Wwoofing Pupu Valley

We spent 2 1/2 weeks wwoofing with Sam, Jed and Connor. They're three American guys who moved over to NZ and get a house together in the Pupu Valley in Takaka. We've done loads of garden work for themRead more
We spent 2 1/2 weeks wwoofing with Sam, Jed and Connor. They're three American guys who moved over to NZ and get a house together in the Pupu Valley in Takaka. We've done loads of garden work for them (Jake built some pretty good stairs) and spent quite some time with their dogs Sheila, Udo and Aegon. We had some nice, although few, dinners together and on Thursdays we went to see Jed play his guitar and in town.Read more
Lovely short walk through limestone blocks draped with roots of northern rātā to a viewpoint over the surrounding area. Jake obviously had to climb up the rocks. On our way back we saw two tiny calves 🐄Read more
A couple of pictures from the surrounding beaches in Golden Bay: Ligar Bay, Pohara Beach, Tata Beach, the Abel Tasman Monument lookout and Wainui Bay.
A resurgence is created when a river temporarily goes underground, before emerging again through a cliff face (often at very cold temperatures). The Riwaka Resurgence emerges from the depths of the Takaka Hill in the Kahurangi National Park and is fed by the limestone passages and marble cracks that have formed within the cave over the years. The water is about 4°C, so a swim was off the cards.
Afterwards we went to the sunday market in Motueka where we met Jörg and Nadine and then Jana. Jörg told us about this woman that sells german bakery goods on the market and we got ourselves a Brezel (pretzel for the brits). It was sooo good! The first one we had since leaving Germany.Read more
After the Nelson Lakes we drove to Blenheim where we spent the day walking through town, relaxing and doing the Wairau Lagoons Walkway, an easy walk along the lagoons shoreline. During the walk we came past the wreck of the T. S. S. Waverley. The last picture is of a very interesting looking plant that's growing all along the walkway.Read more
In the Nelson Lakes National Park we hiked the 10 km long Mount Robert Circuit which offers great views over Lake Rotoiti. Afterwards we jumped of the famous jetty into the lake to cool off.
The Box Canyon Cave is a huge dry cave that can be explored with just a headlamp. We went inside and had a good look around, exploring all the interesting features inside the cave.
The Moria Gate Arch is 43 m wide, 19 m high and its ceiling is covered with stalactites.
We drove along the Lewis Pass from Kaikoura on the east coast to Westport on the west coast. From there we went north to Karamea and then even more north to the Oparara Basin which is located in the Kahurangi National Park. Located in the Oparara Basin are the Oparara Arch and the Moria Gate Arch as well as the Crazy Caving and Box Canyon Caves.
The Oparara Arch is 219 m long and with sides 79 m apart and a roof 43 m above the river that carved it. The Oparara River is coloured red because of natural tannins that are being washed into the river by rain from the surrounding forest.Read more
After our whale watch tour we hiked up to a lookout point on Mount Fyffe. We got some good views over the Kaikoura Peninsula and the Kaikoura Ranges.
The last picture was from sunrise at our camping spot in Waipara.Read more