Farewell Spit and Golden Bay

Our time in New Zealand was growing short but we still had the whole northwest and west coast to see. We had been given lots of good ideas for places to stop and linger, but the weather was a bit unpleasant (at least not ideal for camping on the beach or swimming in the sea) and I (more than Michiel) was feeling the pressure of our rapidly approaching departure. We made a quick trip from the wine region past the famous Abel Tasman National Park (without really stopping, dare I say) and over the mountain to the Golden Bay area and beyond on the only road leading out to Farewell Spit, a 30 km/18 mile long sand spit. See satellite photo, below.



The spit is home to thousands of nesting birds, beautiful sand dunes, and an historic lighthouse. It is quite a danger to migrating whales as the shallow sand seems to screw up their sonar and they easily become stranded. The visitor centre even has a Whale Rescue Kit to handle the unfortunately common occurences.



Most of Farewell Spit is closed to regular traffic, but a couple of outfits have permits to bring groups in specially equipped buses out on the sand. On the day we went on our tour, we experienced 70 kph/42 mph winds and our trips out onto the sand dunes turned into exhilirating exfoliating treatments.





Returning the way we came, we passed areas with thousands of black swans and headed toward Golden Bay.

Golden Bay is a lovely region of funky towns and great beaches on the northern coast - but it has been discovered by tourists and didn't much feel like a place where we wanted to spend our few remaining days (apologies to Janet - a friend from the ice who lives there with her Kiwi husband). We made a quick visit to one of the more famous beaches in the area - Wharariki Beach to enjoy the rock formations and caverns.