Day 27-28: South of Takaka, Ligar Beach

No pictures from Day 27, but what a day.  After seeing an ad in the grocery store for a few days about a man selling a couple of bikes, we decided to check it out.  Sundays are evidently not the best day to hitch rides around here, mainly because there is no one about.  But finally we got a ride from a man who was doing a little handy work at a local ice cream shop.  Which is to say, his battery had died, so he agreed to give us a ride if we helped push start his car.  On the far outskirts of town, we found Mark, who was selling a decent, if older mountain bike, and a fairly crappy kids mountain bike.  Considering that Wendy and Carol had one bike already (and even in its fairly rusty shape, it was better than the kids bike), we only bought the former, and not the latter.  At $50, it was a good deal.  Not a good deal?  The crappy helmet the Mark sold us for $20.  But in New Zealand, biking without a helmet can get you an instant $55 fine, so we got it.  

The other issue?  We were 6km north of town, with only one bike between us.  So we bike relayed.  I would run about 1km, while Molly biked.  Then she would stop, hand me the helmet and our bag, and start running.  I would catch up on the bike, bike past her about 1km, and then repeat.  It worked, and we got some exercise, too!

Day 28 was lovely.  We took our newly purchased bicycle, and one we found at Wendy and Carol's (and revived, since it was in pretty rough shape) and went for a ride.  A little past The Grove, where we went with Sarah, is Pohara, with its magnificent beach.  A little past that is this amazing marina.

And here's Molly, with our real new rides.

Granted, they're not necessarily the fanciest, nicest, or even the most-workingest bikes in the world, but they get you from point A to B without too much trouble, and we have free use of them for as long as we like.

So on a lovely day, we went for a ride on the coast, looking for some beach.  The marina is great, and we saw this weird duck/seagull thing.  

And the beach...oh the beach!

It is unreal.  The tide was all the way out, and coming in. All the beaches here in Golden Bay seem to be like this.  When the tide is in, the beach is only 20 feet or so.  When it's out, you have to walk a quarter a mile just to get to the water.

Because of the distance, we've heard stories of people leaving their stuff halfway to the water, and half an hour later, the tide has only come in a bit and washed it all away.  To be safe, we only stayed at the water for a half hour, and then came all the way up to enjoy the sun a bit.

It's been really sunny here, but the wind has been so much that it has never really gotten warm.  That rise you see in this picture blocked most of it, so we enjoyed a few minutes of lounging on the beach.

On the way back, we stopped briefly at the Labyrinth Rocks, a Karst formation that makes a natural simple maze in the area.

The limestone carveouts are still pretty fascinating.  

Then home, another lovely dinner with Carol and Wendy, and ready for work in the morning.