Saturday 17th September
We awoke to piece and quiet outside. The storm had blown through and the day was looking pretty good. We started the long exercise of getting the car loaded with every last item we had moved into the cabin just a few days before. It doesn't matter how many times we fill the car, it never seems to be the same and it never really works, always ending up in a complete mess within no time. We checked out of our cabin and started the short drive north to the town of Westport. We'd driven almost half the road a few days previously when we'd gone to Barrytown, so, apart from a couple of stops to admire the coast, there was nothing new for us to see. Not far past Barrytown was the small town of Punakaiki, where there was something we fancied a look at. We parked up at the side of the road and followed a path out to a place called the Pancake Rocks. They are named for the fact that they look like hundreds of stacks of pancakes (obviously). We read a board there that said that scientists are still baffled by how the rocks were formed, which is a nice thing to have in this day and age when almost everything on earth is understood. As well as the pancake rocks, there were numerous coastal formations in the area that were well worth a look. Blowholes, caves and even faces in the rocks. We spent around half an hour walking around the area, enjoying the rugged landscape. After departing, we headed further up the coast, passing a huge land slip that had made the news and closed the highway a few days before. We drove out to Cape Foulwind, where we walked out to a viewing platform overlooking a seal colony. There were a number of seals lazing around the rocks below, enjoying the spring sunshine. We spent a few minutes admiring them through our binoculars and then headed on to check out the lighthouse at Cape Foulwind itself. We couldn't actually get to the lighthouse and there wasn't much to see, so we didn't hang around for too long. We finished the drive in to Westport and hunted down the hotel (yes, hotel!) that we'd be staying in for a couple of nights. We had a few internet related things that we needed to do over the weekend, so we needed to stay in a place that had free unlimited wifi. Fortunately, we'd found somewhere that was really cheap. It was a hotel that had a few long term guests and a kitchen. We spent the afternoon getting one of the tasks done and also wandered in to Westport to have a look around. There wasn't much to see and we quickly made up our minds that we preferred Greymouth and were pleased we only had 2 days in town. We had a relaxing evening spent in the room and enjoyed the final load of our chilli for dinner.
Sunday 18th September
To say we had a relaxing Sunday would be a considerable understatement. We'd completed the only real draw Westport boats the day before by stopping by the seal colony on the way into town. That left us with a free day, most of which we spent reading and uploading photos in the comfort of our room. We did pop out for a couple of hours of fresh air, walking along the banks of the Buller River during the afternoon. We stopped by the supermarket for a few provisions and then returned to the hotel for the evening. After dinner we managed to get done what we'd stayed in the hotel for. With my uncle Stewart visiting home from Canada, we were keen to have a catch up over Skype. Fortunately, the wobbly wifi connection held out just long enough for a 50 minute conversation so it was worth the hunt we'd put in for the hotel.
Monday 19th September
It's safe to say we were fairly pleased to be departing Westport. We may have been slightly keen setting an alarm for 6am though and ended up snoozing for an hour before finally getting up at 7. We wolfed down breakfast, gathered up the few things we had taken in to the room and packed them into the car. We had a longer drive ahead of us than we had anticipated. To get up to our destination, Golden Bay, we had to go inland and across as there was no coast road all the way. Not long out of Westport we entered the impressive Buller Gorge, where the road wound next to the Buller River and beneath sheer cliffs for about an hour and a half. One of the “things to do” in Westport had actually been a swing bridge and walkway an hours drive away. We had planned on doing it on our drive but nowhere had it said that it cost. Wanting to keep things to a minimal spend we decided to leave it, not wanting to shell out on something that Charlotte may not be able to even cross. We carried on all the way to the northern coast of the South Island and a town called Motueka. We stopped for lunch at a supermarket before moving on. Despite being so close to our final destination we still had a solid hour of driving left. This was because there was a large hill in our way, with steep, windy roads to conquer. At the top of the hill there was a short walk to a viewing platform that looked out over a valley across to Tasman Bay. It wasn't the clearest of days but the view was still spectacular. We wound our way down the other side of the hill where Charlotte had a small moment of madness that almost culminated with us at the bottom of the hill slightly quicker than we anticipated. She has promised not to scratch her face again! It didn't take us long to find the campsite, located in Pohara. It was right on the beach where, after getting the tent set up and ready for the evening, we went for a walk in the sand and dared to dip our toes into the freezing waters of the Tasman. With plans to head up the coast the following day, we relaxed in the campsite for the afternoon, reading and swatting away the pesky sandflies. I was trying something for dinner that I had managed to resist for years, Jacket Potatoes. We'd bought a huge bargain bag down in Greymouth for $5, so we were starting on a mission to get them all eaten before any rotting occurred. We were having something that both Charlotte and I had never been fond of. Tinned spaghetti in tomato sauce, just for a change from baked beans. They went down a treat so we had another dish to add to our ever growing list of extravagant, vegetarian camping food.
Tuesday 20th September
Just after we'd cooked dinner the night before, the kitchen had been swamped by a large group of school aged children. We'd set an early alarm in order to beat them into the kitchen for breakfast but they were already up and eating by the time we emerged from the tent. Instead of joining the fray, we packed the tent away to pass the time. By the time we were done, they were long gone, so we had a nice peaceful breakfast of fried potatoes (potatoes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, almost), beans and an egg. We'd decided we'd seen enough of Golden Bay after finding out that the key attraction, a place called Farewell Spit, was only accessible by an eco tour that cost the earth. To make the trip over the windy mountain road worthwhile, on our way out of town we paid a visit to Australasia’s largest natural spring, Pupu Spring. It was a short drive out of the town of Takaka; we parked up and started the short walk. A sign at the beginning of the walk stated that it was Australasia’s largest Spring also boasted that the springs water is some of the clearest in the world. We thought we'd be the judge of that! The short walk followed a circuit that crossed some of the springs rivers and passed a pool that we could see being fed from springs underneath. We had to agree with the sign, the water was crystal clear. As we stood looking down into the pool, we could clearly see the bottom at least 2-3 metres below the surface. We made it back to the car in about 20 minutes and started the hair raising drive back across Takaka Hill. The view driving down towards the town of Motueka was stunning. It was a clearer, wider view that we had seen from the viewing platform on the hill the day before, it was just a shame that there was nowhere to stop to really appreciate it. Motueka was our destination for the day and we pulled into the campsite just before midday. The British owners were surprised at the fact we were camping and told us that we were the first campers (in a tent) of the season. Having already camped through some of winter, the warm spring sunshine didn't bother us at all. We got the tent up, did some washing and then wandered into town. We were after some lunch and couldn't resist the temptation of a pie from one of Motueka’s many bakeries. With our savoury tooth’s satisfied, our sweet ones were begging for something to tide them over. Not wanting to go back in to the same bakery and look like porkers, we found a different one just down the road that wouldn't judge us harshly. My brownie and Charlotte's hazelnut snail later, all our teeth were feeling pretty chuffed with themselves. We wandered up and down the main street of Motueka, looking for bargains in the 2 supermarkets and enjoying the vibe of the busy little town. We picked up some things for dinner and headed back to the campsite. Having lost most of a day the day before, we didn't want to sit around idle, so after dropping the shopping off we walked towards the seafront. On the seafront was Raumanuka scenic reserve, that consisted of a large area home to a large sand spit and a large amount of migratory birds. A sign told us that some of the birds migrate all the way from Alaska before heading back up to Japan and far eastern Russia, then making the short hop across the Bering Straight back to Alaska. A hell of a journey! There weren't too many birds to be spotted during our walk though, we guessed that we were slightly too early in the season for them to have flown down from Alaska yet. The walk along the waterfront was still good though, the afternoon was warm with a slight breeze and it got us out of the campsite. Just before we turned off back to the campsite, we passed a sign that told us about Motueka Harbour and about the large shipwreck that we could see stranded out on the sand. The boat had certainly seen better days and had rusted away to a husk. It was a fair old trek home but when we got back, we still had time to enjoy the final moments of sunshine with a cup of tea, before it dropped below the tree line, instantly making it a lot cooler. We freshened up, caught Dan the weather man on tv (we'd be in for a fine week) and cooked our dinner. Yet more potatoes contributed to our vegetable curry (there were Kumaras (what New Zealanders call sweet potatoes) in it as well, which meant even more carbohydrates). The batch was so big, we had plenty left over for the next day, which is always a good feeling. We'd need it too, as we had a long walk planned for the day.
Wednesday 21st September
When our alarm roused us at a chilly 6am, we didn't fancy facing the cold just yet, so I spent every 10 minutes snoozing my phone until 7 o'clock came around. It had been a clear night, which made it cold and the tent was soaking from dew. Fortunately, we didn't have to put it away like that as we were heading to Abel Tasman National Park for the day. We stocked up on breakfast before driving out to the town of Marahau, right on the edge of the national park. The walk we were embarking on was an 8 hour return along the Abel Tasman coastal track. The track goes right around the coastal edge of the national park and takes between 3-5 days to complete. Obviously, we only had the one day, so the 4 hour one way trip was perfect for us. We could have got a ferry round to a particular point and then walked back but we thought it best to save the money and make a day of it. We made great time out to our destination, a stop called Anchorage. The signs had said it would take us 4 hours but we clocked just over 2 and a half hours, just in time for lunch as it happened. In Anchorage, there was a hut that is maintained by the Department of Conservation (DoC) for the benefit of those trampers who are doing the full multi day walk and need a shelter to sleep in. Next to the hut was a sun drenched bench where we had our packed lunch. After sandwiches, a banana, crisps, a carrot and a breakfast bar, we felt we were suitably refuelled for the 13km walk back to the start. Before departing though, we had a nose around the DoC hut. With flushing toilets, drinking water, 4 dorm rooms and a huge dining room overlooking Anchorage Bay, we were rather envious of the lucky campers who would be spending the night there. We walked along the beach, enjoying the turquoise waters and then followed the trail back towards Marahau. Despite legs and hips becoming increasingly weary, we made slightly better time on the return leg than we did on the way in, so we're pretty pleased with the work out we'd had. It was also nice to be back at the campsite before it got too chilly or too dark. We caught our breath in the tv room for the evening, catching the weather and then heated up our veggie curry that was left over from the night before.
James and Charlotte
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