Farewell Spit: Day Ninety-Nine - Afternoon (26 January)

We reached Collingwood about 3pm from where we could see Farewell Spit but hadn’t actually reached it yet! Collingwood is a lovely little town with an interesting museum and a fabulous beach that has been given over as a regeneration area for coastal plants. It was very wild and rugged and, being on the coast, very windy too.

But we found a sheltered spot in the garden of the Old Courthouse Café to bask in the sun while we had a cup of tea. Then we drove onto Farewell Spit itself – only the last kilometre of road was unsealed so it wasn’t too bumpy.

We didn’t leave there until 6.15pm and it was a long drive back. (Just as well it was summer time when it stays light till late in the evening). We stopped for dinner at Motueka and got back to Nelson about 9.20pm, tired and ready to fall into bed.

Happy Australia Day to any Aussies reading this!

Barnaby

Farewell Spit: Day Ninety-Nine - Morning (26 January)

Today we went to the very top of the South Island, Farewell Spit. Spit in this sense means a long narrow strip of land projecting into the sea and Farewell because it was the last point to say goodbye from when people left the island. It turned out to be much further away than we’d thought but again the scenery was stunning, when you dared take your eyes off the very windy road.

We took the coastal route (Highway 60) out of Nelson and our first stop was Kaiteriteri where we had hot chocolate at a lovely café overlooking the beach. Twenty-five kilometres of bends further on, we had lunch at Takaka Hill where the views over the valley was stunning.

Barnaby