Pohara, Golden Bay
Trip Start
Nov 12, 2007
1
21
40
Trip End
Aug 01, 2008
Pohara,
New Zealand
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
On arrival in Picton we set off on a scenic detour through more mountain and fjord scenery with me driving and looking at the views and Emma watching the road. Driving in New Zealand is like driving in rural UK not too much traffic apart from the odd speedy local and lots of camper vans. The only issue is that they have a rule that if you want to turn left off a main road and a car is coming the other way and wants to turn right they get right of way
Pupu Springs
. All very well in theory but not too easy to remember when you are on auto pilot....We spent a night in Nelson a small city on the coast known for its arts and crafts and there were craft markets on both the evening and morning we were there. We saw the jewellery shop where they made the ring from that film(apparently about 40 were used in shooting) but decided against buying an expensive replica.
We then headed out to the top left of the South Island, a quiet area known as Golden Bay (named because of a gold find though there are lots of beaches). There is only one road in and out over Takaka Mountain (NZ's longest road climb) with lots of hairpin bends and more views. The large Golden Bay is a bit like Devon with mountains, very green and a great coastline.
After the rain cleared on sunday we went out to some of the area's attractions including Springs which are reputed to produce the clearest freshwater in the world. I dont know who judges this but they are certainly a spectacular sight. The water spends years underground making its way through the rocks then comes out forming a lake which you can look right into. There are lots of colourful plants and it is very different to be able to see right into the water. An enjoyable woodland walk to a reasonably impressive waterfall and a wander round some limestone rock formations rounded off the day.
Monday saw us on an organised tour to Farewell Spit. There seem to be all sorts of technical reasons why it formed but it is basically a beach which juts out for miles into the sea. The trip started with a visit to the island's most Northerly point yet another rock arch but a pleasant area with seals basking on the rocks below.Then once again we were on a bus on a beach though this time with water on both sides. There was a strong breeze blowing the sand along which was quite a sight as looking back it took almost all of the colour out of the sea and sky so it seemed like you were looking at a black and white photo. There was a stop at the lighthouse at the end and then at more dunes though no surfing this time though you could run down them.
Pohara is on the edge of the Abel Tasman National Park which is pretty inaccessible so we arranged a tour which started with a 1 1/2 hour speedy motor boat ride down the very scenic coast (another arch and some seals)
We then caught a catamaran for a further 2 1/2 hours of relaxed sailing though there wasn't much wind so they unfortunately needed to use the motor for a lot of the time. There were plenty more views including "Split Apple Rock" which is a huge round rock in the sea cut in half a strange sight.We were also lucky enough to come across another family of dolphins who swam around the boat close up for a few minutes. The boat then dropped us for a 6 mile walk through the park to meet up with the motor boat to bring us home. Fortunately according to me or unfortunately in Emma's view the wind had got up as we travelled back so the journey was a little more exciting with lots of bouncing around and spray. A long but very enjoyable day to round off our time on the North Coast.
