Based on yesterday's exceptional experience, we decided to follow two more of Gordon's suggestions. We are into walking....so far, the sea has been too volatile for us to take advantage of the sea kayaks which are complimentary with the property. As long as we are moving and not sitting in the car, we are not too particular with which form of movement that is. I am driving....Tom is navigating.....at this road sign, I am outta the driver seat...
Turns out it is very shallow, but I don't know that "going in"....Gordon's description of this walk was minimal: "birds, scenery and history".
Soooo....we are in!!! Gonna be a great walk....there are no "bad" ones in NZ, right?
Beautiful so far....
We are climbing again....huffing and puffing
This is the fourth one of these we have seen........
Tom is trying to see inside and find out what the ...... a stoat is??!! Turns out that it is a small ferret looking creature that was introduced into New Zealand to help control the rabbits and hares. That worked alright, but then, the stoats became a worse problem than the rabbits. Oh well.
We still don't know, but it says "Danger" so we don't look in to the next 10 of them!!!.....as we continue to climb!!!
Tom told me to take a picture of this switchback to indicate how fast and how high we are climbing (since you can't hear our moans, groans and gasping)
Are you gettin' the idea?
(Tom writing. When your eyes start to glaze over, skip down a few pictures to where Kathy picks it up again.) An overview of the hydro system that we are here to see. (Can't help....this is Kathy...we are NOT here to see the hydro system....was NEVER mentioned in the original description. We did not know it had a ____ thing to do with hydro power until we parked!) It was originally built by the gold miners to move part of a natural stream to the site that they wanted to sluice gold from gravel.
This was where the natural stream met a dam with a weir (on the left hand side of the picture). This system was designed to divert a portion of the stream to a channel taking the water to the gold.
Measures the depth of the water in the channel.
The whole thing was built by 24 people in 1902 to 1903. It is 3.7 Km long. Considering the terrain, it was quite an engineering and construction feat. But, then, gold is quite an incentive.
The NZ Lottery supplied funds to build the bridge over the weir and the one-lane access road that we just walked up.
The enterprising Kiwis later put in a pipe from the sluicing site (hydro head) to a hydroelectric generator to generate electricity. How elegant!!
Water added to the channel by the rain forrest.
A walk way over the mountain channel -- narrow and not for the faint hearted. And no one warned us about it.
Tom has checked out of the commentary....by now, Kathy is near tears......ok, IN tears. This walkway is no more than 10" wide....flowing water on one side and a vertical drop of some 2000'.....I don't do bridges very well, don't do heights very well.....I can't turn around.....trapped....and terrified.....this "walkway" continued for about 20 minutes....with a few "breaks". It was awful....no other word can describe it....awful! Can't look left, can't look right....Tom kept saying: "Focus...on the walk...Focus....on the walk". At the end, my knees were jelly, my head was pounding, felt drunk and dizzy.....and cried! This is NOT fun!!!
The pipe from the hydro head to the generator.
Some nice views of the valley. Nice view, hell!!! (It's Kathy again...it merely shows you how far we have climbed!)
An understatement....NOW they tell us.....can't imagine ANY parent bringin' their kids on this walk. Yes, we learned about the gold miners' tenacity, creativity and engineering. but the scenery was minimal and we saw TWO birds!
THIS is a WALK???
Time out "in town", Takaka, for a reprieve...note the "brief affair" for lingerie...the pizzas are delicious...and you can tell that the restaurant is owned by 2 women.....hence, changing table!
Gonna give Gordon's suggestion another try....already it looks more promising, simply because it is of Maori origination, i.e., nature, rather than engineering technology........
Each of the above pictures is taken above the water, although they are so crystal clear, could have been taken below or "without" the water...."the world's clearest, freshest water".....no wonder that the Maori revered this spring....so should we....
Home again, home again.....so many memories to record.
