13th - 15th April. Ever Northwards

On Friday 15th April we left Margaret and Shirley's house at Tapawera to drive to the northernmost town on South Island - Collingwood. Weatherise our luck of good weather ran out as it was raining hard and low cloud covered the hilltops. I was driving and had to negotiate Takaka Hill, again a steep climb with many hairpin bends. We rose above the low cloud level so we were unable to see what I am sure were beautiful views nor did I have to drive through fog as I expected. At the top of 'the marble hill' as it is called we visited Ngarua Caves. They were pretty impressive with many incredible stalactites and stalagmites, and weddings are frequently held in the enormous 'cathedral', the biggest area within the caves.
We stopped in Takaka for lunch and during the afternoon checked into the Beachcomber Motel in Collingwood, a very small township situated on the famous Golden Bay. Unfortunately, it wasn't 'golden' for us today, more like grey.
Whilst out for a short walk between showers we were lucky enough to see a Great Egret, or White Heron. These are not seen in Northern Europe. It was big, and a joy to see.

On Thursday 14th April we left Westport for Tapawera, a small town in Tasman where friends of Terry live. We followed the Buller River most of the way, and through The Buller Gorge. Yet again we passed through stunning scenery - high forested cliffs and wide blue river. At one point the road passes through Hawk's Crag, a very scary bit where the road has been cut out of the cliff face with a deep drop to the river on one side. I remember going through this in an Inter City bus in 2006 and it was scarier then than it was in the car this time.


Quoted from the internet: "The almost vertical cliff at Hawks Crag posed a challenge when building the road through the lower Buller Gorge. The solution was to cut a narrow slot across the cliff face, which had to be negotiated with care by wheeled vehicles. Shown here in the late 19th century, the road was only just wide enough to take carriages and carts." Rather them than me!


Our next stop was The Buller Gorge Swingbridge, the longest in the country.


We walked over it with some trepidation as it was high and very wobbly, and my return journey was not on foot, but on 'the comet line' ie a death slide! I didn't feel at all nervous and enjoyed in immensely, as this photo shows:


Further along the road we passed a massive scar on a mountain which occurred as a result of the Inangahua earthquake in 1967. We had previously called into Inangahua to see photographic evidence and newspaper reports of this. This earthquake dramatically changed the local landscape.
As we were not due to arrive at Margaret and Shirley's house until gone 3.30 we had time to kill we so left the highway on a couple of occasions to visit Lake Rotoroa, and Lake Rotoiti near St. Arnaud in the Nelson Lakes National Park. They were both beautiful with mountains as a backdrop.

Wednesday 13th April was a 'rest day' in Westport. I am sure there are far better places to relax in but we were both pretty tired and just fancied a day off. It has been a long and tiring 4 weeks and perhaps it is beginning to take it's toll. But neither of us would have changed anything. It has been just amazing.





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