Wharariki Beach - Dec 30, 2010

Another early morning today. We picked up a rental car around 9am and made our way out to Wharariki Beach. It was a really beautiful drive that had us wind our way over the mountain into Takaka, then along Golden Bay to the very top of the South Island, the point where the paved roads stop.






Old Man Rock:


We parked the car and did a quick 20 minute hike across some farmland to get to the beach. This is the home of the Archway Islands. This area isn't found in very many guide books, for the most part it's only known by the locals. It was a pretty incredible beach:
















Here's another cave that is hidden during high tide:



Next drove to Puponga and walked out along the Farewell Spit. This is a giant sand bar that extends for about 24kms. Stolen from Wikipedia:

The northern side of the dunes are steeper and unstable being constantly exposed to the prevailing winds which average over 25 km/h. The southern side, that which faces Golden Bay is more stable and largely covered with vegetation. The tide here can recede as much as seven kilometres exposing some 80 square kilometres of mud flats; a rich feeding ground for the many sea birds in the area but also a death trap to the frequently stranded whales.

Part of the beach along the way was almost entirely sea shells:


Admittedly, the walk along the spit was boring and quite windy. I don't think we'd ever do it again, but it was pretty cool once we finally made it to the sand dunes. We climbed up a hill and on the other side the landscape transformed into a desert!





From here we started making our way back towards Nelson and stopped at Pupu Springs to stretch our legs and walk around for a bit. This is the largest fresh water spring in New Zealand. The water is among the clearest in the world.