Wednesday, March 10, 2010

New Zealand - February 17 - Farewell Spit

From New Zealand
We got up early and quietly showered and breakfasted then hit the road. We drove in the thin morning light to the Farewell Spit visitor center on a narrow road with muddy flats extending from the ditch to the horizon. We parked - first car in the lot then followed the signs - across the lane then up and over the barbed wire fence and through a field to the lookout. Everything was quiet. Everything was grey.
From New Zealand

Retracing our steps we followed a second path from the parking lot around the visitor's center (still not open) and then down a hill, through a gate, and onto the salt marsh. The smelly marsh. One of the things, besides a lighthouse, we had read about the area was the tremendous numbers of birds who make the spit their home. We did see birds - but the tide was way out and the thousands of birds were spacing themselves pretty evenly over miles of shore. Still, out there, there were a lot of teeny, tiny black swans.

From New Zealand

From the beach we followed the trail inland along a pasture ("hello sheep!") emerging on the "other side" : dunes, beach, waves. It was a bit eerie. Kevin and I alone on this desolate beach. We looked for the rumored pools filled with playful seal pups but found none. We did not get lost.
From New Zealand



From New Zealand


We couldn't identify a "loop" back to the car park, so we retraced our path. By the time we returned to the park's visitor center, it and the cafe were open. I required very little arm twisting to convince me it was time for second breakfast - tea and toast overlooking the muddy portion of the beach. Finishing our pot of tea we studied the photographs of beached whales and enjoyed the telescope - spying on the swans.

From New Zealand

No comments: