FOLLOW THE GOLDEN WEATHER
Sunshine hours aplenty and sugar- sand beaches make this a winter hotspot
IT’S JUST OVER the hill but feels so far, far away. The distance from Nelson to Takaka is a matter of 100 kilometres but Golden Bay is a destination rather than a stop on the way to somewhere else. There is one road in, one road out. The 791-metre Takaka Hill is the gatekeeper to this area which, every year, vies with Nelson to head the sunshine hours’ leaderboard.
That hill deters the easily carsick, the readily impatient and the apt to be indecisive – but it rewards the persistent with pure waters, pristine beaches and hours of Vitamin D- topping rays.
There’s something else here too; a gritty yet gentle spirit that attracts the like-minded. Artists, creators of craft and the flower children of the past have put down roots. Some say hippies, others alternative – whatever the name, their spunk gives Golden Bay its soul and that million-miles-away feel.
Farewell Spit Tours
There’s a feeling that settles over visitors to Farewell Spit. It dances around in the salt-flecked ocean air and sits in hair and clothes like the tiny grains of white sand. It’s almost a weightlessness, the freedom of being one of few humans here, and the awe at being at the mercy of nature. The tides are king and rule the spit, moulding the dunes with their force. The winds can be brutal but, in a happy trick of nature, in winter they blow less often.
Farewell Spit is the most heavily protected place in New Zealand. That’s because the ecosystem is like no other and is home, in spring and summer, to several thousand gannets in the only sea-level colony in the country. There are more than 90 recorded species of birds, from swans and red knots to oystercatchers and penguins. It is not uncommon to see seals sunbathing on the beach while their young shelter at nearby Wharariki Beach.
While life flourishes on the spit, it is also occasionally lost. Whale strandings are a tragic regular occurrence. In February 2017, 416 pilot whales were stranded – one of the largest strandings ever recorded in New Zealand.
Only the first four kilometres of the ocean beach and two-and-a-half kilometres of the Golden Bay side are open to the public. Further access is permitted by authorized workers or Farewell Spit Eco Tours only.
What started 70 years ago as a mail-delivery service to the lighthouse is now Farewell Spit Tours, a popular tourism venture.
Paddy Gillooly was a motor mechanic looking after the tour buses when he was offered a chance to step into guiding boots. He mulled it over. “And here I am, in the best job in the world. I love dealing with happy people; I love sharing this place. People can never explain exactly what makes it so special. It’s just that feeling.”
Photographers are particularly drawn to Farewell Spit though Paddy says it’s a hard place to capture well due to the long beach and expansive sky. Predictably clear winter weather provides prime conditions for photographers.
Paddy takes guests to the sand dunes, the seal colony, Fossil Point, the white sand ocean beach and the lighthouse which was built in 1869.
Tours to Farewell Spit depart daily from Collingwood. Departure times are tide-dependent, so book in advance. (03) 524 8257, farewellspit.com