Motueka, Abel Tasman and Wharariki

Fantastic rock formation at Wharariki Beach, New Zealand

After a few days exploring the Nelson area, we carried on north west to the little town of Motueka which is very close to the northern tip of the south island.  Our AirBnB here is a beautiful old home built in the 1800s by a sea captain.  It's on the heritage list in town and is a real treat of a house.  The town itself is a small working town - not too exciting.  But the surrounding area has a lot to offer.

Home in Motueka - we have the top two gables

I LOVED this front porch!

Check out the door to the storage - the bottom is
curved to fit the stairwell curve.

Our room

Kia Ora - Maori greeting on the door

The back porch.  That door at the far end is only
about 18" wide.  You kind of go sideways
through it!  They must have been small
people way back when.

Our first day out, we drove to the Abel Tasman National Park.  It's a beautiful wild, mountainous area that borders the ocean, full of hiking trails that range from an hour to several days in length.  We did one of the shorter walks!

Beautiful marshy area at the entrance to the Abel
Tasman National Park trails

Protecting the marshland from human feet

Tipi in the distance.  This is for our friend Sarge!

Another beautiful New Zealand hiking trail

Love the way the wave action left the sand on this beach
we passed along the trail.

Whimsical beach art.

Oh Lord, I want this license plate.  I don't think it would
be legal in BC though!  As seen in the parking lot of the park.

There are a lot of deer farms in New Zealand - venison is common
on supermarket shelves.  This is a farm we passed on the way
home today.

Our hosts, Dick and Jane (I'm not kidding!), told us about a place nearby called the Riwaka Resurgence pool and trail - a very cool place.  It's near a spot called Takaka Hill, and is a site considered sacred by the Maori. Water has taken hundreds of years to seep down through the rock of the hill, and emerge out of this cave to form the mouth of the Riwaka River.  The water is crystal clear, and the rocks around the mouth are worn smooth from thousands of years of people going here to immerse themselves in the 'healing water' over the years.  It was fairly chilly.  Apparently, you can also swim into the cave and go quite a ways in if you have diving equipment.  I didn't and I don't.  I'll take their word for it.  But if you're in this area of New Zealand, make sure to stop off here - it's a beautiful spot.

Entrance gate to the Riwaka Trail

The mouth of the river

Super clear water coming out of the cave

See how the rock is worn down almost smooth
in spots.

Looking down the river.  These rocks are
also worn quite smooth by thousands of
feet.

Tree roots clinging to the shore - so pretty.
Check the colour and clarity of the water.

By far, our best day out from Motueka was a long one - we drove up to the northwest tip to a place called Wharariki Beach, which is one of the most magnificent places on the planet.  In my humble opinion, of course!  It was a fairly long drive over a mountain range, along a long valley, and through a lovely area called Golden Bay.  This drive and area are not to be missed if you visit the south island.

The beach is accessed by hiking on narrow trails through sheep pastures, watching out for those little land-mines the sheep leave behind.  The scenery here is stunning.

Heading out on the trail to Wharariki Beach. Look closely at the
hills to see the intricate patterns the sheep leave on the
hills as they make little trails while they graze.

Some steep landscape here.

The ocean is out there . . . somewhere!

Love these little gates in the fields!

The sheep were in a field across the way today

Once through the sheep pastures, we entered a bit of a forest - Glen called it the broccoli forest - acres of tea trees on the hillsides do look a bit like broccoli.  Lovely scent as well.

Tea trees

The broccoli forest 

Stunning river valley.  Our pathway is now sand.

And then you get to the sand dunes.  DEEP.  GREY.  SAND.  Mountains of it.  It's hard to know when you leave land behind and enter the dunes as the vegetation is dense and beautiful.  As you get closer to the beach, the sand gets softer and deeper and a bit more challenging to walk through.  And then you reach the beach.  Sand hills so steep I wouldn't want to toboggan down them.  Luckily, someone had forged a trail through for us!

Sand dunes - amazing how much vegetation grows
in the sand.  This is super important
ecologically. The root systems of the plants
keep the sand from blowing away.  You can see
the roots at the left side here really well.

Loved how our feet made lighter-coloured
footprints in the sand.

I sank in up to my ankle - it was that soft and really deep

Huge sand hills on the way down to the beach.  See the big
cave mouth in the rock at the right

Not a lot of people have headed towards the beach today

Glen found a local - she said we had at least two more hours before the tide
started to come back in, so we were safe to go to the end of the beach.

We were so lucky to arrive here at low tide.  There are so many caves and beautiful rock formations everywhere.  There are groups of seals and seal pups to watch.  I think we spent about 3 hours exploring - it took almost an hour and a half to walk from one end of the beach to the other . . . and then there was more.  It's not easy to get to, which probably explained the lack of people out there.  So glad we made the effort - it was really spectacular.

I think they call this conglomerate rock says Glen!

One of many cave mouths

These two rocks look completely different from different parts
of the beach.  I liked this view the best.

Two holes!  I thought that the left and right sides of the rocks
look like lions guarding the beach.

He's photographing a cave within the cave

And another!

Looking out from another one

This was a funny tunnel we could walk through out to
the water because it was low tide.

Another tunnel - this one was quite long, and a bit spooky

Love this rock bridge

Abandoned boat equipment?  It looked very lost on this huge
beach, sitting there all alone.  It was also very large - probably
about 4' high.

 Back to the parking lot and we're going to head to Farewell Spit, a 35 km long crescent of sand that forms the topmost land area of the north island.   You can only go onto the spit with an authorized tour group, and we're not going to do that, but we wanted to at least see the entrance to it.

Time to go - very sad to leave this beautiful place

Another of the irreverent "Wicked Campers" one sees around New Zealand

Peacock begging food from Glen in the parking lot

Tea trees with their beautiful trunks and broccoli tops - kind of
the quintessential New Zealand picture for me.

At the head of Farewell Spit - a 35 km sand spit curving over
the top of the north island of New Zealand.

I took this picture of Farewell Spit as we were flying away from NZ.
You can see it between the last two pointy things under the
plane wing.  I have no idea what they are called.  But it shows how bit
that spit is! 

I'm quite fond of quirky things.  We passed this fence on the way home from Golden Bay.  One wonders why someone would put old shoes on their fence, and then one wonders are they donated? or are they just found on the roadside randomly?  or is it something you do when you no longer want to wear them?  

Shoe fence in Golden Bay area

These signs are important for all the visiting tourists who
are used to driving on the correct side of the road!