Is It North or South, East or West, Up or Down???

Collingwood, a hamlet of 300 full time residents on the far northwestern edge of Golden Bay and close to Cape Farewell and the Cape Farewell sand spit, an UNESCO recognized area.

From Collingwood we took a 6 1/2 hour bus tour onto the Cape Farewell Spit, one of only 2 in the world of this magnitude(the other in Poland).  The only way one can get on the Spit is through one of 2 tour companies because of its fragile and protected  situation.  We are going with Farewell Spit Ecotours….

 

but before we jump on, we catch a bite at the Courthouse Cafe…..

(our B&B is up behind this on the hill in the trees)

The tour starts at 3pm so that the tide is out and we can ride on the sand. First stop after crossing the Aorere River……

is just past the hamlet of Puponga……

 

with a view back across Golden Bay to Collingwood…..

 

The road here turns to gravel, 5km later there is a fork in the road, right to Cape Farewell or left to Wharariki Beach. We are going to the Cape so right we go…. and after a few minutes see this, the Hole in the Rock….

 

a pretty huge rock face…

 

and down in the cave like opening above, we see some fur seals!…

 

A view looking the other way …..

 

and up to Cape Farewell lighthouse…..At Cape Farewell  you stand at the northern most tip of the South Island. We were also standing at that point, south of Wellington on the North Island!…..

 

Now we will descend back down to the water as the tide is now low enough to allow us on to the Spit. It is at this point that no other vehicles except our bus have permission to enter, and walking is only allowed for another kilometre. We start on the south side of the Spit, then cross over to the north side. Once there, John our driver and tour guide turns west to get up close to the last rocky part of land…..

 

 

 

 

 

pea mussels on the rocks at low tide….

 

 

 

Back in the bus and we now head north and east on to the Spit. From the air at low tide the Spit looks like a pelican’s bill but at high tide it looks like a kiwi’s beak. And now the fun begins. It is like we have been transported to a desert in the Middle East…..

(in the distance is where the previous photos were taken!)

 

 

 

 

This Farewell Spit is over 25 km long complete with sand dunes and about 60 varieties of migratory birds, some migrating over 27,000km from Siberia, the Yukon and down the west coast of North America….

 

and domestic ones…..

 

and there is a Gannet colony on the Spit, now 3000 pairs alive where 25 yr ago there were only 100 pairs.

And more fur seals……

 

 

As the sun starts going down and the wind picks up,  it makes the sand take on a different look…

 

 

Where does the sand come from? From the mountains of the Southern Alps on the west side of the South Island as well as the lands around Akaroa and Christchurch on the eastern side of the South Island, driven by wind and ocean currents and they meet at the Cape. Geologists now know that 10,000 tons of sand are deposited every day, every year for the last 3000 years. They can even analyze the sand to tell us what side of the South Island the sand has come from.

We have been out on the Spit for about 4 1/2 hours and we make a tea and muffin break at the Farewell Spit lighthouse…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

served up by our driver/guide/historian/geographer John…..

 

Back on bus for the ride back to Collingwood by about 9:45pm.

 

 

 

 

 

whale spotted…..

 

 

Who would have thought a ride on a giant sand dune for 6 1/2 hours would be so unbelievably fascinating? The massive size, the unique landscape, the changing colours, the wildlife, the history and the rocks was incredible.

And to think that one hour drive east and you can walk in subtropical forest and gigantic boulders and here is like the Arabian desert!

What a unbelievable country!