Cape Foulwind

We drove back to Motueka. The rugged North doesn't connect well to the West coast. But it was nice to visit the salt pools one more time. We spent the night high up in the hills, with a great view of sunset. It's one of the few mountain passes that connect the majority of South Island to its West coast. The West coast gets hit hardest by rain and wind. This is also where the terrain is steepest, New Zealand's "Southern Alps". And blackflies are worse here than anywhere else in the country. For these reasons, the fewest people live here, but it's also the most beautiful.

The first place we came to on the coast was Cape Foulwind. Abel Tasman originally called it Rocky Cape. But James Cook renamed it for the strong winds that blew him off course. Even the first explorers were not particularly impressed with these lands.

We drove to the headland, but instead of visiting the popular lighthouse at the top, we climbed down. A long beach that was wide due to low tide was closed in by a steep cliff face. Big boulders and limestone ridges made it a scenic walk. But the highlight were two large cave tunnels carved through the layered rock. Because of the ebbing tide, we could walk straight through.

Once we were through the caves, we scrambled over more boulders until we came to another small beach. A waterfall was trickling down the cliff on one side. And on the other side, the rock wall cut into the sea. We couldn't explore further than that. But it was a nice place to go for a swim and enjoy the isolated spot in the sun. Our own private beach, real paradise.

On the way back, we spotted lots of large mussels. So we grabbed as many as we could carry. They were going on the stove tonight. We caught so many, we needed to split them over two pots. Yum!

We heard about a seal colony on the other side of the headland. So we drove around and did a short walking trail. The view down into a protected crevasse gave us a peek into their undisturbed lives, swimming, playing, relaxing. And the views along the coast were great!Read more