Takaka, far north on the west coast of the South Island in Golden Bay. Hippie town! More Yoga pants and dreadlocks than anywhere else in New Zealand! And an interesting theatre…

In the morning, we walked the town a bit, then crossed glorious Southern Alps toward the Tasman Sea.

Our goal was the “Pancake Rocks”, a portion of a National Park on the coast that features bedded limestone that was eroded by the sea.

These were amazing! We arrived shortly after high tide but were still able to hear the thundering crashes and see the high splashes of the waves as they hit the limestone. The rocks are famous for blowholes as well as pancake formations.

The Pancake Rocks reminded me in an odd way of the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland, because of the interaction of interesting geological formations (limestone layers for pancakes and basalt columns for causeway) with powerful ocean waves. A big difference was that at the Causeway, we were allowed to run around on the rocks, climbing every which way, while the Pancake Rocks were far too dangerous for such activity. The pathways sometimes went over places that looked like solid rock, but actually had gaps beneath that went down hundreds of feet.

We stayed that night at a cottage just south of the Pancake Rocks site. Brian took pictures of the moon and Venus!

I thought I heard the thunder of waves at the next high tide in the middle of the night!

*****written by Clare****

Rain! We had hoped to kayak, but rain ruled the morning. Staying near the Golden Bay, we had a lot of options for activities… all of which were outdoors. So we decided to tough it out and head to Farewell Spit, a piece of land that juts into the ocean. 

By the time we starting walking out on the Spit, the rain had become a drizzle. We had stopped at the visitor center, but they had no maps to give us. We figured that since the Spit was so thin, and that you needed a permit to go very far, we could wing it.

There were tons of shells on the beach. Most of them were broken, but we still found plenty to collect.

We turned off the beach and onto a road. We figured we were headed…. somewhere inland, and hopefully we could make a loop out of it. The forest was full of thin, gnarled trees. They soon cleared to reveal grassy hills…

And the other side of the Spit: a second beach!!

That was, by far, the shortest walk from shore to shore I have ever done. I suppose it’s probably the only such walk I have ever done. At this point we wondered if we could turn our tramp into a loop. We weren’t sure: we knew what direction to start up this new beach, but there was no guarantee we could find another path across the land. We decided to retrace our steps. Along the way we ran into a surprise.

A quail family! How incredibly adorable! The little chicks, quaillings perhaps, were tiny. As we walked by on the road, the parents jumped up onto the ledge by the road to get away but most of the quallings could not scramble up that far. They ran about as we apologetically passed them.

I feel like this deserves two pictures. So cute! Anyway, by the time we once again reached the shore, it was nice and sunny.

Umbrellas make for good shade. We went up to the visitors center again and ate at their cafe.

Laura and I got the mysterious L&P, which graces many a menu here.

It was pretty good!

A view of the Spit from the cafe deck. The end of it extends past the edge of this photo. Impressive. Next we drove to the nearby Cape Farewell.

It was a really picturesque day (once the rain let up).

We spotted some seals on the rocks below.

And wandered up the grassy slope aways.

What a day! We are all glad we chanced the morning rain.
*****Written by Checkers*****

We left Blenheim without much clue as to what the South Island had in store for us. The short version? Beauty and the bugs. The long version? Keep reading.

We went to two really cool sites today: one from The Fellowship of the Ring, and one from The Hobbit. It is incredible that just from a few side trips, we can see so much from the movies.

I’m sure everyone remembers the hilarious and riveting scene from The Hobbit when the dwarves escape the Elvish lair in Mirkwood…. using wine barrels to travel down the river.

One of the sites they used to create those scenes was right at Pelorus Bridge.

It’s perfect!!! Right?

We had a lot of fun exploring around the rocks. We also took a short tramp to a suspension bridge over the river.

The bridge offered more views of the river. Plus walking through the forests here is really fun. There are dozens of different types of ferns, and moss drapes down the trees. We stopped for lunch by the sea, and continued on towards Golden Bay.

The next site we visited is a much more obscure scene, but we went off the road with determination. We were headed for Takaka Hill, which depicted the outskirts of Bree in The Fellowship.

Strider leads the hobbits into the woods.

“Where are you taking us?” The hobbits ask. “Into the wild,” is Strider’s answer. They disappear into the woods.

The South Island is pretty wild indeed. We’ve been having trouble finding reliable internet, so we apologize for the slow posts!

Cheers!

*****Written by Checkers*****

New Year’s Eve, Laura and Checkers went out for fun in Wellington.  There was a lot of live music in town, so I am sure they had a great time that night!

Brian and I stayed at our lovely bay-side B&B. I asked for a walk along the shore for a NYE adventure, but it turned out that people were setting off fireworks very near our place. So, we watched personal fireworks from our balcony to celebrate the new year. The next morning, it was off for a ferry ride to the South Island. Up until now, we had been on the Australian Plate. The big fault between the Australian Plate and the Pacific Plate, a fault much like the San Andreas, is on the South Island, and I for one, was looking forward to seeing the other side. It would not happen for another few days, however.

It was a cool, foggy morning. We could barely see the land while we were in the bay.

We started in the long bay on which we slept the previous three nights.

The ferry ride was windy!

This ferry was well equipped for the channel between the islands, the only part of the ride that was choppy. Getting to the South Island, we again went into a long, narrow bay before landing at Picton. We rented a car, drove to Blenheim and got a fancy dinner.

*****written by Clare*****