Wainui Falls, Totaranui and Waikoropupu springs.

After an early morning start we head towards Harwoods hole only to be disappointed as the ten kilometre stretch of road turned into a 4x4 track and we were unable to get to the start of the walk.




 
Retracing our track back to the main road we headed off to the westerly end of the park and walk up to Wainnui Falls.

















 The whole area is very beautiful and most of the roads here to turn into precarious dirt roads as we found out when we headed down to the coast at Totaranui.
It was here that we saw our first Weka a Kiwi lookalike.






 
This area is great for walking. We then headed further south towards Pakaka and went on a short stroll to Waikoropupu springs.  This is a Maori blessing place where the water comes from an underground cave system and its clarity is amazing.








 
In the afternoon we drive out to the North westerly point to the Farewell Spit. This is a 27kms long sand bar which is a bird life reserve. We saw a lovely flock of Spoonbills here even though the high wind was trying to blow us off the road.





We started to head back so the we could join the road to the south as the only way across this westerly corner of the south island is via the Heapy Track which is 78kms long walking track, a touch too far for Rob me thinks.
We found a very quiet spot on the riverside and are joined by two other vans.
 


 


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