Since we had heard so much about Golden Bay / Mohua on the northwest side of the South Island, we decided to spend two weeks to fully explore the area. 🗺️
We started with a 6 hour Farewell Spit / Onetahua tour. You can access the spit by foot for the first 4 kms (2.5 mi) but only one tour company had access had access to the lighthouse at the end (about 20k / 12 mi).
We left before sunrise to be sure we would arrive at low tide which provided some nice views. 🌅
We stopped at Fossil Point. 🦴
Like so many, the lighthouse was run on solar lamps and didn't not require much human intervention. The Department of Conservation (DOC) and the tour company were the main conservationists of the spit and lighthouse area. 💡
Saw some gannets. Amy and her camera would have gotten better photos. 📸
Saw this New Zealand fur seal and the Eagles song came to mind .... desperadoooooo 🎶
So much sand ....
.... and whale vertebra 🐳
It was a very special place and we felt lucky to experience it. 🤗
The natural sand art was gorgeous. 🤩
This 40 second video is one of the coolest things I have seen - Steve stumbled onto how to make your own sand art. ⏳
Lots of limestone in the area which fueled a cement factory from 1909 - 1989. 🏭
Beware of gulls! 🐦
Lovely lunch at Molly B's where we met Katrina who told us she was a 'Golden Bay girl' and shared all her favorite places. 🤗
We stopped at The Grove which Katrina told us had trees growing out of rocks. We felt like we were on the set of Jurassic Park. 🦕
The calm ocean (thank you Farewell Spit) and the golden beaches were two of the main attractions in Golden Bay / Mohua. We thoroughly enjoyed our first visit to Tata Beach (Tata is the name given to the two limestone islands). 🏖️
Ended the beach day with some realfruit ice cream from the Wholemeal Cafe. 🍨
