THE TOP BIT - part 3

From Nelson we headed West to the small and extremely casual town of Takaka which was to be our base for exploring the gorgeous sights of Golden Bay and that bit that sticks out of the North West corner of South Island - Farewell Spit. Our first stop was the supermarket where we picked up a real bargain. Stuck to the shopping basket stand was a note advertising 15 minute scenic flights in a light aircraft for $20 - about 8 pounds! As instructed we phoned Jim and booked a flight for the next day. We hopped on bikes from the hostel to the aerodrome four miles away, which was a big shed where Jim kept his two planes, a landing strip, windsock and Jim's tiny house. Jim was a small chap with a floppy hat in his 70's who lived and breathed flying. The fare was so cheap and he was so enthusiastic that you got the impression that we were just being used as an excuse to take to the skies again.

The plane sat Jim and four others and I got to sit in the passenger, sorry co-pilot's seat for a fantastic flight around the bay and estuary where the shadow of the plane was the only thing moving across miles and miles of sand below. We turned inland (a tad too sharply for my liking) into a wooded valley, flying low (very low) over the trees to get a good view of Pupu Springs, a turquoise oasis of the most pure water on earth. All too soon, the landing strip came into view and it was all over. I would have gladly stayed on and paid for another go, had there not been another four supermarket bargain finders waiting for their turn.

Most towns in NZ, however big or small, have i-sites. These are excellent tourist information offices where you can pick up information on local activities, accommodation and transport and book just about anything from a bungy jump to a Maori concert. We went along to the i-site in Takaka with the intention of hiring a small car for a few days to get off the beaten track and were helped by a Dutchman called Wohl who told us the going rate then offered his own personal vehicle instead at a lower price. After a little deliberating we took Wohl up on his offer and ended up driving around in his 15 seater minibus!

The first journey in our tour bus was out towards Collingwood and Farewell Spit. Remember the end of the road at Karamea a few weeks ago? Well this is the other end of the non-existent road and an unsealed dusty track led us to the starting point of the spit. As the stormy seas and high southerly winds that lash the West coast turn around the corner and along the North coast, they dump tons and tons of sand which form a 27km long sand dune that is constantly changing shape and growing longer like a crooked finger stretching out into the Cook Straight. Who knows - one day it may have reached far enough to tickle the bottom on North island! We took a walk along the first couple of miles of the spit, collecting pretty horn shells as we went. It was so remote and beautiful.

Back in the minibus and to the vast expanse of Wharariki beach that looked ghostly as sand blew across like a low swirling mist. Marc took the camera up to the foot of the cliffs to capture some of the amazing rock formations and I sat beside a big rockpool watching a dozen seal pups tumbling and twisting around each other in the water - the odd one would come out for a nose then plop back in. I couldn't believe how lucky I was to be watching such a wonderful scene. After a while three girls arrived and started to take photos. One took off her black flipflops and left them by the waterside and I'm still not sure whether or not the seal came out because he thought that these black shiny things could have been another playmate, but he flapped over to the shoes then looked up at the girl who shrieked and turned to run. Now this was an invitation to play - her friends and I were doubled up at the sight of this squealing girl being chased in small circles by a flapping seal pup who had a good turn of speed. Eventually he got bored and slid back into the water, but not before inspecting the flipflops one more time. She was very lucky to go home with two!

Day two on the bus and we went in search of the Rawhiti cave which is said to have some of the best twilight zone flora and fauna in the world. We walked up the rocky bed of the Dry River (yes it was) then up the steep wooded sides of the valley to the most astonishing scene in the middle of the forest of a massive entrance to a cave and gallery within that were literally dripping with thousands of stalactites. Some were several metres long and seemed to be reaching out of the gloom towards the light. Sunlight through the foliage danced on the glistening walls to the sound of drips plopping into pools and I wouldn't have been at all surprised if the little girl and her grandfather who arrived looking for Gollum, actually found him.

This may come as a bit of a surprise to some (it certainly did to me) but Captain James Cook was not the first person to discover New Zealand. A Dutchman called Abel Tasman arrived at Golden Bay in 1642 and sent a party of men ashore in a small boat but due to a misunderstanding of the traditional Maori friend or foe challenge, they ended up being eaten. The anchor was raised and Abel sailed away pronto, never to return, naming the harbour Murderous Bay over his shoulder as he went. The matter has since been cleared up and a monument and plaque, unveiled by Queen Noor of the Netherlands which relays the sorry tale stands on the clifftop above the fateful spot. And while I'm at it, I'll also tell you that Cook wasn't the first to see New Zealand when he arrived on these shores over a century later. They were the eagle-eyes of Young Nick - Cook's cabin boy who had been press-ganged into the crew, that were the first to spy land. Cook's journal records the date incorrectly too. What a way to run a ship ...