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  • Day 467

    The top of the South Island

    May 29, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 6 °C

    We spent last night at the beach front freedom camping spot we used a couple of nights ago. Today we went on a tour of Farewell Spit, a huge sand spit at the very top of the South Island. Where we camped was actually 2 and a half hours south of where our tour left from but due to the tides it didn't start until 11.30 so we had plenty of time to make the journey up this morning. Before we left town we went to The Warehouse and finally gave in to the cold and bought sleeping bags. We are so excited to use these tonight! After a rather scenic windy drive we made it to Collingwood and joined 5 other people on a huge 4WD bus ready to hit the sand. We managed to see a tui just before we got on the bus in a nearby tree, now we know what they sound like I expect this will be a common occurrence. Everyone else on the tour was at least double our age and three siblings had come together to celebrate one of the sisters 80th birthday. When she found out it's Nick's birthday on the 1st she was other the moon and we all had to sing as she hugged him. Nick spent a lot of time talking to her brother inbetween our guide telling us things. We stopped firstly at the most northern point of the South Island, Cape Farewell. Rather fortunately the point has a large picturesque arch that has been carved into the rock point by crashing waves. It was a lovely place to just stand and soak in the view and the sound of the waves below. There was even a couple of seals on the rocks sunbathing. After Nick heroically opened the gate again for our bus to leave the area we headed to the spit itself. We discovered that the company we were with are the only ones allowed to drive on the spit except for conversation workers. Also if you are walking from the carpark you can only travel 4km out towards the end of the spit so we were able to travel much further than anyone is allowed to go. As we drove we learnt about all the different birds we passed and we even passed quite a few seals, including a little baby one. A huge tree trunk with branches still attached lay on the sand which apparently had been brought in during the last big storm and now provides some nice shade for the birds. It was quite hard to believe that while on our tour we were higher up than Wellington is on the North Island. I didn't realise the islands overlapped so we were closer to the equator than parts of the North Island above us which was quite hard to get your head around. We had a pit stop at the lighthouse which surprisingly is about 10km inland of the end of the spit. It lies in the most densely tree protected area and is far enough inland to be on quite solid ground. Here they had 3 old light keeper houses that are mainly used by conservation workers now a days. We had tea and cake in one of the houses and ate some of our packed lunch in the sunshine. After we'd all finished we hopped back on the bus and visited one of the sand dunes. We climbed up to the very top which gave you wonderful views of Golden Bay on one side and the sea beyond on the other. The higher vantage point really showed you how narrow but long this naturally formed sand area is. Once at the top there was only one way we had to come down which was almost gliding down the steepest side with sand up to your knees. Nick even ran back up the side somehow to give it another go. He was mighty puffed afterwards though. As we drove back to town we were treated to a glorious full moon rising out over the ocean and by the time we got back the moon was high in the sky and it was pitch black. After saying goodbye to everybody we decided to try and make it to the first freedom camping spot we passed on our way up. It was about a 40 minute drive so we arrived quite late but still managed to get a spot behind a digger. We thoroughly enjoyed today and it just showed to us that age is just a number and you can have a good time with anyone. After all one of the almost 80 year old women we met bungee jumped off the Auckland Sky Tower only last week!Read more