New Zealand – Northern Beaches, Abel Tasman and return to Christchurch

[[Apologies for the very long pause before posting our final New Zealand chapter!!!]]

The next day we followed Frenzy’s advice to walk a defunct mining railway up a lovely stream called Charming Creek. This flat walk follows the creek through banks of wildflowers to a beautiful waterfall. We spent a few hours walking and taking pictures. The waterfall is at the mouth of a tunnel though the steep creek bank. We heard voices and the distinct sound of wheels running over the old wooded railroad ties. Before I could panic, but I was close, a few mountain bikers appeared from the dark tunnel and stopped to chat with us and take pics of the waterfall.

Night 14 was spent in the town of Murchison in a riverside holiday park. As we drove in we noticed a group of river guides stacking rafts on a trailer with white water kayaks on the beach. Murchison is known as the “Whitewater Capital of New Zealand” and is fittingly the home of the New Zealand Kayaking School. Nearby rivers include the Gowan, Mangles, Matiri, Glenroy, Matakitaki, Maruia and the Buller. As it turns out the guides were staying in the dorms of the holiday park.

The scene looked and felt so familiar to us. Bass and I remember, perhaps too well, those long days guiding, especially long if it was raining or snowing. Evenings involved trying in vain to dry your wet, soggy gear before morning and sleeping in damp tents or crowded bunks. As we walked past the guides who were hanging out in front of the dorms we heard the proverbial chat about river conditions, gear and guests. Serious de ja vu!! We smiled at this and headed back to our warm, cozy van (Britz happily replaced our broken space heater in Qtown).

We had been warned by Lisa and our guidebook about a pest called the sand fly. These small black flies are like the ones in New England except wiley-er. You cannot feel them bite and they do not hover around your head like traditional no-see-ums or black flies. They bite your ankles and feet-true bastards! Until this evening we had not really experienced the sand fly wrath. They were out in Manapouri but we were wore pants and socks. Here in Murchison I was being bitten as I showered in the ablution block! But the van was free from sand flies and after dinner and some tunes, we fell asleep to the sound of gentle rain on our roof. It was a very pleasant day and comfortable night.

Days 14-19 Wharariki Beach, Anapai Beach, Marfells Beach and back to C-Church- 250 kms.
These northern beaches bubbled to the top of our “to do” list we compiled in Idaho. They did not disappoint. Wharariki (pronounced Far-a-riki) is on Farewell Spit, the northern most tip of the Southern Island and the longest natural sandbar in the world. In 1770 Captain Cook named this Cape Farewell as he was leaving the island.

Bass and I secured one of the last camping spots in a very quirky holiday park named after the beach. The road dead ends at the Wharariki Holiday Park and there are many walks to do over the headlands and down to Wharariki Beach which has cool arches, sea stacks and sprawling dunes. Mattie, a nice German bloke who checked us into the holiday park gave us a detailed description of the sites and walking. He especially stressed the strong tides which come up fast on the beach occasionally stranding beachcombers. As it was raining when we arrived in Wharariki we decided to crank up the furnace and relax with a toddy. This was an oddly small, cozy campground with eccentric staff who seemed to be growing their own. A resident peacock strutted around so I prepared my ear plugs for the wee morning hours. But the facilities were impeccably clean including the composting toilets and the new kitchen had floor to ceiling windows to view the headlands. Once we realized this is a hippy compound making some money on the side as a “Holiday Park” we were not at all surprised to see one of the grounds keepers crawling into “bed”, an old, non functioning fire truck parked on the property. Apparently this was his makeshift dorm for the summer. It was really pretty roomy and homey with handmade curtains and bedding. I asked Bass not to get any ideas!

The next day we parked at the DOC site and walked across the headlands to the beach in a lovely warm rain. The entire landscape and weather reminded me again of the southwest coast of Ireland specifically county Kerry. This was the first day I wore my full set of water proof rain gear (my sailing gear) and it worked like a charm! This beach is not white and sandy. It is a dark hard pack sand which is perfect for walking and exploring tide pools.

Later that day we were heading toward Able Tasman National Park but on our way out of Wharariki we stopped to hike up to Pillar Point, a navigational light on a high bluff overlooking Golden Bay and Farewell Spit. Incredible views!

The next town was Takaka- pronounce Tah-kah-kah. In this charming small town is a feature noted in Frenzy called “The Grove”. This is a densely vegetated jungle walk though a towering piece of limestone which has been worn away in the wind and water to form a maze. This is a very easy twenty minute loop, but provides the amateur botanist a plethora of ferns, palms and creeping vines.

One of the best lunch spots we experienced was in Takaka at Bay Seafood and Take Away on Main Street. This is a local hangout and barefooted kids stopped in after school for paper cones of chips for the walk home. As we ate, rain poured down on the metal roof overhead and water ran in the gutters. Twenty minutes later the sun was out and we were headed to Pohara Holiday Park, the northern access to Abel Tasman.

The next morning we drove into an old homestead in the Abel, a DOC site and large campground on a beach called Totaranui. This is the trailhead for the Abel Tasman track, a 51 km track which we plan to come back and walk. This track, as well as the Kepler Track in Manapouri, are two of New Zealand‘s Department of Conservation Great Walks. It is no wonder that the population of New Zealand is generally very fit. Kiwis pride themselves on completing these Great Walks. In the summer the campground at Totaranui can accommodate 850 campers, most come to do the AT track.

The road to Totaranui is not paved, and is steep and very narrow in most places. In December 2011 it rained for two days straight and this road was closed for 6 months due to major slips. The day we drove in was sunny and warm but you could quickly understand it is not wise to be on this road in the rain. Even though it seemed sketchy to me we continued because, being from Idaho, we feel comfortable driving on dirt. The narrowness freaked me out and Bass had to do some smooth talking to calm me down. I had just calmed when I noticed up ahead what looked like fresh soil over the road. The fresh patch did have tire tracks over it so Bass got some momentum and over it we drove, fishtailing a bit.

We arrived at Totaranui and packed cameras and sunscreen for the short hour long walk into Anapai Beach – pronounced Anna-pay. This pleasant, hilly walk took us through dense vegetation finally opening to views of the blue Tasman Sea with white fluffy clouds floating above. The breeze was warm and gentle and sea birds were ever y where. Occasionally we saw solo backpackers walking down the beach coming back from the AT track. We were the only people sitting on the beach. It was delightful. We had a snack and took a snooze in the sun. On the return trip the tide was low enough to cross the estuary in our bare feet. Back at the van we were very tempted to spend the night but knew our schedule for getting back to C- Church was tight. On the drive back out we were stopped at the very same fresh spot in the road which we had noticed on the drive in. A road crew with heavy equipment, front end loader and dump truck, were working to clear a fresh slip. Traffic was backed up behind a DOC officer who works in Totaruni. He was driving a sweet as Land Cruiser towing a fishing skiff and when we pulled up behind him he jumped out and came over in his bare feet. He was a very nice gentleman, former school teacher, who gave us the history of this unstable road. He liked us immediately when we offered up our cold Steinies should we get stuck over night (and immediately offered as to how he now felt “stuck over night” and therefore ready for a Steinie). We watched as fresh vegetation and soil slipped into the road leaving dirt clouds lingering in the air. This was not good. He looked at Bass and looked at our tires and said we would probably “do a right”. He also told us the loader driver is a former student of his back when he taught school. He then added his student was always good with heavy equipment. Later when the road was momentarily clear the crew let us drive through. After securing our seatbelts we watched as our DOC friend stuck his outstretched hand through his open window with his palm flat to the ground. Without saying more he made a slow but firm motion downward with his flat hand. It was clear to us he was imparting the universal sign for “step on the gas and stay on the gas”. He went through and then before I had a chance to freak out we went though. The DOC dude pulled over to unlock his hubs. As we passed he gestured the sign of the cross and we all got a good, relieving laugh from that! It never ceased to amaze us how diligent and efficient the Kiwi road crews are about keeping some very improbable roads open – they would never be open in the first place in the US.

Next stop was the town of Nelson which we thought we would love because it is a sailing city close to the Queen Charlotte Islands and other protected waters. Nelson is indeed a vibrant town but it did not strike us as a tight sailing community like Friday Harbor in the San Juans or Oak Bluffs Harbor on Martha’s Vineyard. It was hot and sunny – a good day to walk around and explore. We found an Uggs outlet and some other touristy shops to browse through but soon found ourselves wanting to get back on the road.

Charming Creek, Wharariki and Abel Tasman (8min 20sec):

We spent night 17 in Mapua Leisure Park on a tidal estuary across from a scenic reserve called Rabbit Island. Mapua Leisure Park is very clean with excellent facilities, many clean showers, bathrooms and a giant kitchen. The grounds were beautiful with many flowering bulbs blooming together, specifically the South African Lily of the Nile (Agapanthus), my favorite, and a variety of scillia I have never seen but gave off the sweet tell tale scent of this species. This leisure park was quirky and housed all kinds of campers, long and short term, in every kind of camping vehicle. Our neighbor was living in an older, small trailer about 10’ x 8’ which he towed with a beatered Subaru sedan. He also had a very expensive carbon fiber mountain bike which he locked in his car for the night. We admired his priorities but hoped he wasn’t thinking we were American bike thieves! He looked semi-permanent and had a nice spot right on the water. I’m sure his heart sank when he saw us rolling in with a Britz rental planning to camp next to him. Another “resident” lived in a larger trailer, (without wheels) surrounded by lovingly tended gardens with a Porsche parked in the drive. Clearly this was a locals favorite. As in any park we were very quiet and respectful at night….being always exhausted from driving and the sheer sensory overload from the never ending beauty.

Night 18- Marfells Beach- one of the best sites to camp anywhere and the best of our entire trip. This is a rustic campground with no power hookups but we were able to drive right up next to the beach and open the slider to the water. The beautiful beach is rocky so no walking barefoot but the views of the water and bluffs is outstanding. We set up our table and chairs and watched as fisherman beached their skiffs bringing their catch ashore. This was the most quiet campground we stayed in too. I woke late at night to look out the top windows of the van and I saw about five billion stars. In the morning we woke to the sound of waves breaking on the beach. We made a few French presses and reluctantly packed our bags. We were sad to leave such a wonderful adventure, a vacation which exceeded our expectations in every way. We did not discuss going back to work or coming home to a Hannah-less house, but we both knew we were thinking these thoughts.

It was a pretty drive down the Eastern Coast to C-church and we noticed every car was pulling a caravan or a boat. Bass noted that either it was a holiday weekend or perhaps tremors of another quake made everyone leave C-Church, en masse, towing their prized possessions. (We later found it was indeed a holiday weekend in New Zealand). On the roads it is common to see Kiwis towing 20 ft boats with a Mazda sedan or a Subaru towing a caravan twice the size of the car. It was hilarious and we had some good laughs at some of the configurations on the road!

We returned the Britz van in C-Church rubber side down and received our full deposit back. We found out we had driven 2,000 miles on the South Island and we still needed to skip some things on our list!

Bass and I spent a few days in C-Church walking around the city. The Botanical Gardens were in Hagley Park, a giant green space in the middle of the city and conveniently right across from our hotel. These beautifully maintained gardens are spectacular. The rose garden was in full bloom wafting their lovely scent through the park. The native plant garden was beautiful too and it was cool to know we had seen many of these in their native environments during our 2,000 mile road trip. We noticed several structures, a rotunda and a conservatory, with large visible cracks, still closed due to the earthquake. At the far end of Hagley Park is the old part of the city where we watched cranes lift giant iron beams for the reconstruction of the Christchurch Cathedral built in the late 1870’s We read that this was not the first time this cathedral was earthquake damaged since being built in the late 1870’s but the February 2011 quake did the most damage ever recorded.

As we walked back through the park we passed dozens of Rugby pitches filled with athletes of all ages. Not far from the park we found an Irish pub called The Craic on Riccarton Rd. Craic is a Gaelic word meaning ‘crack’ which refers to funny news or gossip as in “wisecrack”. We lifted a glass of stout and shortly a few local ladies asked if they could share our pub table. They were really checking out Bass but hey who can blame them! They were locals, one was a former flight attendent , and they certainly made sure we had a craic! They also talked a great deal about the earthquake which they all said was very frightening and the aftershocks were worse. Clearly this disaster is still very fresh in everyone’s mind.

Marfels Beach and return to Christchurch (2min 11sec):

Later at the airport we had a mildly stressful go at making our bags magically appear underweight or right on the weight limit. After quite a bit of shuffling things from checked to carry on we managed to board the plane for the US.

Stay tuned for our travels to the North Island of new Zealand hopefully coming soon!