Tākaka - Cape Farewell

Actually, my plan was to drive directly from Tākaka to Cape Farewell right after breakfast. However, when I strolled through the village in the morning, I found it so charming that I ended up staying a while longer and visited the museum as well. Additionally, I was able to give some travel tips about New Zealand to a German couple.

In the far north, the South Island of New Zealand has a roughly 1km wide, but about 25km long peninsula that can be walked for 4km before a permit is required. Unfortunately, many whales stranding there every year is a sad reality. Most recently, on December 2nd of this year, 37 pilot whales were stranded, of which only 17 survived after several rescue attempts due to further stranding incidents.

As early as 1642, the Dutchman Abel Tasman was likely the first European to see the peninsula and named it 'Sand Duining Hoek'. Captain James Cook was the next navigator to reach the northern tip of the South Island in 1770, naming it 'Cape Farewell' because it was the last landmass he saw before returning to England.

There are some beautiful lookouts there, but the main attraction is Wharariki Beach, which Windows users might recognize from their desktop background. I liked it so much that after spending a night at a freedom camping site, which I had to drive an hour on a gravel road to reach and where I ultimately stayed completely alone, I returned once again. I also decided to take the 9km long Top of Hill Walk from the village of Pūponga to Wharariki Beach and simply ask people at the end of the trail if they could give me a ride back to my car. Everyone at Wharariki Beach has to return to Pūponga since the road is a dead-end. Thus, the chances of finding someone were good. And in fact, I didn't have to wait five minutes before I had a very nice ride with a New Zealand family from Nelson, who also offered me nectarines and mandarins as a snack for the journey.

I also had great luck with the weather during the hike: When I got up in the morning, it was completely overcast, so I debated for a long time whether I should really drive to the Cape again. However, by the time I reached the start of the trail, it had cleared up significantly, and the sun shone beautifully along the way. It wasn't until I arrived at the beach three hours later that it unfortunately clouded over again. After watching some seals sleeping, I went to the famous rock formation, which the fog somehow gave a special touch. All in all, it was simply a beautiful hike!

On the way to The Historic Langford Store & Post Office, a general store that has been around since 1928 and sells excellent coffee and cakes, I made a slight detour to the Collingwood Historic Cemetery before taking a very short, but equally refreshing dip in the Salisbury Falls. I would have liked to stay longer, but then the sandflies would probably have completely devoured me. These flies are 2-3mm long, and while the males are harmless, the females require a blood meal before they can lay eggs. They locate their victims by sight and sense of smell, with some people's sweat and particularly dark colors being attractive to them. Unfortunately, I seem to emit a particularly enticing scent for sandflies - just like for mosquitoes...