Next Stop Nelson

While I was sorting photos for this blog post I can across this lovely one of a yacht berthed in one of the large estuaries between Takaka & Collingwood. I’d stopped there with Diane on our way back from seeing the shags at Tata Beach, the light from the early morning sun and the calm water were just right for a perfect capture.

We left Collingwood heading for Motueka where I had a hair appointment booked for early afternoon. I’d had my hair done at Bliss Hair Salon before we left Kaiteriteri & Jo had done such a great job I thought it would be opportune to have it done again on the way back through the town. Finding a good hairdresser when you’re on the road is like finding gold.

Crossing back over the “feared” Takaka Hill was problem free although we did meet a little more traffic than last time including a few big truck & trailer units. We took our time and pulled over into one of the many passing bays as soon as traffic appeared behind & at one stage we had to pull up at a narrow section to let an oncoming large truck through. It was slow haul up and just as slow a wind down the other side. It was great to arrive safe & sound in Riwaka where all the fruit trees were in blossom, gardens full of daffodils and kowhai in flower along the roadside. Spring had arrived while we were in Golden Bay.

Originally we thought we might head on to Nelson after my appointment but as we’d arrived early we decided to take a look at a freedom camping spot at Port Motueka where you can stay for a maximum of 3 nights. We liked what we saw and with just another 5th-wheeler already in place it looked a good spot to stay overnight. We unhitched and David ran me back into town. By the time we got back late in the afternoon the car park had another 4 or 5 vans of various shapes & sizes parked up and by night fall there were 11 vehicles and the carpark full. This spot is obviously well known and patronized probably because it's not too far from the Abel Tasman Park.

Some of the benefits of our slow travel is the fact that there’s no hurry for us to get on the road when it comes time to leave, we usually only move 50-100kms and in fact today it’s just 33kms to Richmond where we'll stay. By the time we open our doors in the morning the car park has virtually emptied. Just the two 5th-wheelers and two campervans, one had obviously been somewhere where they’d had torrential rain. It looked like every piece of clothing and camping gear along with the tent was hung out to dry.

Port Motueka is a lovely area surrounded by those ever present estuaries and huge tidal plains that have become a familiar  feature of our visit to the Tasman District. Over the bank on the far side of the carpark is the historic Motueka Saltwater Bath. When I saw a sign further down the road pointing the way to the pool I told David there were pools close by. He asked me if I knew if they were heated or not. I had a laugh when I went for a walk to check them out.

This type of pool is now unusual in NZ although they were quite popular at seaside (obviously) towns of yesteryear. The baths were built in 1938 after families camping nearby over summer were concerned about sharks. The pool was renovated in 1992 when the wooden railings, decks & a concrete floor were added; before then it wouldn't have been more than a concrete pit. There is a special gate that lets the incoming tide fill the pool, the pool is hosed down and cleaned every couple of weeks between October and April. I’m not so sure you could do your daily laps here but it certainly would be a good place to cool off over summer. Especially when the tide was out.

We have now been parked up at the Richmond Racecourse for just over a week, although not a NZMCA Park, the campground is for fully self contained NZMCA members only. There are toilets and a laundry and a few powered sites (if required) plus a resident camp manager. It’s very handy to the Richmond shopping mall and main street and just 15kms from Nelson city centre.

We’ve not done, & won’t be doing, too much exploring around Nelson. We had a few errands to do in town, have the ute serviced and of course cast our vote last weekend. Casting a special vote had us nearly choosing a candidate from a Maori electorate! We were given the wrong forms to fill in and it was only when I couldn’t see a familiar name on the voting paper that I realised what had happened. Back to the desk and another 15 minutes of filling in forms had us finally with the correct papers.

It amazes me that after all we’ve done in making sure our address is correct for all our personal affairs, as in a box number because we have no fixed abode, we still have to have our last known address on the electoral roll. This is just plain silly, ok we’ve only been gone from Tauranga for a year and we know the relevant candidates but what happens in 3, 6 or 12 years time (if we’re still on the road) when we wouldn’t have a clue who our candidates were. It was hard enough recalling our old address when asked this time, let alone in a few years!

On the weekend we went for a tiki tour along the water front, checking the Tahunanui peninsula out and driving right to the end where we had wonderful views out over more tidal flats to the snow covered mountains beyond. To the right are Mt Arthur and other mountains in Kahurangi National Park which was where we had walked and driven through the snow. We thought we might have been able to complete the walk to Mt Arthur Hut while parked up here in Nelson but a heavy dumping of snow last week has put paid to that.

The carparks at the end of the of the sandy track were full of cars and out on the sand in both directions were dozens of people walking. And dogs running. This was obviously a popular dog walking area and being a lovely sunny weekend day everyone was out enjoying it.

We’ve been to the city twice and both times we came across this fellow, he’s obviously a permanent fixture around town, I seem to recall an article or two on him on TV & in the paper, something about taking up carparks and nor paying a fee. I think the council need to collect over $50,000 in fines. I say good luck with that one. David had recollections of his childhood in the UK when he saw him coming down the road; he was waiting for him to call out “Rag 'n bones, rag 'n bones”

After a visit to the WOW museum (more on that in another post) we drove along the waterfront, stopping to book dinner at The Boatshed Cafè. We’ve been waiting to stay in Nelson since David’s birthday back in July when the family gave him a dinner voucher for the restaurant. We’re looking forward to sampling the seafood on offer.

Another perfect day of spring sunshine and people out enjoying it. Although we did have a blustery day earlier in the week that wasn't much fun.

And one last photo, an abandoned farmhouse on the main road into Richmond; perfect fodder for a photographer!

Rainbow Country- Kahurangi

Jimu, one of my blog’s regular readers & frequent commenters lives not far from where we are parked up at Kaiteriteri Beach. Jimu & his wife Christine came to visit us not long after we arrived here, bringing us a gift of a lovely jar of jam & some produce they had grown, all of which was very much appreciated, & especially when you’re on the road. While having afternoon tea with us, Jimu recommended we visit Mt Arthur in the Kahurangi National Park which is not too far from us, inland and behind Motueka. So a few days later we followed up on his suggestion.

We followed the Motueka River up the West Bank for about 20kms passing many orchards & farms along the way. There has been some major flooding in the Nelson/Tasman area recently and all along the way we could see the resulting damage; a huge amount of debris littering the river banks and low lying paddocks, sections of the road & culverts washed away and many of the streams & creeks entering the river had burst their banks & taken everything in their path with them on the way to the river. New limestone boulder walls had already been formed in many places to help with the direction, especially on the sweeping corners.

We took a wrong turn towards the end and crossed the Peninsula Bridge at Ngatimoti, it spans the Motueka River (which you can see was running high & dirty) & celebrated it’s centenary last year (1913).

Beside the bridge was the Ngatimoti Bowling Club, looking a little out of place out here in farming country. It also looked a little neglected, the green was full of moss but someone must still be mowing it.

Kahurangi National Park is the second largest of the 14 national parks in New Zealand and covers a vast area over both the West Coast & Tasman regions. The area that we are heading to, the Arthur Range of which Mt Arthur is a prominent peak, is just a small area but provides the main access point to the park. We follow a winding gravel road alongside a crystal clear stream (which is a surprise after seeing the river) for 5-6kms passing quite a number of artistic & alternative lifestyle hideways along the way.  As we near the park the road rises steeply from the valley floor & the sign makes sure there’s no mistaking of what’s ahead of us. I found this about the road later when I was checking information about the flood damage.

Graham Valley South Branch Road to the Flora carpark reopened in November 2013 after being closed for the majority of the previous 16 months because of a persistent slip. More than 50,000 cubic metres of rock has been cleared from the slip which is situated on a fault line. The huge work to open the road has cost at least $750,000, split between the Tasman District Council, Department of Conservation and NZ Transport Agency. DOC estimates 23,000 people a year drive to the Flora carpark, the main access point to Kahurangi National Park.

On farmland just before the park we pass this hut situated on a grassy knoll overlooking the valley. An iconic bush hut complete with a plastic water barrel, stand-alone chimney & rickety, lichen covered fence. A good keen man’s “man cave”.

Further on when a tight corner provides an area to pull over (& where I think the persistent slip mentioned above was), we stop so I can take a photo looking back down the valley towards Tasman Bay off in the far distance. Unfortunately it was a bit hazy or quite possibly raining.

We finally arrive in the Flora carpark which is deserted. Great we have the whole place to ourselves! A decking attached to the kiosk gave us good views out over the park and mountain range & look what greeted us, a beautiful rainbow.

The DOC kiosk/shelter had numerous information boards and we see that there were quite a number of walks varying in length from 30 minutes to 10 hours. We decide we’d give the 10 hour one a miss today and settled on the 2km walk to the Flora Hut.

This board had a lot of information for the mountain bikers visiting the park. There is a trial happening in some of our national parks where mountain bikes are allowed on certain tracks in the off season and on some tracks year round. New Zealand must surely becoming known as one of the best off-road cycling countries in the world to visit with dozens of fabulous cycle trials to choose from.

We set off up the track, the shelter here looks a little like it was transported from the Swiss Alps.

Not too far along the track the bird song is very intense, flocks of birds are passing through the upper canopy; brown creepers &/or gold finches we decide as we can’t see them clear enough against the bright sky. Down in the under story we see an amazing sight, about 20-25 tiny Rifleman (titipounamu) foraging on the tree trunks and  along the ground. Rifleman usually feed in family groups within their small territories, peeping to each other constantly to keep in touch. A family group usually consists of parents & 1-2 fledglings but here were a couple of dozen birds. They must flock together in winter.

Female Rifleman - Titipounamu

Further on we had another discussion on whether we’ve chosen the right track to walk. David wanted to do the Mt Arthur hut walk but I told him we’d have to get out of bed earlier for that one, it was mid afternoon and the weather was set to turn.

 

We headed off downhill (never the best option- downhill means uphill on the way home) following a stream all the way to Flora Hut. While it was only 2kms and 30 minutes we mostly find that it takes us time & half to do these tracks. We’re always stopping to listen for birds & scanning the bush for them & I always seem to be trailing behind as I stop to take photos.

After about 45 minutes we arrived at a clearing beside the stream with Flora Hut taking centre stage. And look at that, a whole section of the hut taken up with firewood. It must get cold here.

Six solid based bunks at each end; 3 up, 3 down, two huge blackened fireplaces & a long drop off to the side at the end of a boggy path. I think I’d rather walk the 2kms back to the car. Although this hut is on a junction with other longer walks so people may come from a different direction to stay. Hunters would also overnight here. We were just about to have our late lunch at the picnic table when the rain started so we moved into the hut where the smokey smell of a hundred old fires tainted the air.

Luckily the rain didn’t last long & as we headed back up the track the sun came out. We were keen to find the rifleman again but other than a few pairs we didn’t see the large group again. Back at the carpark it was a surprise to see another rainbow stretched across the sky, this time on a different arch.

We headed off home making plans to return if we can, to walk the Mt Arthur Hut Track the next time, and to hopefully spend a little more time with the rifleman.

But that will depend on the condition of the road. When I looked on the DOC website later I saw that they had closed the road for 3 days in anticipation of the bad weather that was due and the unstable nature of this slip (a different one to the one mentioned above)

As you can see this one was a large slip and some of it looked like it had moved quite recently. We eased through the gap, warily looking skywards in case more came tumbling down.