We cruise along Farewell Spit - part 1

Happy Birthday Geoff!
Today was such a massive day we’ve decided to post it in two parts. We had a VERY early start, with the alarm waking us at 5.15, and we were waiting at the roadside for our pickup at 10 past 6! Over 30km in length, Farewell Spit is one of the longest recurved sand spits in the world. The Spit has been formed by the longshore Westland current depositing sand which originated in the Southern Alps. More sand is constantly being added to the Spit and so its size is gradually increasing.
With about 9,400 hectares of tidal flats on the inner side, the Spit is recognised as one of the most important habitats for wading birds in the world and is classified as a Nature Reserve, which means it has greater protected status than even our National Parks. Although people are permitted to walk the first 2km on the inside beach and 4km on the outside beach, to access the rest of the Spit you have to take a ride with the sole tour operator.
There were 11 of us plus the driver on the 4WD bus. We passed through a locked gate onto the start of the inside beach, where we travelled for about 1km before turning left and crossing a bumpy and sandy track to the Western side. We were very fortunate with the weather – it was a beautiful day, with no wind, and we were surprised to see very little surf on the outside beach. The tours run at low tide (hence our early start today), and the bus travels between the low and high tide marks, as anything above the high tide mark is out of bounds. All we could see as we looked ahead was miles and miles of flat pale sand, seemingly all the way to the horizon. With the low pale sea sparkling to the left of us, and low pale sand dunes rippling away to the right of us, at times it looked like we were in the middle of a moonscape. And a bit eerie to think we were the only ones there.
Tens of thousands of migratory birds visit the spit each spring/summer, including knots (which arrive from Siberia via Asia and Australia), turnstones, and the remarkable godwits, which grow a whole new set of feathers to replace all their worn-out ones while they are here. The godwits fly non-stop all the way from Alaska to feed up here, before returning to the Arctic Circle to breed and subsequently leave their young. Once their young have fledged, how do they know that this Spit is where they migrate to, and how do they find their way here?
We stopped a number of times as the driver pointed out various birds or the occasional fur seals lolling on the beach. One stop was at the remains of a willow tree that had been washed up in 2010 (along with sections of 2 bridges, a fridge, and a TV) after floods on the West Coast. The only thing to break the unending flatness the entire length of the beach, the tree’s shapes and shadows looked amazing in the early morning light. We were also able to make out Mount Taranaki on the horizon, on the North Island’s West Coast. Apparently it is only clear enough to see this on about 50 days of the year.
About 1km from the end of the Spit is a lighthouse, which until the mid-1970’s was permanently staffed. There are several old houses there which the lighthouse keepers and their families lived in, and one of them is now used for accommodation for DOC workers. This is where we had our morning tea (at about 8.30am!)
Stay tuned for Part 2!Leia mais