Golden Bay

Takaka sculptures

waterfall walk

freedom camping Pupu Hydro

waterfall

me beside water race at Pupu Hydro

Collingwood

view from bedroom window, Collingwood

old time store - with coffee machine

Explorer Malcolm finds a waterfall

Malcolm looks at a tree trunk and 1,000 oystercatchers look at Malcolm

Takeka is a cute little place, rather like Coromandel township in size and vibe.  There are plenty of hippies old and young around the place and it has lots of crystal shops, whole-food stores, a Saturday market selling ethnic clothing and hand -made soaps... etc.  Just outside the town is the Labyrinth Rocks Park, which is just that - a maze of tracks through canyons and caves of limestone.  Free and actually quite freaky.  We did an hour  walk to Wainui Falls, which crosses over one of those narrow wire bridges that DOC seems to love.

We parked up freedom camping on Pupu Valley road, past the turn off for the springs and beside the entry to the Pupu Hydro Walkway.  Then on to Collingwood where we freedom camped beside the road just on the way into town.  Waterfront location!

We took a drive up the Aorere Valley visiting a rock formation called the Devil's Boots.  They didn't actually look that much like boots, but possibly more than they looked like the devil's hat or any other item of clothing.  We also looked at the remains of a historical footbridge that had been swept away in a flood, replaced, then 3 years later in 2010 swept away again.  It is mentioned in the tourist literature as if it still exists - but it is all a bit slow and laid back here.  We visited the Bainham Store, unchanged since 1928 except that now it has a cappuccino machine.  The lady who runs it is the great granddaughter of the guy who built it.

Next stop, just tucked away south of Farewell Spit in a freedom camping area beside the beach which is thick with pied oystercatchers and other seabirds.   When the tide is out it looks like you could walk back to Collingwood or even Takaka!  Malcolm went to look for pipis (didn't find any) and he was just a dot in the distance.