My second day in Nelson, and the tentative plan today was to head northwards as far as the roads would take me past Abel Tasman National Park.
Away at 08:30, the first destination plugged into my Satnav was Kaiteriteri, and a check of where I can park and check in for my Split Apple Rock kayak, cruise and walk tomorrow. It took me just over an hour to get there, and there is plenty of free parking, so all looks good. I checked in at the kiosk, and need to check in tomorrow at 08:45, so it'll be a bit of an earlier start.
Back on the road, and I was heading for Hawkes Lookout. Up a steep and winding road, and at the summit a sign to the left for the lookout. I was in a long trail of traffic, and it seemed like most of us pulled into the carpark; I found a spot easily that the campervans in front of me were too big for, and started on the 10 minute walk to the lookout.
There seemed to be a bit of consternation on the path ahead of me, and when I got a bit closer there was a ram on the path that folks seemed a little wary of passing. One lady scratched it's head, and he seemed to take a liking to her as he followed her up the path until her husband grabbed it so she could get away.
The viewpoint gave a fantastic view back the way I'd just come, back towards Nelson and Richmond. I had a few attempts to get some Gopro footage as the lady stood next to me was giving her phone a running documentary, so hopefully I have something where I can use the sound as the natural symphony was magnificent.
The next stop was Takaka Hill Walking Track, but a couple who'd just done it told me not to bother as the view wasn't that good with the haze about today and the path is overgrown. It was a trudge up a hill, so that sounded like sage advice. I drove about 5 minutes along from here when a switchback afforded a fantastic view of where I was headed, so I stopped in a stopping bay for a photo. There is a road at the bottom of the valley, which is where I was about 15 minutes later.
As is my habit, in the planning back home I'd made a list of things that I may find interesting, and the next place on the list was Paines Ford. The sign said that there was a swimming hole in 200 metres, but after significantly more than that I'd not found it. The scenery and river were lovely though, so I took a bit of time to admire my surroundings before heading back for the car.
By now I was looking a little nervously at my fuel gauge; I had a quarter of a tank left and I hadn't reached the end of the road yet, so where would I need to refuel. I knew that I had a long and winding climb and descent over a range of hills on the way back, so would I be watching the needle moving? Onto the road once more, and finally I arrived at the end of the map in the town of Collingwood. More of a village actually, and there were roads that went further but they weren't on my map! A stop for 20 minutes or so to have a bit of an explore, and then the return journey beckoned.
On the way out, I'd spotted a sign to Pupu Springs, and although the name didn't sound promising to my Anglo-Saxon ears I decided to have an explore, and I'm so pleased that I did as this wasn't something I'd spotted in the planning. Just 3km off the route, and I arrived at a large car park which was the starting and end point for the Te Waikoropupu Springs 1km loop track (much better than the shortened name!). A sign said that the springs were sacred, so please don't touch the water.
Along the trail through the woodland for about 20 minutes, and suddenly a sign in Maori, and around the corner from that were the springs. It translates as 'Come, come, come, come, come to this sacred place, the source of life of the hot spring' according to google translate. Sometimes a bit of mystery is good wouldn't you say!
I wasn't expecting much, so as I rounded the corner and saw a large expanse of crystal clear water I was pleasantly surprised. It was possibly the clearest water that I've ever seen, and I could see the currents on the surface giving a clue from where it was emerging. The pool fed a river that flowed away downhill. It was absolutely beautiful, and provided all of the sensory information to explain why so many ancient communities considered pools of water sacred.
Back to the road, and I set the destination for my accommodation back in Nelson; I'm meeting up with the couple I did the Napier cycle ride with at 18:00, so needed to be back in reasonable time. Up and over the hills once more with some fantastic views down the hill, it was a lot warner than this morning and by the bottom of the descent I could definitely smell that my brakes were getting warm!
Back onto SH6, and the fuel situation was a lot better than I'd feared (although I had been driving so that the 'Economy' light was lit as much as possible). As I came through Richmond, I spotted the cheapest fuel that I've seen for a while so thought 'that'll do me', and now I'm topped up again ..... which will hopefully last until Christchurch!
Back to the base at 16:00ish, which gives me time to get the blog done before the 25 minute walk into town. Today has been good in ways that I'd not expected or planned. Sometimes it's good to follow a sign where you have no real idea what's waiting for you. It might be pants, but then again you might happen onto a beautiful sacred spring.
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