the scenic route through Mapua and had lunch in the van before exploring the Mapua Wharf complex. All the old warehouses are now —–
—– specialist retail shops, and redevelopment of several wharf sheds has resulted in —–
—– a group of restaurants and eateries (two of half a dozen shown here) which make Mapua Wharf a real tourist destination. There is a huge parking area for cars and motorhomes, and an large area set up with stalls for market days.
The wharf itself is accessed via a deep water channel at high tide —–
—– as shown by this picture from the Maritime Museum located on the wharf.
There is also a passenger ferry which operates hourly to take walkers across the harbour entrance to Rabbit Island where they can enjoy walking tracks before catching a return ferry one or two or three or so hours later.
There are two birds in this picture of the wharf at low tide, the first flying, the second sitting on a pole. However, —–
—– that second bird is actually a sculpture.
Saturday 12 April:
I booked in last evening to spend the weekend at Tahuna Beach Holiday Park where I could look through my back window across Tasman Bay —–
—– to the sun setting behind the Arthur Ranges.
I mentioned last Sunday that the Kaiteriteri Recreation Reserve has 340 camping sites. Well, Tahuna Beach has 605 sites plus loads of cabins and motel accommodation – it is the biggest camping ground I have come across anywhere.
So this morning I set off to climb Botanical Hill on the southern edge of the city where the “Centre of New Zealand” monument is located.
This aerial view [borrowed] shows Botanical Hill and the monument at sunrise. The climb up from Botanical Park at the base of the hill gets steeper and steeper —–
—– as you get closer to the top (just like Rangitoto) so I was really puffed when I managed to find a seat at the summit. But, the views over the city and beyond were really worth the climb.
In the view of the CBD area you can identify notable landmarks such as —–
—– Nelson Cathedral, and to the right of the CBD —–
—– you can view the harbour and —–
—– get a close-up of a large ship in port at the moment.
The monument has a stylus pointing down at a survey mark which is the “centre” for referencing all survey trig stations throughout the Nelson Land District, which is the central Land District in survey terms for the whole of NZ. Hence this location is a survey “centre of NZ” and not the true geographical centre of the country. That is located south-east of Nelson in the Golden Downs Forest halfway between Nelson and St Arnaud.
I was able to take a side-track to an adjacent hill and look back —-
–
—– on the monument, and the steep climbing track nearing the top (centre right), and thus —-
—– get a close-up of two visitors on the viewing platform.
I spent the afternoon at the Founders Heritage Park where the main entrance is —–
—– through this reconstruction of the original windmill which was a feature of the early Park.
There are some very grand buildings such as —–
—– Duncan House (containing displays on early shipping to Nelson) —–
—– and Old St Peters, built 1874 in the central city area and moved here in 1981. It is used for —–
—– special church services and weddings.
As well as buildings there are vehicle displays including ——
—–the inevitable fire engines (the 1867 horse drawn one being behind the left-hand door).
Newman Bros Ltd started horse drawn wagon transport services in 1879 between Blenheim, Nelson and the West Coast, and introduced 9 passenger Cadillac Service Cars in 1911 (with this —–
—– 1923 car in use through to 1935), and then —–
—– used buses such as this 25 passenger 1947 International. These early vehicles had to be rugged as they were used on gravel roads for years before modern sealed roads were built.
Newmans also introduced air transport to the region, but the only plane on display at the Park was a Bristol Freighter donated by “Safe Air”.
These planes transported passenger cars and freight between North and South Islands through to the early 1960s when the Aramoana Cook Strait ferry service was introduced.
In 1994 Newmans were integrated into the InterCity Group.
Overall this Heritage Park I would rate as one of the best in NZ – great afternoon out.
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