A Weekend in Waikouaiti

It was a fine day for exploring and our first stop was the beach just  a couple hundred metres down the road from the camp ground. They don’t only take their dogs for a walk along the beach around here.

Low tide, firm sand & a long sweeping crescent of a bay makes it ideal to exercise the race & harness horses from the local stables. The vehicle “towing” seven horses drove steadily up to the far left of the bay then turned and made it’s way back along in front of me as two trotters arrived and they all headed way out of sight down the other end of the bay.

About 20 minutes later they came back past me for another stretch up to the other end, the horses looking like they were having a good work-out. We can’t say we’re not seeing some unusual sights on our travels.

Our next stop was Karitane, the seaside settlement that we drove through yesterday morning when we took the scenic route along the coast. Karitane is located between the wide Waikouaiti River estuary and a smaller ocean beach, separated by the Huriawa Peninsula. This is the site of the historic Maori Pa a Te Wera (fortified village) and there are a number of tracks over the headland and points of interest with information boards telling the story of the Pa.

It was a surprise to come over the rise on one of the tracks along the ridge & see this natural arch along with a blowhole nearby. And in the centre of the peninsula just below the site of the whare (home), a fresh water spring. Obviously why this was the perfect site for a fortified village; able to see approaching enemies from four sides, fresh water & an endless supply of seafood.

The track continued on along the shore line back to Karitane, here a manmade breakwater guides boats into the estuary. At the far end opposite a small commercial wharf & located on an overgrown bank was this plaque commemorating a century of community service by Plunket. Of course! Karitane. It suddenly clicks and I realise that this is where Sir Truby King started the Karitane nurses & hospitals. It’s a bit of a strange place to put the plaque though.

On our way to Karitane we passed this caravan in a layby beside the main highway, selling coffee & fish & bacon butties, it obviously sowed a big seed in David’s head because on our return he pulled in without warning & ordered a fish buttie for lunch (even though it was mid-afternoon & I had lunch with us!)

David was soon joined by two guys who were as impressed with the size of David’s fish buttie as he was. They turned out to be the two surfers we’d seen paddling across the river mouth when we were on the track. David enjoyed his buttie and another “on the road” kiwi experience!

We drove back into Waikouaiti village in search of the large estuary that we’d heard about which was just off the main road and in fact ran along the back of the campground. We found one of the entry walkways near the racetrack and as we pulled over a white heron (kotuku) lifted out of the channel beside the path. Too late for a photo but a great welcome. We could see plenty of ducks; mallards, grey, shovellers & paradise, a large flock of Canada geese, a few domestic geese, white faced herons, shags & pied stilts.

And feeding on the edge of the next pond three Royal Spoonbills (kotuku nutupapa).

Breeding spoonbills have yellow eyebrows and grow distinctive long white crest feathers (plumes) on the back of the head. This male already has his eyebrows.

I watched them for quite some time while they fed in the shallows near where I was standing. Like mine sweepers they all moved in unison sweeping their bill back and forward through the water. When they touched something, I’m assuming a fish or a crab, they rapidly chased it through the water before throwing their bill up in the air releasing the fish before catching it at the bcak of the bill and swallowing it fast.You can see a tiny fish in these two shots.

I was reluctant to move on but we had one more place to visit and the afternoon was drawing to a close. Further on from the estuary and towards the beach was another historic site. We drove to the end of the bay and continued on up a farm drive that ended near the historic Matanaka homestead.

The homestead itself is a private family home but we follow the well marked track for a few hundred metres through a stand of gum trees beside the public car park and a surprise awaits us. At the end of the track across a paddock with the ocean as a backdrop are a collection of stunning farm buildings.

These buildings belong to Otago's first farm which was established here at Matanaka in 1840 by Australian whaler Johnny Jones who had bought the land and an adjoining whaling station in 1838. There is a stable, a granary, a school house, a privy and a farm shed still standing today, all in their original positions. These are probably the oldest surviving farm buildings in NZ and are cared for by the historic places trust, they are rated Category I heritage structures.

The Shed

The buildings make great photography subjects but the nearby gum trees cast long shadows in the setting sun.

The Stables & Shed

Inside the granary is an old whaling boat and in the stables are old tack & saddles including a side saddle. The privy (top left, in the photo below, beside the granary) still had the boxed toilet with lift up lids (nailed down for obvious reasons), in fact it was one large box with three lids. Hmm.....imagine that " 'morning" " 'morning".....

Waikouaiti is turning out to be a great place to stop for the weekend. We realise that had we not had the issue with the van we would have passed through here not giving it a second thought.

Friday 13th- Waikoua….where

Well it started out ok; a lovely sunny winter’s day and we were about to hit the road again, time to leave Dunedin & continue our snail’s pace journey north to warmer weather.  After being by ourselves for most of the week, the NZMCA Park was beginning to fill up. RVs arriving from far & wide, their occupants very excited to be going to the All Black vs England test match on Saturday night at the stadium.

Never mind All Ways,  I think this guy came the wrong way......or the long way or perhaps both!

We pulled out of Dunedin late morning and after the long haul up the northern motorway hills & down the other side, we eased into our usual steady pace of 85-90kpm (90 being our maximum allowed) At the aptly named Evansdale we turned right to follow an 18km scenic loop along the cliff tops overlooking the Pacific Ocean through Seacliff & Karitane.

The road was very narrow and winding with some tight corners in places, but the worst part was all the rail crossings we had to stop or give way to. The railway ran straight (of course), the road didn’t, up & down and over and back, the road weaved itself along the line.

Not before time we finally came to the end of the hills & a lookout, looking north over Karitane Beach & Huriawa Peninsula in the foreground onto Waikouaiti’s Butterfly Bay & Matanaka (Cornish Point) further on. It was a very hazy day but looked like it would be a great place to explore. We were headed further north so this was going to be as close as we got to the beach......famous last words.

Further north we turned into the Shag Point peninsula, thinking we’d see the seals while we had some lunch. We hadn’t stopped here on the way south late last year as we’d been to Moeraki & Katiki Point where we’d seen lots of seals & penguins. Shag Point is a well known tourist stop; today, we were the only ones in the carpark. And there were only a handful of seals on the rocks beside Boat Harbour & a few sunbathing on a grassy knoll further along.

Boat Harbour

The narrow Boat Harbour inlet must provide excellent shelter for the locals launching or hauling out their boats, except in a heavy easterly swell I would think. Can you spot the seal on the far right rock ledge down by the water? Another one is out on the point- see the following photo.

 

We walked down to the grassy mound where the others were snoozing but the surrounding grass was long and there are old mine shafts about and probably sleeping seals so we didn’t get too close. The smell wasn’t that pleasant either.

Back at the 5th-wheeler, I put the slide-out out about two foot so I could get lunch ready, it really is great to have your home right there; it’s so easy to make lunch, sit at the dining table if it’s cold outside and watch the world pass by.

On hearing an unusual noise when we pulled the slide-out back in, David decided due to our last episode, he'd be extra cautious and have it checked out back in Dunedin where we had a contact. But of course being a Friday afternoon with the weekend due and an All Black test match happening, Dunedin would be in shut-down mode. It’s not Friday the 13th is it?

And that was how we found ourselves checking into the delightful but deserted Waikouaiti Beach Motor Camp right beside the golden sands of Butterfly Bay. And enjoying fish & chips at the tiny local pub while the locals had their raffle evening.

Hi-de-hi????  :)