Golden Bay - Motueka Day 3

This is the backpackers that we stayed for few nights.. wonderful place, friendly host! And amazing breakfast!









Our room was pretty amazing, 6 bed dorms, not bad if you have friends to fill it up.



Another room and lounge. There's an Imac for anyone who wants to use or go online. Just drop some coins on the bottle provided. Cool!

 

We start our day by visiting Wharariki Beach, one of the famous beaches in New Zealand. It's not hard to find the beach, and doesn't require great fitness, or long walks. One can just drive from Collingwood town to the end Wharariki Road, and it takes about an hour only to get there. You can park you car/caravan for free in the carpark and walk another 20 minutes to the beach. 



Best time of course is during the low tide. Please check and make sure the weather is good, and low tide or you'll be pretty much disappointed and wet! There's no cover during the short walk to the beach, and definitely no man-made covers either on the beach. Some small caves perhaps, but you're risking life is the tide level increase and rain does not stop. Anyway, not to scare you away, just to give some tips for a much more pleasant trip. Hehe..

Another tips, it's either wear an unwanted shoes or easier to clean shoes as there's plenty of shits along the way to the beach. It's crazy.. shit is practically everywhere... every foot you step... madness! After walking for 15 minutes, you'll see this dark-colored river. Pay some attention, as you might be lucky to see some seals swimming around. I saw 3..

It was like a barren wasteland when we first reach the sandy part of the walk. Not the typical beach that i'm expecting, but something different. Windy, sandy, and wash out. 

Apparently, the nicer part of the beach was like another 30min to an hour walk and too bad, we don't have the time nor luck with the weather initially. However, it was not that bad… nice view, cool breeze and after hanging out a while.. the sun and the blue sky decided to appear once again! Perfect1

Took some photos before moving on to the next destination, Cape Farewell. The sky doesn't look that good though, with rain clouds emerging from god knows where. The weather in New Zealand changes drastically all the time. One can not have the perfect plans and got to change accordingly. We get back on the Wharariki Road, and head straight to Cape Farewell, which is about 10 minutes from the Wharariki Beach car park.

It's another short walk to the lookout from Cape Farewell car park, about 5 min i guess.. a two interesting trees greeted us at the entrance.



The lookout was pretty high, and it was an amazing sight from there. It looks so grand. However, my leg doesn't seems to feels so.. haha.. kinda scary looking down from there. I got weak knees from that!  Imaging what i'm going to feel during the sky diving on coming Sunday. Oh la la…

After a while there.. it started to rain… damn… we rush back to the car. After few minutes, it seems to clear a little bit though but we decided to call it a day. Upon exiting the car park, we drove past a farmhouse, with lots of sheep gathered in the fences. There were 2 guys and few dogs chasing the sheep into smaller enclosure. We was wondering what is going on. Little lamb was separated from it's mother.. and next, we saw something unpleasant. Wait, we smell it first.. it was a burning smokey smells and we noticed the little lamb was handled one by one, the tails are dock using a burning clips or something that cuts and burn at the same time. Pardon my knowledge but it reminds me of how vet used to dock puppies tail off. The burning was actually used to seal the wound and prevent secondary infection and unnecessary blood loss. It was a very quick process, but too far for me to take a shot. Another eye opening experience!

Get back to the car with a eerie feeling and kinda distracted by the little lamb's crying… but it's agricultural and hygiene. IMO, it prevents shits from sticking on the precious wools. Something quite similar to the reason why some working dog's tails are docked. Either to prevent injuries during work or hygiene purposes, especially for those long coated dogs.

Anyway, we head back to Collingwood town to get some food for dinner as it's getting late. Surprisingly, there's little to no choices for food over there… sad.. and we decided to drive to Takaka town to get some food instead. It takes about 20 minutes to get there.. and not much choices either. Either you cooked it yourself, or fish & chips! Well, I'm a fan for good fish & chips… and i'm glad we pick the right shop. 

However, it was not as straight forward as it sounds. We gotta wait for the shop to open at 4.30pm. We waited patiently around.. and finally, an Aussie guy came, open the doors and take our orders. He was a friendly guy, and his fish n chips is great! Not to mention, it's cheap too! After getting our orders, we drove back to the backpackers to enjoy the fish n chips with our grape juice from Seafried! Isn't that nice? Sitting outside under the sun, cool breeze, refreshing juice and yummy fish and chips. Great combination and great way to enjoy the evening...

Feel free to read the first 2 days of my trip here @ Golden Bay - Motueka Day 1 & 2

Golden Bay - Motueka Day 1 & 2

Finally, after 4 months of work, one in the vineyard, and three with Harvey Norman Blenheim, NZ.. it's time to take a break and go for a holiday. 2 of my friends came back from their Fiji and North Island holidays and joining 3 of us here for the next trip. Our plan was spending a week around Motueka - Golden Bay region, and the Abel Tasman National Park.

This is must be one of the early backpackers job, hanging their worn out shoes on the fences. From there, it became a tradition for most backpackers who pass by that area.. hanging more and more shoes! It was an interesting sight!

We left Blenheim on Tuesday morning… and our first stop was Nelson. Our initial plan was to stay a night in Nelson, but it's boring here.. besides, we came here before, and nothing much to do. Had our lunch in Nelson Oriental Restaurant, which is just so so... dont really recommend anyone to go there.

So, after some shopping at Kathmandu and lunch, we head straight to a small town called Collingwood, near the Farewell Spit of the Golden Bay.  This old man from the construction site was pretty happy to be taken photo. 

Halfway through, we stop by at Seafried Winery and Cellar Door, the first winery we've visited in NZ, and here we are again…. for the grape juice, not wine! LOL… at $5 a bottle, it's a nice juice! Don't blame me… i'm not a big fans of white wine here and the red is just so so… As we were wine tasting, i went on to sign the visitor book and guess what, it's either nobody (i mean, few..) visited them or those visitors just not interested to leave some comments. My 2nd signature and comments is still on the very same page. Hahaha.. after 4 months, still same page, what a pity!

So after the wine tasting and bought 6 bottles of grape juice, we continue our journey...We pass through Motueka town, and the hilly road started. It was pretty crazy and winding.. corners here and there non stop. Some are pretty tight. How i wish I'm here with a motorbike. Cornering heaven! LOL

We have to drive up the Takaka hill before going down to the town itself. A pretty amazing sight i would say… simply breathtaking!! 

We stop at Takaka town while looking for the address and vacancy of backpackers. The first choice was The Innlet, as recommended by some friends. However, to our disappointment, and answering machine took our call… saying… they are still closed for the winter! WTF!!! No choice but to look around the BBH booklet for the next backpacker. We chose Somerset Backpacker in Collingwood, as it got pretty good rating, free breakfast and near to Farewell Spit. It was a good decision. The owner, an englishman, Chris and japanese wife, Hiromi greeted us with warm welcome. Both of them are so friendly, and the place was homey. Nobody stay there but us, all 5 of us! That is cool! According to them, the season just about to start, and they just reopen for 2 weeks. Cool! We're in luck!

It was already evening when we reach there, so we decided to get some rest for the next day.

It was not a lovely morning the very next day. We were greeted by light rain and clouds! Deng! But the free breakfast was yummy! Homemade bread and local bush honey is just so tasty. Cant stop eating slice after slice. Coupled with a cup of hot coffee, it made my day a lot nicer! Hehe..

Joy, greeted us in the morning with his soulful eyes.. begging for foods but we are not allowed to! He is one of the clever and obedient dog! The owner show us, that without his permission, Joy wouldnt eat the dog biscuit right in front of him. That's a cool trick!  She was saying... No... No... No.... then Yes, there goes the greedy Joy.

The two girls were afraid of Joy, but Joy mean no harm! He's just too cute! haha.. Sitting there watching the two girls as he patiently waiting for some foods. Sorry Joy, we cant do that! You're obese!

 As the rain begins to slowed down, we start preparing and head to Farewell Spit. Chris and Hiromi was kind enough to show us what's nice to visit around there with an informative piece of yellow map and places of interest. Our plan was to visit Wharariki Beach, Cape Farewell and Pillar Point. Wharariki Beach, rated one of the most beautiful beaches around New Zealand, was indeed amazing! There's one thing to keep in mind though, make sure to visit only during low tides. That's the only way you could maximise the beach exploration.

I'll update the blog with Day 3 and Day 4 photos pretty soon, it takes a little bit of time as our internet connection in the backpackers is so unstable and slow! Haizzz.....