Te Waikoropupu Springs

Te Waikoropupu Springs, also known as Pupu Springs, are New Zealand’s largest freshwater springs and the largest cold water springs in the Southern Hemisphere discharging approximately 14,000 litres of water per second through eight main vents on the floor of the lake.

The Pupu Springs Reserve has recently had a major make-over with new boardwalks & a very informative information kiosk at the beginning of the walk with multi interpretation panels explaining the history of the springs and the cultural significance to local Maori.

 

There is also a large "touchstone", a partly polished slab of beautiful pounamu (greenstone) on a plinth in the centre.

 

 

The springs contain some of the clearest water ever measured and are located at the end of a kilometre walking track, much of it on a boardwalk, which also passes over the smaller Fish Creek Springs on the way to the major attraction in the reserve.

The waters of both springs are closed to all forms of contact, including filling water bottles, to prevent the introduction of the invasive alga, didymo. Which is fair enough having seen the devastation caused by didymo in Fiordland waterways.

The aqua blue crystal clear waters of the Te Waikoropupu Springs, Pupu Valley just out of Takaka.

And once again my memory was jogged, this photo of the old viewing tower beside the springs, taken in 1961, & located on one of the information panels at the entrance, is exactly the same as the one that appears in Mum & Dads’ home movie of their trip with friends around the South Island 45+ years ago. I hadn't realised that they were visiting the springs.

In my mind, I can also see Val (their friend & still a family friend) bent over & running along the path, clutching her blouse in case you could see down the front, trying to hide from the camera behind the very narrow handrail. All in that rather erratic & jittery “olden days” movie format too!

 

A Tourist in Takaka

Well, when in Takaka do as the tourists do. Go salmon fishing. Go salmon fishing because it probably the only chance of catching a fish at the moment.

OK, to be fair, it is winter and every person my beloved speaks to says there’s no fish out there until the spring; “the snapper haven’t arrived yet”. Well, no fish unless you go at least 5kms out into the bay & there’s no way he’s going out that far in our little rubber boat that contains a lot of hot air!

So it was off to Anatoki Salmon to catch dinner......and lunch......and  h'orderves........& dinner again....

This is a switched on operation, not only do they supply salmon around New Zealand to restaurants, supermarkets & Kiwi homes through on-line sales, they have an another feather in their business cap, a large pond stocked with salmon for tourists & locals who might like to try their hand at fishing and catch a fish for lunch or dinner. Something most people would never have a chance to do and it's free. Yeah right. Until you catch a fish that is.

We walked around the pond and the breeding pens first, each pen (covered with shade cloth to protect the fish from shags, kingfisher & the sun) holds tens of thousands of salmon. From the first pen with over 40,000 fry in it to the last one that has about 8,000 salmon ready to be harvested. It’s a 3 year cycle from hatching to dispatching.

At first, David wanted to “catch & release”, but unfortunately for him & the fish that wasn’t an option. “Just think of the fresh fish we can eat” I told him. He wasn’t impressed.

But with a bit of persuasion and the irresistible call of the rod,  I managed to get him to go fish. It was a no win situation for the poor fish. The bait on the end of the hook looked very similar to the fish pellets they are fed daily. Like lambs to the slaughter.

Two good sized fish were caught. They did say to come and get some real pellets ($2) if we had no luck after 15 minutes. "C'mon guys you're talking to a real fisherman here", no pellets necessary- the first landed within 5 minutes, the second about 10 minutes later.

For someone who didn't want to catch and keep a fish he looked pretty pleased with himself!

We (the royal we) would have liked to have continued fishing but at $21 kilo per fish caught (average 1.5 kilo each) we couldn’t be greedy.

Another guy joined us in the fishing contest, he had pellets, & he caught one within a few minutes. It was his lunch hour so we gave him the benefit of the doubt. He was a meter reader(electricity) and told us this was the first time he had done this. Yeah right…..

We carted our catch to the preparation station to have it expertly filleted and then sliced, diced & smoked to our specifications while we waited. And while we waited we spent some more; coffee, salmon bites & ciabatta. Talk about coals to Newcastle! But hey, you only live once.

We’ll be eating salmon for the next few days; sashimi-ed, fresh fillet & smoked with two different flavours.

YUM…... and you know what? We’ll be passing by this way on our way back over the “hill” and we might just have to take a slight detour….

What Does The Sign Say?

We went tiki-touring today, to the DOC campground at Totaranui on the coast. Twenty kilometres on a narrow winding gravel road up and over a range through the Abel Tasman National Park. On our way back from Totaranui (I’ll post on that soon) we took a side road to visit Awaroa.

Awaroa is across a large estuary at the end of a extremely narrow road. There’s not much to see there, just a grass parking area, a few DOC signs directing people walking the Abel Tasman Great Walk and a huge mudflat. There’s a lodge & a few baches but they’re far across the estuary and only accessible by dinghy at high tide or walking at low tide.

The warning sign at the beginning of Awaroa Road says it all. We would never attempt to take our fifth-wheeler down this road but these roads are great to explore when we’re out in the Ranger.

Other than one vehicle that arrived at Totaranui while we were having lunch we hadn’t seen another car on the roads all day.

That was until we rounded a bend about a kilometre down Awaroa Road to come across this…

What you can’t see are the eight, yes that’s right, eight people standing on the road further on. A family from overseas; elderly Mum & Dad, a son who has just graduated from Dunedin University & was driving, plus sons & daughters & two partners, all in their teens & twenties who were visiting NZ. The son from Dunedin was taking the family on a South Island tour, they’d left Christchurch two days ago.

We have no idea why the guy decided to ignore the sign but once he had committed himself to the road there was no turning around. We also don’t know why he cut the corner, it was actually one of the wider corners on the road. And eight people? We’re sure this would be a six berth van and only have seatbelts for six people.

They were extremely lucky the van didn’t tip over, the ground was very soft & the boulders loose & there was a very steep gully below the culvert. Knowing that there was no way we could haul it out with the ute, we took the son back up the road to see first, if we could get phone reception & if not, take him down to Totaranui where there was a phone box located.

As luck would have it, a DOC Ranger was waiting at the road junction for a mate to arrive. He resides at the Awaroa Hut but had been at Totaranui to do a check as that ranger was away. He was able to call Head Office on his CB and they called Apollo who then arranged a tow truck. And although the family had insurance we have the feeling that it may not help in this situation as they were on a gravel road that had a clear warning sign about not driving it in a motorhome.

The tow truck was going to take about two hours to arrive. By now it was about 3pm and getting quite cold. The family had managed to get their jackets and a rug out of the van and were sitting on it further down the road. We left them with the DOC guy while we drove past and down to the estuary to check it out before returning up the road.

We had to be quite forceful when the son told us the family thought they’d walk down to the “beach”. We told them it was 3kms downhill with two “rivers” (fords) to cross and there was no way he’d be able to drive the van down there to collect them once it was free (if in fact the tow truck managed to pull it free). The DOC ranger thought he might need to bring the tractor back to use as an anchor as winching from behind would have dragged the front over.

There was no more we could do for them so we left the son at the top of the road waiting for the tow truck and we headed back over the range for home. An extra careful drive, inching our way around every blind corner expecting to come across the tow truck at any moment. We finally saw it ahead of us, just starting to climb, at the beginning of the road. We gave him a quick update and wished him luck. I have a feeling it was going to be a long evening.

Oh, It’s A Tough Life….

Takaka Hill Summit looking down to Upper Takaka & across to Golden Bay

After a slow climb up and a steady drive down the horrendously winding road over the Takaka Hill we have arrived in the beautiful Golden Bay and settled into another all but deserted, beachside holiday park, the Pohara Top 10 where we were once again told to set up camp “wherever you like”.

A quick explore along the road revealed another memory from Mum & Dads’ home movie, the one they took on their South Island tour with friends over 45 years ago (mentioned at the end of this post); the hole in the rock at Port Golden Bay. This car should be a grey & red Austin Cambridge and there should be a few arms waving out the windows as it drives by.

But there was no sign of the “long drop” (outhouse) that featured in the movie just after the hole in the rock. It had us kids in fits of giggles whenever we watched the movie. It was positioned over a big crevice in the rocks on the edge of the water and emptied into sea below. I have a feeling it was located on the rocks beside the Abel Tasman Memorial. I shall have to ask some locals.

Port Golden Bay cement silos from the long ago abandoned cement works. The road through the hole in the rock is located in the dark patch to the right of the point.

The marina at Tarakohe Harbour, Port Golden Bay.

 

 

Kaiteri Snapshots

Kaiteri is what the locals call Kaiteriteri & I figured after 4 weeks we can just about be classed as locals. We talk over the fence to the regulars out walking for exercise, walking their dogs or just on their daily stroll along the waterfront to the shop. We know most of the camp ground regulars both employees & long term residents and can wave an acknowledgement to the water taxi & tour boat skippers as they pass by. Even the local birds know where they can get a daily hello (& a feed).

But the time has come for us to move on over the “hill” to Golden Bay for a few weeks so before we go I thought you might like to see some random snapshots from this wonderful little place called Kaiteri, a place that delivered exactly what we were looking for over winter; golden sand, calm waters, sunny days, rest & relaxation.

A bush walk behind the camp leads up to a lookout over Kaiteriteri estuary & bay. A massive amount of water funnels in and out under the bridge each tide movement, so much so that there are signs along the edge of the outlet stream warning of the sudden changes in depth & swift current.

And here’s a close-up of “Out There” parked on the front row at the Kaiteriteri Motor Camp.

This gentleman made regular visits to the beach, mostly after the weekend. The first time I saw him approaching from the far end of the bay I though there was a blind man coming as he swept his metal detector back & forward. And just to prove that we’re both silly as each other, David thought so too. And while he hasn’t found too much in his quest for fortune he told us he'd found a few rings & coins. I liked his nifty “flour sifter”.

Another day in paradise.

Birds around camp- In the afternoons, the big fat wood pigeons (kereru) flew out to sun themselves in the camp trees. Gulls & sparrows cruised up and down the beach looking for easy handouts. A Little Shag dries out on a post in the estuary.

And then there were the cheeky birds. This thrush is a camp favourite, like a little shadow it followed us about as we moved around the vehicles, darting out from underneath as soon as we stepped outdoors. No matter where you were it would suddenly appear right beside your feet. Many times it waited at the bottom of the stairs giving a short peep for a bit of food.  If it was off digging for worms and a motorhome arrived it rushed over to make friends.

Then along came the ducks, just two, this female & her mate who most of the time waited for her on the road. They wandered up from the beach late in the afternoon (or were waiting first thing in the morning), luckily she only realised there was food to be had in the last few days otherwise I’d have had to ignore her. Because as soon as I fed her the sparrows arrived and after the sparrows came the gulls, dozens of them!

I know, I know, feeding the birds is a bad habit because they reward your generosity with poop! All over the step & the mat much to David’s annoyance. I know this but I can’t help myself and other than the thrush I only started to feed the others in the last few days & we’ll be gone soon. Who could say no to this cute little fellow? “Please sir, I want some more?”

 

In a small grove of beech trees on the way to one of the lookouts there were many birds in a feeding frenzy, including this tui. They were flitting about all through the trees, running up & down the trunks and chasing others away. They were feeding on the tiny droplets of honeydew produced by the beech scale insect which have blackened the trunks of the trees, it's similar to sooty mould. Honeydew plays a vital role in the food supply for a range of native bird and insect species. The honeydew drops have a high sugar content and are an important energy source for birds over winter.

 

 

And if I could take one thing with me when we leave Kaiteriteri it would be the pink phone booth on the left! I’d stick it upright on the storage box at the back or squeeze it through the door and make it into the shower box. A two in one; a shower on the inside, communication on the outside. This my friends was our number one best gadget while parked up here at Kaiteri, a free wifi zone, delivering one whole gigabyte each per day for our phones & computers. Considering I use approximately 5GBs a month costing around $75, having a free zone so close was a very big deal.

But best of all it was delivered to the inside of our parked up van without us having to sit outside the booth as we would usually have to do. The only problem was that we were on the outer edge of it’s range and as motorhomes came & went and parked up on the front row between us & the phone booths the strength came & went. We had to move about the van holding the computer up in the air or work off the kitchen bench to pick it up sometimes.

Frosty feet- Winter lesson #1; make sure you put your crocs in the shoe box otherwise come morning, you’ll have a very cold (& slippery) walk to the showers. Lesson #2 stand your crocs up when you get back, to drain the water, otherwise you’ll have wet socks the next time you step back into them.

Our neighbours had a frosty start to their kayak tour, they were heading up to Abel Tasman Park for three days but had to wait for things to thaw before stowing away their food & sleeping bags.

And this would have to have been the heaviest frost we experienced while at Kaiteri, the same day as we headed to Flora Carpark & the snow.

And finally a photo for Dad. Hop frames near the turnoff to Kaiteri. When I was a child Mum & Dad did a tour of the South Island with some friends (and without us). Whenever we watched the home movie of their trip dad would say as they drove past the hops in Motueka “There’s my favourite plant”. It was much later on in life before I realised why!

A Journey Through Takaka Hill

Ngarua Caves are located just below the summit (literally) of the 791m Takaka Hill. Just before the caves is a short track to  Hawkes Lookout which gives wonderful views back down the valley towards Riwaka, Motueka & Nelson & Tasman Bay beyond.

A close up reveals a patchwork of orchards & red & white shade-cloth. Red shade cloth is favoured by some growers as it helps the colour of red apples to develop. I say it’s a blight on the landscape.

From the lookout we can also see part of Kauhurangi National Park and straight down below to the Riwaka Resurgence which we’ll be visiting after the caves.

Ngarua Caves were discovered in the 1870s by bushmen clearing the hillside of scrub after a bushfire had destroyed the surrounding bush. The caves are located on private land and were closed for many years because early visitors destroyed and removed stalactites, they also wrote their names on the formations. The caves reopened in 1970 and since then have been visited by thousands of people as they pass over the Takaka Hill which separates the Tasmam Bay from Golden Bay. During the winter the caves are open on the weekends only.

The views out over Tasman Bay are spectacular as we drive down the farm road to the cave entrance. That’s tiny Fisherman Island with Adele Island slightly hidden to the left, Marahau is in the bay on the right.

We are greeted in the car park by this giant moa.

Takaka Hill is also know as Marble Mountain. The marble rock is about 450 million years old and is quarried, along with limestone, near Ngarua Caves. The marble was used to build several buildings in New Zealand: Parliament Buildings & the Beehive in Wellington and the Nelson Cathedral.

The surrounding landscape looks completely alien covered by thousands of oddly shaped karst rock peaks jutting up. In layman terms; karst rock is made up of limestone & marble which are highly soluble to rainwater. The corrosive rainwater slowly seeps through the cracks & crevasses and over millions of years dissolves the rocks transforming the landscape into these weird rock shapes along with forming caves, sinkholes & underground rivers. These looked like painted polystyrene rocks from a film set to me.

There were just four of us on the tour, we were issued with hard hats before the cave door was unlocked and the lights switched on. The temperature inside the caves is a constant 11c, it never varies, so not as cold as you might expect.

Once through the narrow entrance the cave opened up into a wonderland of stalactites (growing down from the ceiling) and stalagmites (growing up from the ground). This cave is over 300 metres long with a variety of “rooms” including the magnificent “Cathedral” where we were invited to sing. No one took up the offer. We made our way slowly through, following a well formed but narrow path & boardwalk, stopping at various points to hear about the different formations. Many of the dripstones (as they are collectively known) have missing points. These had been broken or sawn off in the early years by souvenir hunters.

The cave also has an excellent display of skeletons from the extinct Moa, once the largest living bird in the world. Although the skeletons found in this cave, came from a smaller species of the bird; the bush moa. The moa have fallen through the many tomos (sink holes) that are dotted across the landscape above. There are many more moa bones located in the caves but not all have been excavated (there are other unexplored caves on the farm). 

It has not only been moa that fall into the caves; possum, sheep & other mammals have also met a similar fate. And just last February, & on this farm, a woman plotting an orienteering course, disappear down an overgrown tomo and fell 10 metres into an underground cave below. It took rescuers several hours to locate and rescue her.

Stalactites & stalagmites take a very long time to form; on average growing roughly 2.5cm (1 inch) every 80 years.

One of the formations was a “touchstone”, it had a small area  taped off where you could touch the rock to feel how cool & smooth it was. You weren’t allowed to touch any other rocks or formations throughout the cave. This little exercise showed up the damage that touching the rock can do. The touch area was stained a dirty brown colour and had worn quite smooth. The surrounding area on the same rock was a pristine creamy white with a rough texture.

At the end of the cave, well where we were to leave it anyway, there are many signatures on the stalactites left behind by visitors in the early years (the earliest being 1876 & coincidently on my birth date- many years later of course!). Although there are a few from recent times too. Mike worked on the farm & if you look closely at the date you’ll see that this is when many thought the world might end. He wanted to leave his mark.

Ahead of us a narrow ladder led to the exit of the cave. At this point the cave actually turned a corner, narrowed down and ran on on for a further 60 metres or so (which is as far as it has been explored). We climbed out into bright sunshine and followed the path back to the carpark passing a few fenced off tomos along the way.

There are plenty of larger sink holes not fenced off though & I asked about stock in the paddock. Janet, our guide and the farmer, told us the sheep tend to know where the holes are and avoid them but they do allow a 5% “disappearance” rate when the ewes are lambing. She also said that calves are the ones that tend to disappear on a more regular basis

I’d thoroughly recommend a visit to the caves if you are passing over the Takaka Hill, they’re well worth the effort especially if you have a stunning day like ours.

We’d seen the resulting landscape at the top of the hill, where fresh water begins it’s journey, now it was time to see the exit point of water that has travelled over 4kms and taken three days to work it way through a network of caves, cracks & fissures in the 791m hill to the valley floor below. We headed back down and turned hard right at the bottom of the hill following the Riwaka river upstream for 7kms heading to the north branch of the river & the Riwaka Resurgence.

A short path leads us through bush on the edge of the river, along the way we pass the Crystal Pool, a cool deep green clear pool surrounded by jagged, moss covered boulders. There's also a dozen or so people jockeying for position around the pool, balancing on the slippery rocks. I’ll stop on the way back down to get a clear photo.

Not much further on, and after a short climb up a narrow track, we come to the Resurgence. This is the beginning of the north branch of the Riwaka River. Water is constantly spilling into the light of the day from a deep clear pool beneath a dark cave. The water is as pure as the crystal clear waters of the better-known Te Waikoropupu Springs (Pupu Springs) located on the Golden Bay side of the Takaka Hill. There are a lot of visitors to the Resurgence the day we visit and most are carrying water bottles which they fill from the pool at the bottom of the stairs.

The Riwaka Resurgence is of particular cultural significance & wahi tapu (a sacred place) to the people of Te Atiawa and Ngati Rarua tribes. It has been a place of healing for Maori for many years. Early Polynesian explorer Hui Te Rangiora is said to have used the river’s scared waters to heal himself on the way home from a gruelling voyage in which he discovered Antarctica.

While we were there a group of visitors from Taranaki (North Island) where visiting their whanau (family) in the area and were making a pilgrimage to the Resurgence. Several haunting & beautiful waitata (Maori song) filled the air as women sung at the Crystal Pool & the Resurgence.

After the group had returned to the carpark and on my return back down the path,  I was able to move in close to the Crystal Pool to take some photos. While I was there another couple arrived, the lady asking me if I could take her & her husbands' photo beside the pool. She told me she was visiting after many years away & wanted to show her husband this very special place. She also told me many years ago she had written a waiata for the Resurgence. A strange coincidence as she had nothing to do with the earlier group. I took their photo for them and headed back down the path. As I moved out of sight, once again the haunting sound of a waiata came to me through the bush.

A special place indeed. And not only for Maori it would seem.