The Takaka Hill

 December 21st

More rain again, well more of a drizzly than a downpour. It was enough for us to decide on leaving early, forgoing breakfast, to head into Motueka. One reason was Ian had run out of his Green Tea T bags and like me, without that first cup of tea, is no use to anybody. I had also decided I wanted to wash the bedding. At Motueka was a Liquid Launderette and right next door a New World supermarket. Just about to set off when we realised we had left our mat outside. Dripping it was, nothing for it but leave it in the footwell for the water to run off and deal with it later.

Laundry and shopping done, we left for the Ruiwaka Resurgence. This is what the Maoris call the source of the River Ruiwaka. It's one of their sacred places as the water is crystal clear. Turning down a 'no exit' road off the highway, it was a 7 km drive to the car park. Only 300 mtrs to the source, and an easy walk.  Everywhere was wet though, and some of the rocks on the path a tad slippy, but I went without sticks and managed just fine. 

We took the wrong path at first, Followed it down to the river and into the forest. I was a bit concerned about that, surely this wasn't right. Ian went ahead, that brave man of mine leading the way. Soon became clear this was not the right track!

If we had kept to the right instead of taking the left path down to the river, we would have eventually found the steps leading up to the source.

 

This was a special place, I can see why the Maoris thought it sacred. Ian took some risks trying to get better photos, I decided I would be safer standing near to the edge and not clambering across the rocks.

 

 Back at the Toy, and we headed North again, this time toward Takaka. But first a slight detour off the route to Kaiteriteri. We had heard this place was fabulous for swimming, the beaches stretching around the Tasman Sea. A swim was what we wanted. Now that the sun had put in an appearance it was very warm, to cool off in the sea seemed a sensible idea to have.

 Wonderful to relax and just chill out, and we could have stayed a lot longer but a campsite was still to be found. Headed north on the SH60 which traversed the Pikikirunga Range,. Called the Takaka Hill it is windy, steep but with some glorious views across the valley. It also has some scary drops, which sitting in the passenger seat had me gripping the seat at certain times. Not that Ian isn't a good driver, he is, but I can see what he cannot! Now this Takaka Hill can take a good hour to complete and has some serious S bends! This excerpt from dangerousroads.org 

The zig-zagging highway isn’t scary, but it is a very steep and winding road with 257 corners, some almost 320 degree hairpins. Because of this, new comers to the road sometimes experience travel sickness. The wide road surface is extremely well maintained and has numerous layoffs where slower moving vehicles can allow others to pass. It is a slow road to drive. The road features steep sections, and hits a 13% of maximum gradient through some of the ramps 

 This was one road Ian looked forward to driving. We climbed for an age, not a straight bit of road to be had, and they weren't wrong about those hairpins!

By the time we stopped at Hawkes lookout, we still hadn't reached the top. We walked the half kilometre  to reach the viewing platform and wow, what a view.

 This is also a car park permitting freedom camping for self contained vehicles, and we took advantage of that. A long drop toilet was available but this was the first one that I wasn't going to go near! Flies...hundreds of them as I opened the door. Someone had left the lid up, not a wise move and the thought of the little beggars emerging as I sat on the seat was enough to put me off completely! Nop, the Toy's porta potti it was to be then. Ian on the other hand, because he only stood to pee, had no qualms at all!

We had picked a spot as far from the road as possible but of course the road continues up, and as we were below road level the noise was ever present. I'm sure it will quieten down eventually.

Not long after dinner, and with our side door wide open to let out the heat, we had a very unexpected visitor!

And if you are wondering what we gave this Weka to eat, it was a small corner of a cream cracker.