Taxi, spitting, roses

The whole Able Tasman Great Walk thing is more organized and much more popular than I thought. I figured, in my innocence, that you'd book your hut space, start on the appropriate day, and march or die. I figured there were contingency plans for those that don't complete their march for whatever reason, in that you don't want bodies cluttering up the pristine scenery. People would end up marching together, and you'd see the same faces at the huts throughout your walk. I figured a few dozen people at most in any one place.

But that would be less than optimal. They've got it organized. One can walk various parts of it as a day trip. There is a water taxi, of all things. They run people up and down the coast, since there are no roads for almost all of it in Able Tasman. They've got regular routes, and people can arrange for drop off or pickup at established times and places. We just took the scenic tour, not wanting to get off the boat.

There are kayaks involved, many of them. I'm not sure if people kayak to a beach, do a bit of an out and back on a trail, or if they've worked out a way to kayak to a beach, walk to a different beach, then get a different kayak. A swap arrangement, as it were.

The scenery is spectacular!

1. This is out of order for what seems to be a good reason to me. There was other beach art as well.

2. From the water taxi service. This is Split Apple Rock.

3. Combination Driftwood of the Day, and a beach shot. All the beaches on the trail were busy. More kayaks than I've ever seen in one day before.

4. Another Driftwood of the Day from a distant view.

5. The Swing Bridge. I'm glad the panorama worked out. These are tricky when shot from a boat.

6. Holes in rocks seem to be a big thing here. No, the boat didn't go through. A kayak would barely fit.

7. The broody Able Tasman coast. Shot from a boat doing a zillion knots. Between froths of spray. I'm happy to get one shot out of that.

8. Shag harbour is this tiny little bay only open at high tide to the daring and careful. If you look carefully you can see a rock in the water beside the boat. We are close enough to the rock wall on the right to touch it with your elbow.

9. A different spit, the one growing out from Motueka. It's much nicer than Farewell Spit. I got a ton of driftwood photos there, and it was a nice walk.

10. The actual Driftwood of the Day.

11. Another view of the spit.

12. The obligatory artsy shot.

13. Found on the beach. There was also lots of driftwood sculpture.

14. We visited a rose garden on the way home. As you might imagine, there are more photos.

And yes, we are enjoying ourselves.

A recovery day

Even the most hard core person training for the most hard core event imaginable, needs some recovery days. Here, we have walked about 47 K in the last 3 days on various beaches. And by we, I mean me. Linda has walked much more. Certainly more than 50K in total, and maybe more than 60. She walks down the beach, determined to get to the end and conquer all there is of it, from end to end.

So we did some shopping and enjoyed yet another fabulous lunch. I'm tidying up my notes, and doing some blogging background stuff. Researching activities for the rest of the week that do not involve the many treats to be had in the various cafes.


Here's some photos edited but not yet blogged.

1. The swanky digs in Dunedin.

2. A flower in Dunedin Botanical garden.

3. A private spiral staircase in the Dunedin art gallery.

4. Pretty sure this is Ocean View beach.

5.

 6. The cliffs above Aramoana beach were amazing. Love the optimistic vegetation in the rocks.

7.

8.

9.

10. Another view of the rock Linda found and wanted to bring home. Pity it would kill our baggage allowance, and I'm pretty sure it's happy right there.

11.

12. The obligatory artsy shot.

13. Do you see the faces?

14. Driftwood of the Day

They cheated on the spit

However they had to pay big time to do so. But to begin at the beginning. Or at least as at the beginning as blogger ordering photos will let me. You will recall that yesterday was a tough drive over the Takaka Hill. (Note that when they say it's a wide road, remember this is an example of Kiwi humour. There are driveways in Calgary that are wider than most of that road.)

I did it again today, to get all the way up to Farewell Spit. There were a couple beaches we wanted to stroll.

1. This is the view from the parking area for Wharariki Beach. You have to hike about a Km up and over that hill. Then through some bush. Then through some dunes.

2. But you are rewarded with this view from the dunes.

3. Plus the obligatory artsy photo(s) taken in various parts of the dunes.

4.

5. Driftwood of the Day. I can see where this one might give people some funny ideas. It just so happens that the night before I watched chunks of Dune.

6. A closer view of those islands.

7. And closer yet.

8. More dunes.

9. Linda exploring a mostly quiet little shallow area.

From there we walked the inside of the spit, Linda going as far as the sign forbidding further access because of the seabird colony there. It wasn't that nice to walk, lots of shells on the beach and the driftwood was so-so, but the background usually killed the desired shot. Then we went across the dunes to the ocean side. What a difference!

10. Surprise! Another obligatory artsy shot from Ocean beach, on the (naturally) ocean side of Farewell Spit.

11. It was brilliant and harsh. There was a really strong wind lashing the sand along. Strong as in hard to walk in, and that's before the sting of the sand blasting. We were only there a few minutes and gave up. Linda was joking we had sandruff. If we'd got there first we might have toughed it out, but we'd already done lots of walking.

12. But it did make for interesting sand patterns.

13. Here's the cheat. For big dollars, people could ride a tour bus out to the beach and along to the end, viewing the sand in comfort. We earned our dinner! We laughed at them as we dodged getting run over. The practical side of me wonders what sort of filters they have on that engine.

Beach X 3

More beach photos for you to suffer through. At first we were a bit nervous, since it was almost raining as we got up. The forecast for where we were thinking about going said it might rain later. We went anyways, though the road there is challenging. Up and over, twisting and turning the whole way. There are 5 places there was a landslide that took out one lane of road, so there is a stop light controlling one way traffic. This drive is a workout.

Then the beaches. Pohara, Patons Rock, and Parapara. All big, beautiful, golden sand, perfect for strolling, and nearly empty. Big, as in kilometers long, and really wide when the tide is out. Only 4 or 5 people on each, at the most, on a perfect summer day. Warm, a bit of a wind, sunny, I could go on but you get the picture. These are shallow, in that when the tide is out there is a long flat space, which is why these are so kid friendly. Some of the other beaches we've been on I wouldn't go into the surf no matter how much I was paid.

Linda discovered some shells. I discovered lots of interesting driftwood. I know it's just killing you to look at sunny warm beach photos, as Calgary wakes up to -5C. We don't miss it a bit, though we do miss our kitties.

1. This was actually one of the last photos of the day. Linda was going to wash out that shell and see if I could get some nice shots of it.

2. Does it matter which beach Linda is exploring?

3.

4. Look carefully between the horns. There is a tiny dot at the water's edge, and that is Linda. Trust me.

5. Lots of driftwood sculpture.

6. Some of the shells.

7. Last beach of the day. We weren't sure how long we'd go for, since we had already had two long walks. Still, we were feeling good. We had a yummy light lunch at the Dangerous Kitchen, and after the last beach a wonderful meal at the Mussel Inn. We are planning another day past Collingwood, and we'll probably eat there again.

8.

9. Pity about my shadow, but there was no way to avoid it.

10. Obligatory artsy shot

Driftwood of the Day