Cape Farewell

We drove further North along the coast to reach the top of the West coast at Wairariki beach. On the road we did a couple of stops which were well worth it.
First one was a visit to the Ngarua cave. A cave that has been only properly researched in the 90's. They created an easy walkway of 350m up to 25m deep. Along the way we saw all sorts of stalagmites, stalactites and columns. We discovered straws stalactites which are very pretty and look very fragile. In this cave they also found bones of Moas, a type of bird which is now extinct. They were a big ostrich like animal. We held its tibia which was quite heavy!

Next stop was the little town of Takaka. Similar to most towns on the main road, the shops are on the main street and we found a little café with tasty treats. Looking around us we realised that Takaka is full of hippies and hippie shops. This might be explained by its proximity to the sacred place of Te Waikoropupu Springs. Around 14,000L of water per second bubble up from the underground vents making it the largest freshwater spring in the Southern hemisphere! Even without this title, it was magical. The colour of the water and the vegetations around are vibrant. The photographes speak for themselves.

Finally after another hour drive we arrive at our campsite near the Wairariki beach. We decided to have a quick look at the beach before dinner as it is a little 1km walk. The beach was beautiful but what struck us was the wind! It was so powerful that James had to run twice to get his cap back! So strong that it was hard to walk against it. We managed to take a couple of pictures and went back to the calm of our campsite.
Next day and we woke up with the happy news that the wind had stopped! Quick breakfast in the sun and here we are again on the beach. A lot nicer experience this time! We didn't linger to much though the currents are so powerful it's dangerous to swim there. We continued walking along the coastline and managed to get some nice views of the cliffs and the farewell spit. This spit is 35km long and is a renowned bird sanctuary. Although we just saw seagulls and swans it was impressive to walk a bit on the spit and cross some nice dunes.

We head back the way we can along the coast for our last night on the Cape, a cute little campsite right on the beach and this one isn't as windy so we managed to have a little aperitif on the sand before dinner.

As you can see on the pictures we were very lucky with the weather again, beautiful blue skies, which helped to make this experience perfect!Read more