After braving the crowds in the glacier area, we headed up north along the west coast. We spent the night at a lovely little cottage in Hokitka and then headed into town the next morning to look at the jade stores in town. Hokitika specializes in jade carving and our host from the previous night had been carving jade for 40 years at the Jade Factory in town. So we stopped there and they had three artists carving jade right in the store and we were able to ask them questions about the process. The store had a good video on jade, the types of stone used and about the carving styles used in New Zealand and China, where much of the product is made. Apparently, much of the stone comes from British Columbia (or Wyoming), is shipped to China to be carved, and then sent to NZ to be sold as NZ souvenirs. Apparently, prior to the ’60’s, the greenstone used for jade carving in NZ was being hauled out in record quantities, especially with the use of helicopters. But in the 60’s, a government agreement gave control of the greenstone back to the Maori and now it is much harder to come by. The store we stopped in was quite good about labeling the origin of its products. I bought myself a lovely pair of earrings carved by our host, a NZ souvenir that I’m confident was actually made in NZ from NZ greenstone! We then headed north along the coast, stopping at Pancake Rocks and the Blow Hole, serendipitously arriving at 5 minutes before high tide. In order to see the blow holes at their best, you need to see the waves crashing through the holes at high tide. The place was swamped with tourists but it was definitely worth a stop to see the many layered cliffs and hear the whoompf as the water came crashing through the holes in the cliffs. We then did the long drive up to Nelson on the north end of the South Island.
The clock tower in downtown Hokitika.
Pancake rocks.
Video of the pancake rocks and blow holes. As Barb said it was a big tourist stop but was quit cool and worth the stop.
More pancake rocks.
A blow hole in action.
The northern end of the island is shaped a bit like a fat V, with Nelson at the base of the V. On the east branch is Picton, where the ferries arrive from Wellington on the North Island. This is also home to the Queen Charlotte Sound and Queen Charlotte Track. On the west side lies three national parks, including the famous Abel Tasman, Golden Bay and Farewell Spit, a large sand spit on the NW end of the island. We stayed for a number of days in Nelson, at a large and modern home that was very well lived in. Apparently, this 4 bedroom home is the primary residence of the owner and his wife but when there are renters available, they move out and live in a camper trailer, in order to make some money. So it felt a bit invasive, living amongst all of their belongings, food, etc. But it had all of the modern conveniences that we rarely see in our accommodations, so we didn’t argue. From Nelson one day, we did a very long drive northwest up a long, twisty, hilly road to hike up to Rawhiti Caves. It was another one of those out of the way places where we had to drive through numerous farm gates (one electrified), to park in a cow field. We hiked along a stream bed and then up a short but very steep hill to get to the mouth of the cave. This cave had many, many large stalactites hanging from the roof but what was most interesting was that they curved out toward the sunlight. Apparently, bacteria/algae grow on the side facing the sun, and these get covered with minerals and the process repeats, until the stalactites are bending toward the opening.
The mouth of the cave. The cave drops down and to the right.
Not a great picture as it was very bright to the left and very dark to the right but you can see how the stalactites bend towards the light.
Another day, we drove northwest up the coast to Marahau. From there, we took a water taxi up to a leg of the Abel Tasman Coastal Walk, one of the Great Walks.
But I must digress. This was one of the more odd boating experiences we’ve had. It was low tide when we arrived and there was a long beach to cross before you got to the bay. There was no dock or wharf in sight and I was confused as to how we got on the water taxi. Well, behind the registration building, a large farm tractor pulled into the parking lot, with the water taxi on a trailer behind it. The captain got off the tractor, got out a ramp and all 15 customers clambered aboard the boat, on the trailer, behind the tractor. And off we went, down the road. The tractor pulled onto the beach, where there were about 6 other tractors parked, and down to the water we went where there was a strong onshore breeze. He turned around and started backing the trailer/boat into the water, like you would on a boat ramp. Only this time, we were going backwards into really big swells crashing onto the beach. Everyone in the back half of the boat got drenched, as the waves crashed over the stern and into the taxi. Oh well – we dried. We were dropped off at Anchorage Bay and did a loop hike and then hiked back into the small town where we had picked up the taxi in the morning. The route went along the coast and there were a number of bays/beaches you could divert to for a quick dip and we regretted leaving our swim suits behind. This was a very busy, popular walk, with many backpackers and day walkers. But the views out to the Tasman Bay were beautiful.
We are all on the boat (water taxi) that is still on it’s trailer. You can see our captain on the tractor pulling us down to the water.
Being dropped at Anchorage Bay.
That’s us at the bottom, the Anchorage track. The pictures below are from the hike. Just beautiful. As Barb said it was a hot day and we really regretted not having brought our swim suits.
One thing Barb forgot to mention was that as we were close to the end of the hike we came across a family of California Quail. They were totally unafraid of us. I counted 11 chicks. This is a very cute video.