South Island Day 13 & 14 – Mapua, Pohara, Pupu Springs, Horseback Riding

Day 13

The weather was a bit iffy.. So we decided to just take our time and make our way close to where we would be horseback riding tomorrow. There would be lots to see on the way..

So we drove along the coast for a bit to a small town called Mapua, and had lunch on the wharf.. This is a shot from our lunch table..

It was a nice relaxing lunch, until we started getting eaten by the sand flies – luckily right when we were done.. So we got the heck out of the restaurant and started to move around to keep the bugs away..

The town is known as an artsy area, and the wharf was no exception.. there were plenty of art shops, so we strolled through a couple.. Mish bought some small artwork for her mom and other folks..

We hit the road again, along the coast to Motueka, just to check out the beach, a local pool, and scope out a possible place to stay for tomorrow… There was supposed to be some sort of shipwreck there too, but we didn’t see it..

We continued on the road, across another mountain (Takaka hill) which had great valley views and a million zigs and zags. It runs along the edge of Abel Tasman (the upper right green corner of the map above, is a national park called Abel Tasman), which is where we were planning on sea kayaking in a couple days..

Here is a panoramic near the top of Takaka.. the road zig zags to the right, and eventually leads down to the valley..

A closer look at the road ahead..

I took a quick shot in the same area.. and while the below pick looks like a big calm lake with mountains around it…

It’s actually just a puddle on a rock, with mountains in the background 😉 I put the camera right on the rock to take the pic..

So we made it to the campsite pretty early, found a spot there, and hung out on the beach (Pohara Beach).

I read on the beach until I couldn’t take the cold wind anymore.. While Mish wandered around the beach and took photos (she claimed it wasn’t do cold).. Maybe I was still wrapping up my little cold I had, but I was not warm! It actually seemed like when the sun was out, it was warm.. But I think there were only 2 clouds in the ski, and they just kept taking turns covering the sun..they seemed to speed to cover the sun, then stop until the next one got there. Very frustrating!

Here are some of Michelle’s pics:

 
 

 
 

 
 

Mish poked and prodded the sea cucumber a bit.. and took a video.. it moves slow, but if you look closely, you kinda see it’s ‘fat’ section moving..

 

She took a pick of me just before I left for the camper.. I look like an old man! I was facing the sun, with a towel to cover the wind, and I was still cold!

I went back to the camper, and she continued to take more pics for a bit..

 
 

When she finally came in, we had dinner, and played cards until the stars came out.

 
 

Day 14

Back to glorious sunshine thankfully..And today’s main goal: Horseback Riding!

But first a couple stops.. First, we stopped at The Grove, where limestone is shaped in-between huge trees and vines & roots..

Unfortunately, my Batteries died so no photos of some cool nature there. There were some very interestingly shaped rocks and trees handing on to them.. It was a beautiful spot.

I felt like I was in a Disney film for a bit, when a very friendly little bird danced around me for a while before we left. I thought for a sec it was going to perch on my shoulder!

Then we stopped at Pupu (Te Waikoropupu) Springs… The “clearest fresh water in the world”.

Crystal clear and constantly gushing water from the geysers at the bottom of the ponds

Fish swimming by were really easy to see..

And they had a neat set up, where a couple mirrors where placed under water, so you could see the underwater action.. We watched a duck diving 50 feet away…  You can make out the duck’s feet swimming on the surface in the photo below..(it’s a picture of the mirror)

Then we made it to the Farewell Horse Riding, just in time to eat lunch before hopping on our rides. The guide was a friendly young guy from England if I remember right.. He was travelling around, and making cash as a guide.. Currently at this spot, near the Farewell Spit of New Zealand (the sand dunes at the top of this pic – the northern edge of the south island of NZ)..

The funny thing about the pic below (near the start of the trail), is that it kinda looks like I have a headless horse!

Mine was an old guy (22 yrs) who knew the deal…  I only had to nudge him to get back on track or speed up a couple times. He definitely took advantage of my lack of experience, and ate grass constantly (apparently a no-no when riding)

The pic above is about where the trail began to climb.. through a bit of forest.  We continued to climb from that point, gaining more and more of a view, such as this one to the beach:

Actually, there were a few trails to choose from, which Mish had a hard time of, since she wanted to do them all.. A beach ride was one of them.. But we went for the hills and view..

Once the climb was over, we had an amazing view of the Farwell Spit, and all around it really – 360 degrees atop some high hills and above Old Man Rock (a rock face which we could see back at the ranch..)

I took a pic from on the horse, of the spit:

At times on the trail, there were spots to speed up.. I learned the different speeds of a horse.. Trots were a pain to time (where the horse seems to be coming up, while you are coming back down), but the Canter was great fun… Gave me a feel for the power in these horses.. Gave me much more respect for the cowboys on western flicks..

This pic gives you an idea of the rock faces we were riding on top of.. And of course the amazing view..(Golden Bay is to the right)

I just wished Michelle’s horse was as fun as mine, but hers was a bit of a pain, and she had a hard time getting him to put effort into the trip. Lesson: Don’t tell them your partner is experienced – the experienced person gets a horse that’s hard to deal with!

Once we were back, Mish took a pic of the Old Man Rock.. We were basically riding along the top of the mountain you see below. The pic is taken from about where we started (I think it was the entrance to the riding place actually)

We drove for a bit along the Farwell Spit, but not all the way. Took a little walk on the beach, where there were hundreds of birds.. Geese, black swans, and all sorts of others..

The pic above is just a small area.. but as far as you could see up and down the beach, were swans and geese..

And King Fisher type looking ones..

After that, we headed back to Motueka for groceries and the night’s stay, as kayaking would be tomorrow’s adventure, and it started in Motueka in the morning!