Golden Bay

Pohara Beach

August 24, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

When the van battery went flat and our day was rearranged, we set out looking for a place for most of us to spend the afternoon while Gayle got the problem looked into. I wanted a beach with a picnic table and a toilet. We just took off from Takaka on a road going out to the sea, and when we got to the far side of Pohara we found just what we wanted! The beach was on one side of the road, and on the other, beside a tennis court, was a small parking area, a grassy spot with a picnic table, and the cutest toilet block I’ve seen in a long time!

After eating a quick lunch, Gayle and Mr. Handyman headed back to Takaka and the rest of us set off to explore the beach. Mr. Diligence, in the second picture down, had a set of “clam farms”. The boys had found some clams, and that gave him the idea. He found a set of streams of clear water coming out from under the cliffs, bubbling up from the sand, and worked to dam them up and direct the water to his farms. When he tasted the water, he was surprised to find it salty!

Mr. Inventor badly wanted to climb into that hole in the cliff.

Mr. Imagination with a scallop shell.

The boys found a cave, and climbed through a crack in the back of it up to this area. This is Mr. Intellectual.

Little Miss got to touch cold salt water for the first time! She was delighted, and badly wanted to get into it more. It was too cold, though!

The cold didn’t stop the boys from playing in the water! This is Mr. Diligence wading.

I was glad I had a spare set of pants for Mr. Imagination.

One of the boys found this spiny starfish.

Barnacles

Mr. Sweetie

Mr. Sweetie building dams for the clam farms.

Mr. Diligence and Mr. Sweetie

We also spent a little time getting some 6-month pictures of Little Miss. She loved crawling in the grass!

Mr. Inventor collected mussels and oysters to take back to our house to cook that night.

Pupu Springs and Labyrinth Rocks

August 23, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

The second day we had in Golden Bay, we planned to go to Pupu Springs (short for Te Waikoropupu Springs), and then find Labyrinth Rocks before deciding what to do with the rest of the day. Well, the first part of the day went according to plan! We arrived at Pupu Springs and walked around admiring the beautiful forest and water.

Mr. Inventor, Mr. Sweetie, and Mr. Diligence waiting for the rest of us to get ready to go.

The water is so clear, with almost a greenish quality. The river flowing out of the springs is as beautiful as the springs themselves!

The trail through the springs area goes through a lot of native bush. It was cold; we saw frost right beside the trail; but so beautiful!

This is the biggest spring. You can see the water coming up under the surface.

This was off to the side of the main spring. We saw small springs welling up out of the bottom, with sand dancing on top of the stream of water.

The rock walls along the trail in some places are left over from gold mining in the late 1800s. This is Mr. Inventor and Mr. Diligence.

After taking our time walking around the springs area, we all got into the van and Gayle turned the key. Nothing. He tried again. Nothing. The battery was totally flat. We had bought a new battery five days before, because we were having problems with the battery. Apparently, our problem was worse than an old battery! We quickly asked some other tourists, who Gayle had been talking to, to give us a jump, and instead of going to another attraction we went to Takaka to find a garage. The mechanics were out for lunch, so we went on to find a beach where most of us could spend the afternoon while Gayle got the van looked at. I’ll describe the afternoon in another post.

It turned out that the alternator was doing nothing—we were given a bad one. When Gayle came to pick us up, after finding the problem and getting the battery charged, we finally made it to the second place we had talked about going that day—Labyrinth Rocks. This is a five-acre area of rock canyons and native bush.

This was called the Alligator.

As it got darker, and we hurried through the maze, we were very glad to have a map! This was truly a labyrinth.

We all agreed that we’d like to go back sometime when we could spend some time there. Because of the van trouble we only had 15 or 20 minutes before it got too dark.

Wharariki Beach

August 22, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

The same day we walked on Farewell Spit and visited Cape Farewell, we also went to Wharariki (pronounced Farariki) Beach. Yes, it was about too much for one day, but as it turned out that was our only day to do all those things. Last time we were at Golden Bay, we wanted to visit this beach, but didn’t have time. This time, we made time, and it was sure worth visiting! The walk from the carpark to the beach was a lot more strenuous than I expected. I stayed in the van to feed the baby while the rest of the family went to the beach, and then I followed when she was done. It turned out that the “20 minute walk” was a fairly rugged kilometer or so, up and down hills, through a patch of trees, over several stiles, through an area of sand dunes, and finally across a long stretch of sand dunes to the sandy beach with rocky outcroppings in places!

Mr. Imagination and his daddy crossing a stile. By the time we got back, Mr. Imagination was too tired to climb over the last stile by himself—he was sitting on it waiting for me to catch up, saying his feet hurt.

Mr. Sweetie

Gayle holding Little Miss, and Mr. Imagination, in the cave you can see in the picture above. The baby seal below was on top of a rock way up under the roof of the cave.

Sunset over the Tasman Sea

Mr. Inventor

We saw a few seals in a rock pool.

The full moon had just risen when we were walking back to the van.

Cape Farewell

August 21, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

After eating a late picnic lunch after the long walk at Farewell Spit, we drove around to Cape Farewell. It received its name because it was the last land seen in New Zealand by Captain Cook and his crew as they headed home in 1770. The cape is included in land operated by the Department of Conservation. The land is used for grazing animals, and we had to walk past a few cows to get up to the viewpoint. A crew of DOC people were cutting up a huge macrocarpa tree. We really enjoyed the bright green lush grass—such a beautiful sight in comparison to our drought-stricken area!

Mr. Handyman, Mr. Intellectual and Mr. Inventor heading up the hill. I gave them strict instructions to stay at least 10 feet from the cliff edge or be sent back to the van. They did well at obeying.

Mr. Imagination coming up the hill with his daddy.

The tree-cutting operation. They were putting branches on a bank to stop erosion.

The boys had fun rolling and bumping down the steep hills. This is Mr. Imagination and Mr. Diligence.

Mr. Sweetie

The sun was in the wrong place to get a good picture of this rock formation, but trust me, it was spectacular.

Mr. Imagination was bumping down the hill on his bottom. I was trying to get a picture, and just happened to snap this as he flipped around to grin up at me. I love that look of delight!

Mr. Diligence found a cave, and Esther was there with her camera.

Mr. Inventor rarely slows down.

He did here, though!

How do you like the look of determination on Mr. Sweetie’s face? He wants to keep up with the big ones!

Mr. Diligence

Farewell Spit

August 20, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Farewell Spit is a fascinating place to visit. The world’s longest sandbar, it stretches some 18 miles out into the Tasman Sea from the northern tip of the South Island. It is the breeding ground for many kinds of birds. Tourists are not allowed on very much of it; if I remember right you are only allowed to walk on the first 2.5 km or so from the base of the spit. We walked out there, across the spit to the outside beach, and back. Actually, Mr. Imagination, Little Miss and I didn’t get that far; we turned back after only a couple of km. The rest of the family did the whole track, though; it took them about 3 hours.

This is looking out along the spit from the base, where we started the walk. I found the ripples in the sand quite interesting. They are very firm. At high tide the water comes way up this beach, but quickly goes way out again as the tide goes down.

We found this jellyfish washed up. It was about as big in real life as it is on my screen here, about 2 inches in diameter.

Mr. Inventor dug these huhu grubs out from under a rotten log. He wanted to cook them and eat them, but finally decided he didn’t want to haul them around all day!

Paradise ducks.

Mr. Sweetie and Mr. Inventor—not sure what they were doing.

Possibly Roseate Spoonbills? They were too far out to be sure.

Thrilled to be on the ground and able to explore the carpet of seashells! Of course, she had to taste some.

While they waited for the rest of the party to catch up, the boys enjoyed the sand dunes. This is Mr. Intellectual, Mr. Sweetie, Mr. Inventor, and Mr. Diligence.

The beach was covered with shells.

Black swans

There were a lot of dead crabs, or else crab shells, on the beach, too.

Going across the spit to the outer beach.

The outer beach is a lot sandier than the inner beach.

Mr. Handyman, Mr. Diligence, Mr. Intellectual, Mr. Sweetie, and Esther.

Collingwood

August 19, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We stayed at the Collingwood Motor Camp for three nights while we were in Golden Bay. We were there for two nights when we went to Golden Bay three years ago. That time we tent-camped. This time, we have a camper, and decided to get a cabin for some of us. We can’t all fit in the camper (if we really crowd small people, we can fit five into it), and Gayle seems to have an allergic reaction to it. When we arrived and asked for a basic cabin and site for the camper, they offered us a house for not much more! We were all able to be under one roof that way, in comfort, with the kitchen and bathroom in the same building. The owner of the campground brought us firewood and started the fire for us, and we lived in luxury on this “camping” trip! The campground changed management in October, and the new owners are really cleaning the place up. We had a beautiful view of the estuary!

This is the house we stayed in. Last time we were there, we slept in tents close to where I stood to take the picture, and cooked in the open-air kitchen on the far side of the van.

I got to walk out along the shoreline one morning at high tide, and enjoyed this flock of seagulls and oystercatchers.

Mr. Imagination and Little Miss enjoyed the freedom of being on the floor to play, after a long day in their carseats!

Esther read her brothers a bedtime story. From left to right are: Mr. Handyman, Mr. Inventor, Mr. Imagination, Esther, Mr. Sweetie, Mr. Diligence, and Mr. Intellectual. No, this isn’t posed.

The rest of these pictures aren’t at the campground, but I thought this is as good a place as any to post them. I loved the reflections in the estuary as we left Collingwood the morning after our arrival there, on the way to Farewell Spit!

The reflections were almost as good as we approached the spit.

We stopped along the way to photograph some herons stalking about the mudflats as the tide went out.

Motueka Valley and Takaka Hill

August 18, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

On the first day of our trip, we went all the way to Golden Bay. Google maps said it would take 5.5 hours; I figured that meant 8 or 9 hours for us, since we have to stop occasionally and were towing a camper with our van. The van really slows down going up hills by itself, let alone with a camper, so going over the mountains, I knew would be slow. We left here at 8:30 in the morning, and it was 5:30 when we arrived, so I wasn’t too far off. We did make a few stops, to fill up with diesel twice, once to view Maruia Falls, once to do a bit of grocery shopping in Motueka so we’d have enough food for the next few days, and again for a short walk to an overlook on top of Takaka Hill when we saw that we were making good time.

This first picture was taken while we were still heading for the Motueka valley; I liked that rock formation on the hill.

As far as I know, this is the only commercial orange grove on the South Island.

Going up Takaka Hill, between Motueka and Golden Bay.

Looking down from the top of Takaka Hill.

Esther on the path to the overlook on Takaka Hill.

Esther captured these two beautiful pictures.

And here is Mr. Diligence taking his own picture of the rock above!

Another view from the top, looking toward Motueka.

This rock is granite; the entire top of the hill is littered with it.

Holiday Trip Days 6 and 7

May 5, 2012 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Friday morning we loaded up again in Collingwood after enjoying a gorgeous sunrise over Golden Bay at high tide.

The boys tried fishing, but the reel broke.

We stopped at Pupu Springs on our way back to Takaka Hill–the largest spring in Australasia, which produces 14,000 liters of water per second and has the second clearest water on earth–second only to that under the Ross Ice Shelf.

The colors under the water were amazing!

The river that flowed away from the springs was clear as could be!

Takaka Hill–see the road we were on?

I enjoyed the rock outcroppings on top of Takaka Hill.

We stopped to buy fruit at the bottom of Takaka Hill, and got a close-up view of some of the vines we had been seeing–kiwis! We had never seen them growing before.

We spent Friday night camped in the backyard of some friends, and in the morning they helped load up and tie down for the last time.

Our route home took us through an area where there had obviously been a forest fire a few years ago. What desolation!

Fall colors along Leader Road as we neared home….

Baby was happy to be home again the next morning!

Holiday Trip Day 5

May 3, 2012 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Wednesday evening we made it as far as Collingwood, on Golden Bay. We decided to stay two nights in that campground, as there were a number of things we wanted to do close by and it was as far north as we were able to go. How nice not to have to take down tents and load and tie down the trailer Thursday morning!

The boys were up at the crack of dawn again, down at the beach to see what they could find. This was the prize find–same boy who found the weta the day before–a dead shark! One person told us it was a dog fish; another said a carpet shark. Either way, it was fascinating.

Sunrise over Golden Bay. This is high tide.

Grandma found a good place for her devotions just above the high tide line.

The morning’s beachcombing finds.

We drove up along the coast to Farewell Spit that morning. These are some of the mud flats we passed in an estuary along the way–high tide.

The base of Farewell Spit. It is an enormous sandbar stretching 26 km (16 miles) into the Tasman Sea. Four people walked a few kilometers out on it; I stayed back with the youngest five boys. This is the inside of the spit. I happened to overhear a tourguide telling the group he was with that there are 2 million hectares of land in the nature preserve here at high tide; 11 million at low tide!

They found several jellyfish stranded by the receding tide.

Mud flats and the spit.

After eating our picnic lunch, we drove to Cape Farewell, named because it was the last sight Captain Cook had of New Zealand.

The boys ran up the hill above the overlook. Rather nerve-wracking for Mom and Grandma, envisioning boys getting too close to the sheer cliff dropping down to the sea!

The mudflats in the estuary at low tide, on our way back to Collingwood.

This is the beach at our campground when we arrived back in the afternoon, at low tide! What a difference. The tides rise 5 meters here (16 feet).

It was cold, but the boys played in the water anyway. The older boys were able to wade through the chest-deep water to the sand bar, and decided to build a raft so they could ferry the little boys across.

Before the raft could be built, the tide turned and the water was rising too fast.

They built sand castles instead.

This is the same place a few hours later, with the tide about halfway in.