After spending a week in Nelson, Marc and I headed up further north to the golden bay area. Land of hippies the town smells on incense and patchouli. Sadly, while in town we did not participate in any sit ins.
We only had a 6 days in Takaka so felt short of time right upon arrival. The area is so beautiful and there are so many things to see and do, we're already planning to spend much more time in this area next year.
We spent our week in Takaka fishing in the Cob valley, visiting some absolutely amazing fresh water springs, hiking up to lake Sylvester in the Kahuragi national park and Marc got a shuttle up to Cannan Downs bike park where he got to scratch his mountain biking itch heading down the Ramaka track for the day.
We also found the time to hike up to some local caves. The area is mostly limestone and marble, making huge caves in the hills a common thing. We hiked to one only a few kilometers from our camp ground, a vast opening in the side of the mountain ringed with stalactites that looked like a monster's teeth. Very cool. We also headed to Harewood's hole, a cave with a diameter of 50 meters at the top and a chimney that goes down 167 meters!!!! Water used to cascade down it to an underground cave/waterway system. The tunnel is now dry though as fissures higher up have opened up over the years, meaning that the water flowing downhill hits a fissure sooner than at Harewood's. It was incredibly spooky to hike up to it. We were already part way down at the view point with limestone cliffs soaring overhead, and an ominous dark void of a drop below. Very impressive. We were VERY careful not to get too close to the edge.
Marc and I spent a day hiking and biking around the farewell spit area. The spit is ever growing and currently is a whopping 26 km long. The area is a bird sanctuary and is home to thousands of migratory waders who pop in on their way to and from their other homes. Unfortunately, it is also the site of numerous pilot whale beachings every summer. The sand spit renders their sonar guidance systems near useless as the poor beasts plow into the sand. Local volunteers turn up in droves to help float the whales back out to sea.
It's amazing how quickly a week touring around goes!
Now we are all set up in Picton, a small town in the Marlborough sounds. We spent today taking a scenic drive up the coast, checking out lots of little bays and inlets. Popped in at a cherry orchard to binge on the last of this year's cherries ($9 per pound straight from the orchard, I love how farmers here charge enough to actually attempt to make a living!!) We went on an amazing wine tour learning about the inner workings of a large winery, tastings included...yum... And as luck would have it we found a hydroponic strawberry farm where we stopped, picked a small basket of berries, and chatted with the growers for half an hour about their experience with the business. Very fun....very fiber filled. Thank goodness Marc and I will be outside all day long tomorrow hiking on the north section of the Queen Charlotte Track. We'll be spending 3 nights at a lodge on a private reserve on the northern tip of a section of the sounds hiking, swimming if the sun is out, and hopefully we'll get a kayak trip in too.
Hope that all is well in Winnipeg!!!
Erin
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