Happy New Year! It’s gonna be a beautiful day! We got in the car and headed out for our first walk of the year, but were stopped by the sight of the mare and foal in the paddock next to the road. We’ve seen them from a distance, but never this close.

We interrupted the foals breakfast.

When Mom saw us she headed our way with baby trotting behind!

Mom munched some grass over the fence, maybe hoping for a carrot, while baby was a little skeptical!

We were heading back to Baton Run where we were yesterday to try to do the hike we attempted then. The hostess of the rest stop had given us directions to a swing bridge over the river so we wouldn’t get our feet wet. We scoped it out yesterday and found the parking area and headed over the private bridge.

The current land owners restored the swing bridge.

We learned from the sign boards yesterday that basically only the river valleys are suitable for agriculture. There was a minor gold rush in the area starting with a gold discovery in 1855. Miners arrived but it was never lucrative enough for major strikes. In 1859 the Taylor family moved to the area and built a hotel to service the miners. This bridge was an access point to the hotel. The newest owners of the land have rebuilt the hotel which burned down at some point.

It is a private residence now that hosts conservation and art workshops, but they allow the public to use the bridge.

A great brief history of the short gold mining era and a photo of the original hotel can be found HERE. The current owners story and photos of the rebuilt house and the original hotel can be found HERE. We continued on the road into the beech forest along the Baton river which is down the slope from the road. The river looks crystal clear with a cobble bed and boulders creating small rapids and falls. No pictures can do justice!

The road got progressively more rugged and potholed as we continued upriver!

We came across another building along the road, a private hut, a little different architecture than the Taylor hotel!

This private hut has something to do with the mining claim on the river. There are several signs stating that the whole river has one mining claim under the name of D. Atkins.

We reached 2 and a half miles, and a hill climb, so we turned around and retraced our steps through the beech forest. We saw some trees with the sooty black mould  but they had lots of wasps crawling over the trunks, and very few hairy anal tubes extruding from the trunks. The invasive wasps have altered the ecology in this area! We returned to the car and relaxed, then explored another bridge we saw through the trees.

A much more rickety, basic suspension bridge. This looked to us like a bridge to move sheep across the river to a chute where they could be loaded up onto transport trucks. I can’t imagine sheep entering this bridge and crossing willingly!

We continued back to Baton Run and took a detour on the Great Taste Trail to our 3rd suspension bridge for the day!

Named for the family that runs the rest stop, it’s an impressive swing bridge!

Three suspension bridges in one day! Not bad for the first walk of the new year!

A cool rainy night led into a cool misty day with rain threatening. We stayed inside as long as we could, then headed out to a possible hiking venue if the rain held off. We drove down country lanes to a bridge across the Motueka River and turned down a gravel road following the river upstream.

At one point we were above the river looking down on the fast flowing clear water!

We went past a few farms in the narrow valley and a few signs for lodging. We passed by a few hand painted signs advertising “cold drinks, ice cream, local history”. When we turned a corner we were surprised by a new barn, with a parking area in front, a rustic bar and a rusty tractor inside!

A brand new rest stop on the “Great Taste Cycle Trail”.

The Great Taste Trail is a 200km loop cycling/walking trail around the area that goes from coast to the mountain foothills with stops along the way at cafes, craft breweries and wineries along the way! As we read the history of the area on the signboards and admired the rusty tractor the hostess arrived on her farm ATV. This is a new venture for the family that has farmed the area for 3 generations. They had a horse-trekking business in the past, but saw the trend from horses to bicycles and changed with the times! The Great Taste Trail goes through their property and a swing bridge over the river was named in honor of them, Lublow’s Leap!

A Lanz Bulldog tractor from before WW2.

A photo of the 2nd generation farmer Norm Lublow in the 1950’s using the tractor!

After our time reading about the goldmining and farming history of the area and some delicious ice cream (unfortunately the cold drinks don’t include beer or wine) we continued down the gravel road until it was impassable, in our car anyway!Our adventure stopped at this ford on the Baton river, a tributary to the Mouteka river. On the other side, about 2km up the road is the border of the Kahurangi National Park and tramping trails!

A beautiful day weatherwise is predicted today. We’re going to explore close to home, at the edge of Kahurangi National Park, the 2nd largest New Zealand National Park! A 30 minute drive on country roads, then a gravel road up into the mountains got us to the Flora carpark and the trailhead for a loop track to 2 of the over 900 huts that comprise the best, most organized hiking shelter system in the world!

A country road from our B&B to the edge of the National Park.

We were glad we didn’t encounter any cars coming down the narrow gravel road as we drove uphill to the car park which was almost full! It is holiday season here and there were hikers of all ages returning and heading out! We got our daypacks organized and headed out on the track towards Flora hut which follows the Flora stream. It was an easy, wide gravel road through a beech forest, but it must be silver beech because there was no black sooty mould or hairy insect anal tubes on the tree trunks. There also was no scent, fragrant or otherwise, maybe because of the recent rain. We were heading downhill and encountered only one couple on the way up. We did encounter another couple, a bird couple down along the stream.

A pair of ducks were busy preening at the edge of the stream (bottom, middle of picture). They have light colored bills and dark plumage, are they the rare whio? The NZ blue duck?

We reached the Flora hut and found an information sign about the whio.

Yes, based on the habitat they are in and the light colored bills, they are probably one of the 5 pairs along the stream!

The hut itself is a well kept, well stocked with firewood, basic shelter. We met a couple having their lunch at the picnic table provided and had a conversation. They are locals and the man is traveling around measuring several huts that he then builds 1:20 scale models of! They showed us some photos on their phone of some of the models he has done, very realistic! He also explained that some of the huts were built to house hunters that were hired to cull the introduced deer species that were over-running the countryside, damaging crops and forest land, leading to erosion and decimation of native plants and animals. New Zealand Hut History-Hut2Hut explains the history and significance of the hut hiking system in Kiwi culture very well. The hut system was not officially organized under one entity until 1987 when several departments of the government were combined into the Department of Conservation.

The Flora hut, outside, inside and from above as we continued our hike.

The trail to the Mt. Arthur hut went uphill from here, through the ‘old growth’ beech forest. This forest pretty much escaped the blow of the axe, saw and fire in the 1800-1900’s, mainly because the soil is unsuitable for agriculture, in other words, nobody could make money on exploiting the natural resources easily!

This old beech is well buttressed on the slope of the mountain.

As we reached what we thought would be the summit the vegetation changed from the beech forest to a more open tussock and stunted tree environment and this bird came down the trail to check me out!

This weka (in Maori, the English call it a woodhen) was curious about me, looking me up and down, then walking away to get a drink in a puddle and peck through the duff.

We now think that way back in October when we were in Russell and thought we saw kiwi at 9:30 in the morning, we actually saw weka, another flightless NZ bird species in the rail family, which have been reintroduced in the Russell area.

As we rounded a corner and emerged from the trees we got this fantastic view!

As we hiked around the ridge we glimpsed the true summit of Mt. Arthur, hidden in the cloud! A cold wind picked up, making us grateful for cooling the intensity of the sunshine!

We passed the trail leading up to the summit and headed to the Mt. Arthur hut, just a few hundred meters ahead. We also marveled that from up here we are looking out at Tasman Bay and the estuaries and farmland around Nelson!

The Mt. Arthur hut was crowded with hikers. Apparently the trail up to this hut from the carpark is a lot easier than the route we took past Flora hut! That’s okay, we were pretty much by ourselves out on the trail, here there were families from grandma to baby! We had an easier hike down the wide pathway and arrived at the carpark, even more full of cars than when we first arrived! We decided to head down the road to find a quieter place for our lunch.

And we found the perfect spot, at a ford on a tributary creek with clear, cold water to soak our tired feet and a scenic spot to put out our chairs and enjoy our lunch!

After a night of rain and predictions of rain off and on today we decided to stay closer to home and not out on a trail! We drove into the town of Nelson, almost an hour away, but the biggest town nearby. We headed to the ‘old town’ area to see “New Zealand’s oldest fully preserved street”. South Street had it’s first building in 1861, twenty years after the official ‘founding’ of the settlement of Nelson by the New Zealand Company in 1841. By the 1970’s the street was considered a slum and plans were made for demolition of the small cottages that once housed immigrant laborers. Locals opposed the plans and a city council report described the street as “Unique in Nelson as a group of cottages which show the everyday style of accommodation of the period 1860-1900 as as such is an integral part of Nelson’s townscape today”. Revival and renewal of South Street commenced and the street is now a tourist attraction. It reminded me of Hannibal, Missouri where Mark Twain grew up, on a much smaller scale!After strolling the short street we headed a few blocks to the downtown shopping area on Trafalgar Street. The street T’s into Church Hill where Christ Church Cathedral overlooks the downtown with an imposing tower. The gardens around the church are amazing!

A huge pine competes with the bell tower!

A statue overlooks a planting of summer flowers while a blooming pohutukawa overlooks the statue!

There’s even a planting of cactus against the wall of the bell tower, some blooming!

From the steps up to the Cathedral bell tower you can look at the downtown square.

After an hour strolling the Cathedral gardens and the shopping district we headed to Pic’s Peanut Butter World in the neighboring suburb of Stoke. Unfortunately they were closed for the day already. But we got to take pictures next to the giant peanut butter jar!

Smunchy!

We ventured north today to the smallest National Park in New Zealand, Abel Tasman N.P. Named for the Dutch explorer who anchored in Golden Bay, the northernmost area of the South Island on 16 December, 1642. Three hundred years later, to the day, 16 December, 1942, the Abel Tasman National Park was established! A two hour drive took us over Takaka hill and down into the Takaka river valley, through several small towns, to a trailhead to a waterfall.

Going up the Takaka hill grade, looking back at Tasman Bay where the port town of Nelson lies.

Don’t let the ‘hill’ of this grade fool you, Takaka Hill is a mountain pass from sea level to 2,595 ft. and back down to sea level! We stopped in the little town of Takaka for coffee and a pie, then continued to the coast of Golden Bay.

Our first stop, to eat our pie and drink coffee at Ligar Bay beach. The view is across the bay to Farewell Spit, a bird sanctuary from which the bar-tailed godwit migrates to and from Alaska every year. Over 18,000 miles, non-stop for 8 to 9 days without feeding!

As usual the bathroom here is well decorated, outside and inside!We continued up the road and stopped at the carpark for our hike to the waterfall, with a suspension bridge too!

The trail follows the Wainui river, crystal clear, flowing over huge boulders.

Our destination, Wainui Falls!

We returned via the same path and drove up to the end of the gravel road, at Wainui Bay carpark, to the end (or beginning) of the Abel Tasman Coast Track.

The beginning, with the colorful carving and the figurehead, or the end, plain, with hikers sitting on the benches after their 3 to 6 day trek!

Another 10km gravel road goes across the park to Totaranui Beach, one of the many golden sand beaches that Abel Tasman NP is known for. In fact, the Coast Track here is the most popular hiking trail in all of New Zealand! The most accessible, well serviced, less rugged, and goes to a lot of golden sand beaches!

From the gravel road, looking down onto Totaranui beach! The water looks inviting!

Being so popular of a National Park, with great walks, it was no surprise that the campground was full! We were amazed that everyone there had to come over the same gravel road, some with trailers full of camping gear, bikes, rafts, kayaks, etc.! No dogs or other pets allowed!

The beach is big enough to accommodate everyone!

We stopped in Takaka on our way home to stretch our legs and wander past the shopfronts. Our guide book describes Takaka as having “the highest concentration of yoga pants, dreadlocks and bare feet…”. The shops were selling lots of retro-hippie clothes and high end jewelry! We got some coffee to fuel our trip back over the slalom course of Takaka hill and made it home safely!