Mapua to Greymouth

Real-time

As mentioned we left a sunny Mapua on Monday morning heading to the NZMCA Park at Murchison.

We had a farewell dinner with Paul & Amanda at Mapua's Sprig & Fern Tavern the night before and when we left to head home the temperature outside had dropped dramatically, it felt like snow somewhere. And there it was, a light spring dusting along the Richmond Range. No wonder it had been freezing overnight, down to 1 degree at one stage and very chilly when we got up in the morning. The diesel heater got a late season work out.

We stopped at Wakefield for lunch and then scouted the town for churches. And found a lovely surprise- the oldest church in the South Island, St Johns Church, built in 1846.

St Johns was located atop a small hill so David parked at the bottom and I walked up the road passing this ostentatious property with a weird bronze statue at the entrance, on the way. 

What's with that statue? I check with Mr Google and all was revealed. That is Richard Nixon making his famous 'V' 'peace gesture in front of a replica White House. Really? Yes really. The property- it is for sale- belongs to a controversial businessman whose runs an international publishing company, Haldeman, which offers advice to help people begin careers in the mining industry, start their own radio stations or engage in personal development. A bit of a an eclectic mix there and he obviously hasn't followed his own advice. Read the links for more information.

I had a quick walk through town taking a few photos of the older buildings. While I was lining up this building a young boy was jumping up and down, prancing back and forward in front of me, pulling funny faces and poses at the camera. Rather than tell him to push off, I asked him if he'd like his photo taken. 'Yes please!' he said, and grabbed his Halloween mask to put on. Then he moved out of my way so I could capture the building. Sometimes you've just got to engage with them.  

This shot made me smile, the boys are heading uphill and in the wrong direction to catch some waves. Wakefield is about 30kms from the coast. Perhaps they were heading to a favourite river to ride some rapids.

We leave Wakefield behind and continue up the valley and over Spooners Range, through some lovely countryside. The scenery is beautiful, with lush spring growth, dairy farms with paddocks full of fat cows and healthy calves, pine forests and native bush in every shade of green, along with many abandoned buildings, old cottages and old style homesteads. One day I need to do a slow road trip through here so I can capture all the abandoned buildings.The early settlers in this area must have been a God-fearing bunch as there are more old churches per square mile than I have seen anywhere in New Zealand.

The last photo stop before we reach Murchison is to take shots of St Georges Church in Motupiko, which was built in 1897 and is in need of some tender loving care before too much more of it is reclaimed by nature.

I'm always on the lookout for a church as we pass through small settlements, some with nothing more than a couple of houses on the side of the road. Often we're cruising along the highway and I suddenly spot a spire or a cross through the trees. I shout 'Church' (I'm sure I'll give David a heart-attack one day) and of course he can't just hit the brakes. Well he could but that would create a big mess- inside and out.

We then need to find a turning point and drive back over the last few kilometres until we come across the church again. Sometimes he'll drop me off because there is no pull-in. Then he'll head off up the road again to turn around or I walk(run) to wherever he's found a pull off spot. Locals must wonder what on earth we are doing, it's not as though we don't stand out on the road.

By mid afternoon we've arrived at the NZMCA Park in Murchison and have grabbed our favourite spot just inside the gate. We (that's the royal 'we') don't need to unhitch tonight as we'll be off again in the morning. This is our third visit to Murchison, our last stay was for six days so we have explored the area extensively and there's no need to move outside the park today. Though we were excited to see & hear a number of kea calling out as they flew overhead, something we hadn't seen before.

There were some beautiful rhododendrons flowering around the park boundary and in particular this one at the back of our van. The colour of  flowers in the shade was stunning... 

....while the flowers that were in the all-day sun were a pretty shade of subtle pink. I don't think its just Taranaki that has a grand display of Rhodos. From Nelson, down through Reefton and onto Greymouth, many home and council gardens have beautiful displays of the colourful plant at the moment.

Next morning it's decision time. Do we head east through Lewis Pass or west, back to the Coast to complete some unfinished business. The long range weather forecast for the West Coast is not good, it says rain for the next two weeks and after spending our last visit waiting 3 weeks for the rain to stop, we're reluctant to repeat the process. 

But then again, we really want to see the nesting Kotuku/White Herons at Whataroa and David would like to fish a couple of the lakes again so we decide to bite the bullet and try the Coast again. We head off through the upper Buller Gorge, passing familiar sites and places we'd stopped at on our previous visits. It's a great feeling knowing we can pick and choose where to go and when to stop on this, our third visit to the Coast. We turn off at Inangahua and onto a new road for us, heading towards Reefton.

Our next overnight stop is at the Reefton Racecourse where for the grand sum of $2 per person per night we have this wonderful site with great views, all to ourselves. 

Reefton is another great little town with a rich heritage including many historic buildings. David actually knew something about Reefton which I didn't, he'd heard an item on the radio awhile ago about John Bougen, NZ's most travelled man and a multi millionaire (Dress-Smart founder) who has adopted Reefton as his home town. 

John has been buying up properties and pouring dollars into beautifying the town and restoring buildings. He mows resident's lawns on his ride-on mower and NZ flags fly off most of the town's historic buildings and businesses, all courtesy of John Bougen. Although I think he's overlooked a property across the river at Rosstown (below right).

Aside from the 1860s gold rush which helped establish the busy mining town, Reefton was the first place to have a public supply of electricity and the first to switch on electric street lighting in the Southern Hemisphere. Reefton has a wild frontier feel about it's main street, without the cars you could quite imagine cowboys riding horses down the street. 

We had a double chuckle at David's expense with a couple of signs in Reefton. The first was the 'Fresh Fish' sign on the end of the building above. David went wandering off down the road looking for the fish shop, thinking it would be nice to have fish for dinner! He obviously didn't see the '100 metres upstream' underneath. The road ended at the river.

And then he spotted this sign on the local hotel and we decided it went quite nicely with his standard response to people who ask where we are going next. 'Ask me tomorrow' he always says.

We broke the budget at Reefton and forked out for another night at the racecourse. We wanted to explore the old gold mining ghost town of Waiuta before leaving. You'll have to wait for a separate blog on that visit and also another blog on our stops along the way to Greymouth. They both deserve their own post. 

From Reefton we headed to the freedom camping site at Jellyman Park in Greymouth. You'd probably have a hard time guessing why we're stopping in Greymouth again. We're having the ute serviced at the local Ford dealership. And although it wouldn't have mattered if we weren't in the area, because we are David was keen to use the same workshop that serviced the ute 18 months ago and especially the same workshop manager who we met and enjoyed his company while camping at Lake Kaniere, the Easter before last.

We've stayed at Jellyman Park before and what a difference there has been to the coastline since then. There was a large storm a few months ago and up to 3 metres was eroded off the edge of the park. Not only that but the massive amount of driftwood had also disappeared (although I suspect that gets washed away on a regular basis). 

Jellyman Park, May 2015

Since leaving Murchison we've only have a few squally rain showers overnight and one massive but short lived thunderstorm this morning. We're quietly keeping our fingers crossed that the forecasters are wrong. West Coast sunsets are spectacular when it isn't raining.

Labour Weekend at Mapua

Real-time

We've had an fabulous weekend relaxing with friends, old & new, at the Mapua Leisure Park. Mapua is located about halfway between Nelson & Motueka and the holiday park sits on a large sprawling site at the tip of the peninsula between Ruby Bay and Rabbit Island.

The entrance into Waimea Inlet and Rabbit Island remind us a lot of Matakana Island and Tauranga's inner harbour. And in fact the coast road from Richmond through to Motueka also reminds us of the drive from Tauranga to Katikati, with all the little inlets and tidal estuaries along the way.

The Mapua Wharf, with it's restaurants, cafes and gift shops, is a prominent feature just inside the inlet entrance. A passenger ferry carries people the short distance from the wharf to Rabbit Island, where there are many walking and biking tracks. 

I posted this photo on Facebook over the weekend & labeled it- Papa Bear, Mama Bear & wee Baby Bear. As you can see there are some pretty big fifth-wheelers on the road. Our 5th-wheeler is 9mtrs, Amanda & Pauls' (on the right) is 10mtrs and Katrina & Bernies' is 11mtrs. 

Happy hour- David, Amanda, Paul, Bernie & Katrina. The weather was perfect all weekend although the sun dropped behind the trees a little earlier than we would have liked. There's still a spring chill in the air once that sun goes. 

Katrina & Bernie are due to hit the road full-time next January and they can't wait. In the meantime they head away most weekends with their gorgeous dog family in tow; Boo, Oakley and Paddy the Irish Water Spaniel. You can see in the photo of the rigs above, they have a large dog enclosure that contains the dogs and allows them access to the rig and underneath for shade when they're at home.

Once we'd settled in I had a wander around the park, stopping to say hello to Joey the resident Cockatoo, who had called me over for a 'Scratch, Scratch'. He sticks his head through a gap and bends it right down and nearly back in if you hit the right spot. One of his wings also lift up and down in reaction to the right scratch, a bit life a dog's leg when you hit a nerve while rubbing their belly.

Joey's aviary overlooks a very busy intersection in the campground and I can hear him talking and squawking as people come and go. He calls to me whenever I visit the laundry- I sidle around the corner hoping he won't spot me and then I feel guilty if I don't go and say hello. Yesterday he grabbed my camera strap in his claw and wouldn't let go, he is very cheeky but I do feel a little sad for him. 

There are a number of semi-permanent residents in camp but Garry has got to take the cake with the most 'awesome-est' mobile home of them all. I couldn't believe my eyes when I walked past and had to go back for a second look and say hello to the very charming and slightly eccentric gentleman who was pottering about outside. 

Garry gave me the grand tour, inside and out and showed me many of his bits and bobs and where and how everything fitted together when he did take it out on the road. It's been a work in progress for the last 8 years but very soon he'll be shifting down the road. He loves his outdoor kitchen he told me; I'm sure he has enough burners and elements to cook a feast for the whole campground. The old equipment hanging from the walls reminded me of the stalls at the markets with implements and tools for sale from yesteryear.

Garry has a vege garden on the roof, you can just see a few things sprouting above the roof line. He climbs up through the hatch to water and pick the veges. I love the kids gumboots under each chair leg to stop them disappearing into the ground. On the other side of the truck he showed me his mobile workshop; a vice and grinder on their own frames which pulled out from a gap behind the cab. 

Garry has a neighbour just down the way, who lives in this tiny quirky cottage that looks like it might have once been on the back of a housetruck.

A wander around Mapua Leisure Park reveals many nooks and crannies, interesting buildings, a range of cabin and motel units, open kitchens and even a cafe on the waterfront. The swimming pool and sauna complex were closed for maintenance  but the tennis and volleyball courts were open and being used over the long weekend. During the months of February & March, the park is a 'Clothes Optional'  campground but there are strict rules about where you can and can't walk stark-naked.

There are some lovely displays of sun daisies around the park-

The bird life is also prolific, with dozens of tui feeding on the hundreds of flowering trees. Two or three kingfisher drive me crazy every day with their continuous and monotonous call and I've heard a couple of shinning cuckoos but have failed to spot them. Quail creep about in the bushes and make a dash for it when they get to open ground.

A family of swallows live above the ironing bench in the laundry; it looks like their nest was destroyed a few times before the caretakers gave up. Now two hungry faces peer over the edge and the parents dive-bomb you every time you enter. They fledged yesterday and were trapped against the windows in the laundry, they couldn't find the door so I gave them a helping hand. This morning they were back in the nest!

Another quirky customer....

And a few random captures around camp as people relaxed in the sunshine over the holiday weekend.

We visited the Saturday market (a smaller version of the Napier market, Mum) at Motueka but missed the big event up the valley at the annual Ngatimoti School festival fundraiser which was a shame.

Instead we tiki-toured our way home along the coast road. This is the shipwreck of the Janie Seddon, she was built in 1901 and was credited with firing the first shots of WWII, a warning shot across the bow of the liner City of Delhi. In 1947 she was sold as a fishing trawler but replaced by diesel powered ships which were more efficient than her coal powered engine. Eventually she was sold for scrap but the steel was so hard the company had difficulty trying to cut her up so she was eventually towed to the foreshore and beached there in 1955. And there she still lays, now a much visited historic rusting hulk and monument to shipping in the area.

There was one place I wanted to visit while we were here in Mapua and I wasn't sure whether or not I'd be successful in, a) finding the pond & b) finding the ducks in question as they are notoriously secretive and can disappear for weeks at a time. I found the pond (it's on private property) and I couldn't believe my luck when not only were the ducks in residence they were resting on a bank not far from my entry point.

They soon took off though, but I still managed to get a few reasonable shots. These are Australian Wood Ducks and like my other two favourite exotic duck species, the Plumed Whistling Ducks in Napier & the beautiful male Mandarin Duck at Lake Rotoiti, Nelson Lakes, they are a rare vagrant visitor to New Zealand and only found on this one pond. 

Originally there was just a pair of Wood Ducks but last season they bred and produced 5 ducklings. It's not sure how many survived but from this photo at least 3 of them (others might be nesting at the moment). I'm now lucky enough to have seen all 3 vagrant duck species. I'm going back to see if I can get a little closer later in the week.

And one final photo of another happy hour with a few more friends; all fifth-wheel owners. It was like we held our own rally!

Kaiteriteri & Surrounds

Kaiteriteri is a tiny seaside resort tucked into a beautiful little sheltered bay right on the edge of the Abel Tasman National Park. In fact our camp ground is the largest thing in Kaiteriteri, it looks out over the beach & bay with a large shallow estuary along one side and bush covered hills at the back and on the other side.

The camp ground stretches quite a way back tucked into the hillside and even though it doesn’t look like it in the photo there are over 400 powered camping sites along with 15 cabins. The camp ground can hold over 2000 people during the height of the season and if you add residents & day visitors to the mix, I bet the beach is wall to wall people then. A bit like Mount Maunganui at Christmas but on a smaller scale.

There are quite a number of unoccupied caravans & motorhomes in the park, they are being stored for winter. In the photo below only six of the vans you can see at the front of the park are occupied so we pretty much have the place to ourselves. Coincidentally one of the occupied vans is another Ultima (middle right edge) just like ours that arrived the day after us. More Ultima owners we haven’t met. We have now though and will likely see Sandy & Julie on the road again as they also live in their van full time but have now moved onto Golden Bay, where we’ll be heading in due course.

The weekends bring a few more people (& seagulls) to Kaiteriteri; Sunday drivers, families out for a walk or a fish ‘n chip lunch, kayakers paddling, cyclists on the cycle way or visiting the local mountainbike track.

Across the bay at the southern end is Little Kaiteriteri which can be reached by a walking track over a small bluff at the end of our beach. A lookout platform gives a great view back down the beach and out to sea. This photo (bottom right) is of Little Kaiteriteri bathed in the golden glow of sunrise.

Abel Tasman tour boats and water taxis leave from Kaiteriteri, the larger boats are moored in the bay, others are launched from the boat ramp just down the road from us. Each morning, the skipper rows out to his boat (above, bottom left) and then brings the boat into the beach where the ladder is extended from the bow and the guests board from the beach, this is how they dis-embark at the various beaches along the Abel Tasman Park too. None of the tour boats have been too busy, with just a handful of people a day catching the boats. A perfect time to do a tour without the crowds. There are dozens of tour options available from the various operators; day cruise, walk/cruise, kayak/cruise, swim with seals/cruise etc. Most include visiting the seal colonies that inhabit the off shore islands along the way. If you do a walk you can choose to do any of about 4 different sections of the Abel Tasman Great Walk.

Our first eight days at Kaiteriteri were fabulous although with a chilly start; crisp heavy frosts followed by cloudless sunny blue skies and not a drop of wind. Just what the doctor ordered, winter at it’s best. And it hasn’t been so bad since either, a couple of days of showers and a couple when a thick sea fog rolled in for an afternoon.

At the northern end of the bay is Kaka Pah Point and another short walkway and lookout with views looking north over tiny Breaker Bay and on to Marahau where the Able Tasman Walk starts. Ngaio Island is near where the iconic Split Apple Rock is located. And look at that bach (holiday home) tucked into a little alcove in the bay and only accessible by boat or maybe by clambering over rocks at low tide. I don’t think it would see very much sun in winter or even in  the summer. It’s a rather unusual place to build a house especially at what looks like sea level on sand.

At the lookout there’s also a destination sign post similar to the one in Bluff, another rather unusual spot to place one.

From Kaka Pah Point Lookout looking back over Kaiteriteri with Little Kaiteriteri to the left.

We drove around to Marahau one evening, a small settlement that marks the start of the Able Tasman Walk where there are holiday homes, farms, a couple of camping grounds, a few arts & craft galleries & a cafe. It’s Kaiteriteri without the tinsel, a more laidback rustic village and I would imagine a village without the crowds in the summer. It was deserted when we were there.

 

We haven’t actually been doing too much exploring while we’ve been in Kaiteriteri although on the day we had to go into Motueka to get our groceries we took a drive along the coast to Mapua Wharf which was once a busy coastal wharf servicing the regions orchards. It is now a boutique bar, cafe & arts & craft precinct that is very popular on the weekends but was virtually deserted on the week day that we visited. We sat outside The Smokehouse in the sun & had fish & chips for lunch.

I also bought a nice bag of tasty pears for $4 from a cart outside one of the shops. They were so tasty that when we found another stall on our travels selling the same pears we purchased more. I think the variety is Taylors Gold, smallish, rotund, brown and with a distinct “perfume” taste.

Mapua Wharf is located on the Waimea Estuary and across the channel from the large Rabbit Island. Rabbit Island reminded me of Matakana Island in the Bay of Plenty, covered with pine forest and protecting a large estuary.

Heading home after collecting the groceries we took a short detour to the Riwaka Wharf, a lovely sleepy settlement with quite a number of houses and well manicured gardens lining both sides of a tidal stream that emptied onto a very large mud flat (which I believe joins Outer Island, a sand bank further out in Tasman Bay).

Boatsheds & boats also lined both sides of the stream, the boats laying on their bottoms in the mud waiting for the tide to turn.