We didn't get up quite as bright or early as intended, but hey - we're on vacation! We got into our swimming suits and had a quick granola bar breakfast before heading to the Wainui Falls trailhead at about 10:30. It was a gorgeous day with clear skies in every direction - a very welcome sight. On the way out, we saw the sign for Golden Bay Kayaks, and we were considering it, but also wanted to do a hike on the Abel Tasman. We shelfed the idea and continued to the carpark. Our guidebook indicated that it was possible to swim in the pool at the base of the falls, so we cruised up the 30 minute trail, hoping to take a dip. Along the way, there was a cool swingbridge and at the end we found the falls, with the pool as promised. We also found that the pool was nearly as cold as Doubtful Sound, but that certainly didn't stop us. We took turns jumping in and taking footage, and a family that we had passed on the way up came and joined in the fun. The father and adult son took the plunge briefly, mentioned something about shrinking testicles, and climbed back up to the trail. The black flies were getting ferocious, so we headed back towards the car.
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| Wainui Falls |
One sweet experience down, two to go. We kept on driving to the western terminus of the Abel Tasman trail, just a few km down the road. As we looked at the map and tried to decide on our destination, a European couple walked up and started chatting with us. Unsolicited, they mentioned that they had gone kayaking the day before and it was totally amazing. We asked if they had made a reservation - nope, they just walked right up and rented it on the spot. We looked at each other, got into the car, and drove back towards the kayaking place. We found the proprietor in the process of renting kayaks to several other people, so it took awhile to actually get in the water, but it was fine because Clark was busy making friends with the locals.
By the time we started, it was about 1:30. There was a bit of wind, and the water was choppy due to an afternoon sea breeze, but the mesmerizing water color and rock formations more than made up for the extra work. We skirted along the shoreline, paddling between giant rocks, past a mussel farm, and into a tidal basin that had been empty that morning when we drove to Wainui Falls. We found a sheltered beach and pulled the kayak on shore. It was like having our own temporary lagoon. We splashed around, had a snack, and relaxed on the beach for awhile, and decided we ought to head back. The waves and wind had calmed somewhat, so our return journey was much smoother, and we got to explore the formations a bit more.
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| A sampling of Golden Bay shoreline |
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| Clark reprising her paddle guitar role |
We got back to Tata Beach around 4pm, ready to start our last adventure of the day: Wharariki Beach (pronounced far-a-ricky).We drove about an hour west, out to the farthest reaches of the South Island. There is sort of a 3-in-1 attraction there: Farewell Spit, an arm of land that stretches out into the sea and is home to tons of bird species (cool, but not really our thing), Cape Farewell, which is a gorgeous bluff region between Farewell Spit and our primary goal, Whaririki Beach. All of these are located within about 5 miles of each other, so we popped into the visitor center, took a look at the map, and drove down to the Pillar Point lighthouse track, making a 30 minute climb for some panoramic views of the area. It was already almost 6, so we headed over to the Whaririki carpark and started the 20 minute hike to the beach. You wouldn't believe there was even a beach out there judging by the large sheep station we crossed through to get there. Instead of relying on visitors to open and close gates (I wouldn't trust tourists either!) they constructed stairs to walk over the fences between paddocks. Soon enough we could see the farmland turning into sand dunes, and we came over one last dune to see the ocean. Jaw dropping, gorgeous, stop dead in your tracks scenery. This wasn't just any beach. We pretend-slalomed down the sand dune and walked toward the water. I don't think it would have been nearly as impressive during high tide, but since it was near low tide, the beach was exposed for a few hundred meters. We walked down towards the water to explore a cavern, and as the waves were crashing against the massive rock formations, we noticed that the sand was quite wet.
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| Farewell Spit as seen from Pillar Point |
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| Cape Farewell |
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| The trail to Wharariki Beach |
We were about to find out why - the beach is so flat, that when waves build up and come on shore it comes in thin sheets that cascade on top of each other. I've never seen anything like it (recurring theme?) and remained captivated for several minutes. The water actually came over 100m on the beach but was only 1-2 inches deep...remarkable. So we splashed around, and walked probably a mile down the beach to explore another rock formation. There is a picture of it in every single guidebook, and I can't believe that they don't say more about the place. I guess people consider it an 'off the beaten path' kind of thing, and we were definitely the only people out there for at least half an hour, but it is unbelievably beautiful. Both of us agreed after the fact that it was our favorite place thus far.
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| Unbelievably awesome rock formation at Wharariki Beach |
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| I've used a professional photo editor (windows paint) to indicate the scale of the rock formation. |
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| Olsen, very crispy after an entire day in the sun |
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| Clark, a more photogenic beach explorer |
Even though we loved hanging out in that super awesome amazingness, it was almost sunset, and we were starving. We made it back to the car, and headed back towards Pohara. We saw a sign pointing to the Mussel Inn on the road, and I had recalled reading about it, so we made a U-turn and decided to check it out. It was as if the universe had conspired to give us a perfect day. The Mussel Inn turned out to be a cozy restaurant with a fire ring outside and just a few great menu choices. I had the steak with mushroom sauce, Clark had the scallops. Simply amazing. We drove back to Sans Souci, got into our PJs and drifted into blissful sleep after a fantastic day.
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