Maori terms of the day...
"Nau mai" - Welcome
"No hea koe?" - Where are you from?
Off on our adventures around Kateriteri, it was time to
hop behind the wheel of our small and trusty rental car and traverse the pass
out of town and up into the hills. The road was a nice collection of twists and
turns with switchbacks here and there, the breathtaking scenery of southern New
Zealand evermore putting us in awe of its beauty.
The hill country and forests gave way to the
rolling fields of a farming valley as we crested the pass and wound our way
back down the other side into the town of Waitapu. Near there was our first stop off for the
day, the Pupu Springs.
Despite the image the name may
bring, the springs are simply beautiful! Known as one of the deepest and
clearest springs you can find I was surprised by just how big the whole area
is. It almost bordered on lake size! Apparently you used to be able to dive in
it, the clearness of the springs masking the true and slightly shocking depth
of the springs. But recent times and regulations have since put restrictions on
so much as touching the water that is said to have a fair cultural significance
to the Maori people.
Continuing on from there, it was another hour or so to
our destination for the day, the road taking us almost near the most northern
tip of the South Island at Farewell Spit. We took a short detour for a hike up
to a gorgeous lookout of the larger country side before making it down just in
time for out 12:30 appointment: horse trekking! That’s right, it was finally
time for me to break my forced 6 month fast from horses and spring back up on
the back of a sweet smelling equine. Gah, it was glorious! The downside of course
was that it made me miss my own horse at home even more, but it was good to get
my riding legs back again!
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| Me on Bungle, Mom on Andy, and Karen on Rocky |
I was given Bungle, the affectionately named “Italian
Stallion” for the 007 freeze brand on his rump possibly signifying he used to
be used at stud. Who knows though… And
get this, Mom was given a horse named Andy. Now, that may not seem all that
funny to some of you, but it if I were to tell you that my dad’s name was Andy and
that everywhere we go around the world
and rent horses for the day, one of them always
has the name “Andy” or “Andrew” in some form or another and it might make a little
more sense to you as to why that was utterly hilarious to my mom and I.
So off on the horses it was, the first little section
winding us down the main gravel road.
Then shortly it was up into the hills of rolling sheep pastures and
steep ravines and valleys and oh my word, it was beyond anything I had seen
before! Such spectacular scenery and definitely not something we would have
seen better any other way! Even the pictures just don’t compare! We were wading
through and herding sheep as we went, their white wooliness scattering down the
hillsides as we walked, trotted and cantered by.
At one point, we came upon this field with a small herd
of young steers and man those were some cheeky little buggers! They kept
running up to us and following us wherever we walked. To an onlooker it may
have looked like cattle herding a herd of horses!
The end of our trek took us down and onto the beach a
ways, the wind picking up even more than on the hillsides. And that’s saying
something! We even got to canter some which I will say was actually
quite difficult on these horses since their past lives were as pacers (horses
that race at a trot and are trained NOT to canter). But it was glorious either
way though I will admit, my behind it NOT going to like me for the next couple
days…
That evening we had dinner at the hostel with our new
friend Karen, who went on the horse trek with us and is another traveler on the
Kiwi bus. She is from Dublin, Ireland
and certainly shares our affinity for horses which is fantastic!
I had a talented moment that evening as well when I was sitting
on my bed in our room eating cereal (yes, breakfast for dessert) and somehow
managed to tip over the box and dump the entirety of its contents under the bed. Ask me how I did that, I have no idea. I couldn’t repeat it the same way even if I
tried.
The next day we made use of our rental car again and
drove up and over the range again, this time taking the turn off to the town of
Anatimo where we took a short hourish walk to the Wainui Falls.
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| Fun little bridge crossing there! Max one person at a time. |
The rivers are so full at this time of year,
seeing as it is winter and all, that there was quite the wall of mist from the waterfall
when we finally reached it. I had to
whip out my camera, take a few shots, and cover it up again for fear of getting
it soaked! It wasn’t the waterproof one after all.
The road from there changed to gravel and took us up into
the foothills of the Abel Tasman National Park and out onto the coast. We took
about an hour there, just walking up the beach and enjoying our first spell of
pretty warm weather in New Zealand.
I could have been happy in shorts and a t-shirt for how warm it was!
We set up at a picnic table and had our lunches there in the warm sunshine of the coast as well. And that's when the Weka incident happened... We had made our way to the picnic table with our lunch things, had sat down and, I kid you not, had been there for no more than 30 seconds when we look down and there is this chicken sized bird bearing down at our feet. Mom was so surprised and intrigued by the birds identity that she upended the entirety of her salad on the ground and we had to almost fight the bird to scrounge up most of it. She still ate it in the end though I think it was a little gritty... But man that bird, it was literally foraging right under our feet! I could feel it pecking at my shoes!
We made it back into Kaiteriteri shortly before nightfall
just in time to return out rental car at the allotted time. As our last day in the town, we decided to
take advantage of the local cuisine and the fish n’ chips deal at the
neighboring bar; spend $10 on drinks and you get a good sized meal of fish n’
chips for $5. And that's a pretty good deal for eating out here. Let’s just say I got the fruitiest, most girly drink they had!
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