Driving, Cape Foulwind, Pancakes and Pounamu

Oh no, Juliet, don't leave Koala behind!

It was a long day of driving from Golden Bay to Westport. And I am glad that we didn't decided to drive any further that day. Any more driving and the beauty of the place all blurs into one long car ride and takes the fun out of the trip.
Most of the day was spent heading over the mountains and down the Buller River gorge to the wild west coast. There were several wonderful road side fruit stalls and an aborted picnic at a place the kids aptly dubbed "sandfly river" (we ate in the car, with the windows up), but mostly we drove on enjoying the scenery as it passed by. And luckily the weather gods are still on our side with fantastic blue skies all the way.

Views of Tauranga Bay, Cape Foulwind

Westport is our stopover point where we checked in to our next Top 10 for the night. Westport is kind of a gloomy town, being on the dieing side of the coal mining industry, and lashed with the wild west coast weather, but we did make it in time to check out the Fur Seal Colony at Cape Foulwind which was well worth the stop!

The stunning beach at Tauranga Bay, Cape Foulwind

Cape Foulwind Lighthouse

Cape Foulwind was named by Captain Cook who encountered the famous west coast weather on his trip through the area in 1770. It took his ship three months to pass this cape, poor souls. It's surprising that his name for the Cape wasn't a bit ruder! The walk out to the Fur Seal Colony was the perfect way to stretch out the car cramps and the baby fur seals were just adorable. Once you adjusted your eyes there were heaps of them bouncing around under rocks waiting for mum to come home and feed them. Lucky for us we still had the stunning weather to highlight the pristine beach that stretches along this lonely, seemingly forgotten coastline. 

In the morning we are off to check out the Glaciers!

Punakaiki Coastline, one of Lonely Planet's top ten most scenic drives

Sister Power

The drive from Westport to Glacier Country is rated by Lonely Planet to be one of the top ten most scenic drives in the world. Sadly our pact with the good weather god ended and we awoke to rain. I suppose it had to happen and truth be told the weather added a bit of mystery to the surrounds. The mountains were wreathed it low lying clouds and seemed both distant and intimate at the same time. Huge cliffs dripping with water and ancient vegetation plunge into the storm swept seas that churned with giant sea kelp and rolling breakers. Lonely planet did not lie, it's dramatic scenery whatever the weather.

Walking through the fields of flax to see the Pancake Rocks

We stopped at Punakaiki to view the famous pancake rocks that stick out into the ocean here. They are made from limestone, but geologists are still puzzled as to why they developed such a unique look to them. The rain had lifted enough to allow us to take the walk around the rocks and view platforms. It is very well laid out for visitors and with all the Chinese tourists that are starting to flood the tourism sector here I would say it's a good thing. Clara had her picture taken by several Asian tourists all in love with her bronze-red hair!

Pancake Rocks, Punakaiki

Pancake Rocks

And it's back on the road. Once past Greymouth the scenery starts changing and you can feel the presence of the glaciers up in the hidden mountains above us. These are the Great Southern Alps that we are starting to encounter and every few kilometers or so that we drive south we cross another raging glacial river running out of the hills. These mountains and rivers are where the pounamu (Nephrite Jade) was traditionally harvested by the Maori, something they used as money and status. They would travel long distances and fight many a battle to come into possession of this most sacred taonga (treasure). Looking at the raging rapids and milky glacial waters I have a new found respect for those first settlers of New Zealand who traveled through this inhospitable country.

The kids are good troopers and we stop whenever needed - even by the side of one such raging glacial river! At one turn off we made a stop to see if we could fossick out any jade, but the sand flies were too big for us to stay long.

Finally we arrived in the little town of Fox Glacier, a town built solely on the tourist trade servicing the glacier. Tomorrow we are going back in geological history to climb one of the last vestiges of the ice age - the Fox Glacier.

Campsite for the night.... In the shadow of giants....

Of Caves, Car Rides and Cherries

After hiking for the past five days continuously it seems a bit odd to be sitting in a car. But for once the kids were not whinging about a long car ride. Gee, their legs must be tired!

We're driving from Picton to Golden Bay, at the North West end of the South Island. It's about five hours by car, but we've got all day. First stop is to pick up some fresh cherries from one of the local cherry orchards. There is just nothing in this culinary world like South Island Cherries right from the tree.

It's quite a windy day and I am glad we are not going along the ridge top today. As it is we spend the morning driving through the famous vineyards which surround Blenheim saying hello to all the grape vines that produce some of our favorite wines.

And then it's onwards, through Nelson to Motueka where we stopped for a quick picnic. It was good to stretch our legs before heading up, up, up the winding road that goes over the marble mountain of Takaka and into Golden Bay. I think the isolation of only having one road in and out is one of the things that makes Golden Bay so special. Well, that and the fact that it is just so beautiful!

At the top of the Takaka Hills is a very special place that we promised the kids we would stop at.

Ngarua Caves. When I visited them in 2005 I thought they were absolutely old school and totally worth the stop! Let's hope they live up to the billing.

Tours led by an old farmer through the limestone caves are every hour, on the hour, during summer and so we pay our fee and get our hard hats. The farmer unlocks the padlock and in we go entering a subterranean network of limestone tunnels, huge stalagmites and dripping stalactites. Being in a cave always makes me feel as though I am invading the earth, and that somehow I am not meant to be here in this magical world. The curvature of the stalactites that hang down in graceful collums have been slowly growing here for thousands of years. How young does it make a mere human like myself feel to witness the slower timescale of geology?

Geological Splendor

And the cave is a record book of New Zealand's animal life too. The cave network has many vents that go up to the surface and which many animals have fallen down over the years, trapped to die of their injuries or starvation. There are bones from kiwi birds and even the extinct Moa bird.

Out we climb

Look mum, we found a Moa!

While looking at the femur of the huge legs one unfortunate Moa it gives you the sense of how tall they really were. To imagine that New Zealand once had these enormous birds walking on it not more than six hundred years ago boggles the mind. Geology may take it's time, but extinction can happen in a mere blink of an eye.

The kids thought the cave was great, and I am glad that it hasn't changed much in the nine years since I was last here. It seems like so much of the world has moved on that revisiting a place that has remained intact sends a little wave of peace down my spine. We spend a little time exploring the Karst landscape around the caves (where scenes from the hobbit were recently filmed) before heading down, down, down off the mountain into Golden Bay itself and our Top Ten Campground.

Walking down from the cave through the spectacular Middle Earth scenery and Tasman Bay.

These campgrounds are one of my favorite things about traveling around New Zealand with the kids. From what I've seen you always get a good location, you get good quality and the kids are always well looked after.

One like to cook, the other doesn't. Can you tell?

Tonight there is a kids movie set up for after dinner so the kids swap their after dinner dish duties for the dinner making itself so they won't miss out. And after all the dishes are dried Randall and I have the chance to walk hand in hand along the beach and enjoy the long, long evening.

Golden Bay Selfie!

Appreciate what you have, love your family, enjoy nature. Life is good.