Day 43: Takaka, The Espresso Ship, and Wanui Falls

Today is another exploring day.  We were told about the Wanui Falls by our hosts at dinner last night, and want to try it out.  The Wanui River flows from the middle of the Abel Tasman, and has a spectacular waterfall near the north end of the park, only a few kilometers from the road.  There were massive floods in 2011 (a storm dropped 600 mm of rain in 24 hours, or about an inch an hour for an entire day) that destroyed many things, including the trail to the falls.  It has recently been rebuilt, and so many people have told us it's worth a trip.

After lunch, we set out.  Along the way, we stopped at the Pohara Marina.  Why?  For Afternoon Espresso, of course.

Permanently docked at the Marina is Jacques Costeau's first boat, now christened the Espresso Ship.  There is a small coffee roastery on board, and you can order drinks from the cabin and lounge on deck.

Life is good sometimes.

Pohara is about 10km from our yurt, and we still had about 10km to go to the trail head.  Over the Wanui hill, and you can see this fish farm.  (We later learned it is mainly mussel farming.(

Even though the weather has not been particularly tropical, the area looks more and more like Hawaii the longer we spend here and explore.

What did they do with the old seal?  

Oh right, the clubbed it with the massive ! mark.

Sorry, but I kill me.

Anyway, the trail is lovely, which makes Molly happy.

One of the new bridges.  New Zealand loves its suspension bridges quite a bit.  They're quite well made, and give great views:

The whole carved out valley was pretty awesome.

The koru of a fern.  What we call a fiddlehead is the symbol of new growth, of life, and of peace in New Zealand.   And since we're here in early summer, these little spirals are everywhere.

In which I try out the magnifier function of my phone.  Hard to focus, but you can see how many little hairs are on the fern.

And at last, the falls.  

I'll let the pictures and video do the talking for me.

If we seem pretty happy, it's because we are.

A miniature fall a little bit away.

When the DOC of New Zealand sets out to build a pathway, they do not mess around.  Like this one, they are well graded, have drainage on one or both sides and are paved with crushed local rock.  I am very impressed.

This is the view from the upper part of Tata, looking over Tata beach, the marina, and in the far distance, Pohara.  Behind all of that are the mountains of the Kahurangi National Park.

It was a windy bike ride back, but we made it in time for dinner.  We eat around 6:00 PM every night, which is actually nice (even though you get hungry by the time you go to bed.)  We are still getting used to the sun setting after 9:30PM, though, so even after dinner there is still at least 2 or 3 hours of light.