Rain... And More Rain...

 We have had days and days of rain.Today has been the worst

with wind gusts up to 110km and torrential horizontal rain.

Later tonight thunderstorms are forecast and more rain tomorrow.

In the paddock beside my bus numerous trees have blown over

and water is overtaking the grass.

I walked on the beach this afternoon during a lull, or so I thought!

I had to lean into the wind not to be blown backwards.

Trees down means power cuts and we have been without power

most of the day. In my bus I have solar power so lights and

internet access and my fire is going... the advantaages

of being off-grid!

These are a few photos I took... the beach is deserted...

The hills shrouded in cloud and mist.

 West... North... And East...

 The tide is out.

 Can't see the hills at all...

 Or the Farewell sand spit.

 I got back to my bus totally soaked but wonderfully invigorated...

Off to bed now to listen to rain squalls on the roof.

A Most Unusual Sign... At Paturau...

We continued our journey along the gravel road. It must have

had a grader over it recently as it was  in good condition.

This is Paturau... With the most unusual sign...

Read the second line!

There are so many signs all around New Zealand saying...

'No Overnight Stopping' which is ruining the delight

of freedom parking... That to see a sign on private property

saying 'Campers Welcome' amazed me.

The conditions are listed!

We came along this road... Parking and surf straight ahead.

The Paturau River mouth makes a small tidal estuary...

There are big stony hills...

And unusual tree shapes sculpted from the gale force winds that

can happen here.  We were lucky with a perfect sunny

day and not a breath of wind anywhere.

It was about two hours before high tide... People were

swimming and fishing at the mouth.

The river meets the stones and surf of the West Coast.

This is the Tasman Sea... On a calm day... 

All the way to Australia.

We sat on a log and had a picnic lunch.

At low tide there is an expanse of sand which provides 

access to good walks all round the coast line.

This is the large freedom camping area...

There is plenty of room for everyone...

No shelter from the violent winds though.

 Read the weather report for this area here.

 

 An aerial view...

All this land is privately owned farms. Read the 

fascinating history here.

Rental accommodation... It you don't have a tent, bus or

motor home...

 
Or it's the middle of winter. Find information here.

For coffee lovers... The Nugget Cafe at Mangarakau...

It has good coffee... We stopped and tried it!

And a popular meeting place...

Right in the middle of...

Absolutely nowhere...No other buildings in sight.

I left with the resolution to go this way again...

In my bus so I can take my time and stop at lots of 

little  places and explore and walk and fish.

Want to join me?

Exploring The Top Of The South...

 This is a map of the whole of the Golden Bay area...

Clifton and Pohara at the bottom and Farewell sand spit
across the top...

 This one from Tarakohe and Pohara, where I am, to Takaka...

 From Takaka north to Collingwood...

 And from Collingwood to Puponga and Farewell Spit.

This map is the top of the West Coast... The Wanganui Inlet...
Generally referred to by the locals as Westhaven.
I was out and about for the day with two friends. Our destination was
 Anatori where the Anatori river mouth is. Apparently it's a great
white-baiting spot, there are a few old white-baiters huts... But it's not the season.
There are also two areas for freedom parking, with some people...
A tent and a motor home, enjoying the wilderness and solitude.
I'm told it's a place that floods easily when it rains so if you go
there keep that in mind.

 

We set off... Our first stop was the Farewell Spit cafe with

very nice coffee and a selection of delicious food.

The most spectacular was the view. It was a cloudy

day so we couldn't see the spit, and the tide was out.

There is a telescope but even with that it was too cloudy.

There is a walkway down to the sand and you can walk along the

inside of the spit to the pine trees in the distance. I want to go

back by myself and do that. There is also Farewell Spit tours

that go along the beach as far as the lighthouse.  

I did that years ago but would like to do the trip again. 

There is another walkway that goes

over farmland then over sandhills to Wharariki... A hard flat

west coast beach with rocks sculpted by the wind.

I kept a look out for parking for my bus when I go back there

and take my time to explore in more detail. Wharariki Beach

Motor Camp would be the place.

We went back to the Pakawau Inlet and turned west onto a gravel

road that went a long way. Along Pakawau Bush Road, turn into 

Dry Road and just keep going.

These photos are a few glimpses of the inlet as we drove along.

We passed places called Muddy Creek, White Pine Creek, Bone

Creek... All with narrow bridges and nowhere much on

the side of the road to stop.

The is the mouth of the Wanganui Inlet... Bar Point on the right

and Melbourne Point on the left.

We came to Mangarakau and found this old wharf...

Still in use. It's where the Crayfish boats load up their pots...

Which is what the two men on this boat were doing.

I love eating crayfish so I asked if they would take a passenger?

They were more than happy but weren't returning till Tuesday.

Three days in a little boat if the weather turned rough...

Much as I wanted to go I declined.

On the information board are graphic pictures and a warning

about the weather and the bar at the inlet entrance.

Mmm... It would have to be very calm for me to go.

We continued our journey...

Angela's Skin Food - Yummy Cream...

 Here's my latest attempt at making my own

body lotions and things that only have organic

and non-toxic ingredients in them.

This time I wanted to make something creamy

that absorbed well into my skin. My previous

attempts here and here although very nourishing for 
my dry skin have been quite oily. Ages ago I picked a

 lot of Calendula Marigold petals and have had

them steeping in almond oil for a few weeks 

so I wanted to use them. I get all my ingredients 

from Go Native... It's a very interesting and

informative web site. I order on-line, they have 

recipies, equipment and jars.. I'm about to buy

a thermometer so I don't have to guess the

temperature of what I'm making any more!

Here is my end result... In my little glass jars

that I have collected. The lovely pale orange colour

is from the Calendular petals... It's very healing...

It's a lovely soft creamy consistency that absorbs

immediately and leaves no oil residue.

The Recipe

Organic Hemp Seed Oil Cream

Oil Phase:

10g emulsifier O

15g Hemp Seed Oil (I used calendula infused almond oil)

6g shea butter

Water Phase:

90g water (I used rose water)

5g aloe vera

Last Phase:

5 drops essential oil (I used rose geranium)

2g Geogard (a preservative)

Separately heat oil and water phases to 65 deg.

Combine and whisk with bender stick till

cool. Add last phase and blend.

Spoon into jars.

Stingray's... A Close Encounter!

 My friend Jason came round... He had a 4x4 quad bike

and trailer that he has attached a seat to.

His mother Anna from Tauranga was staying...

I had a gill set net... So we thought we would put it out.

 The tide was out in the late afternoon, so we loaded

up and off we went... Jason, his Mum, me and my

two grandsons, Jordan & Jaxxon...

Along the little street opposite the cafe car park...

Down the sandy track - we got off and walked.

We didn't feel very safe balanced on the trailer.

 We went a long way along the beach... 

To the mouth of the Motupipi River that 

goes into the Rongatai Estuary. It was a beautiful

evening and we talked and joked about what

we might catch... Fresh flounder for breakfast?

 Jordan and I went back along the beach at 7.30am

the next morning... It was nearly low tide.

The sight that met our eyes was not the flounder

we wanted for breakfast... Instead two big Stingray.

 What a tangled mess they had made of my net.

Mmmm... I had never dealt with Stingray before...

What do I do I wondered?

This one was upside down so had drowned. 

It had previously been caught as it had no tail. 

It was the easiest to deal with. It had made

a hole in the net, so with no tail to sting us it was

just a matter of getting it out through the hole.

 

 This one was bigger... Although I've since been

told that it is small for around here! It was alive

and blowing air and water out of the holes in the

front of it's head - quite scary. A close up look at

the barb on it's tail and I decided the first

thing was to cut off it's tail. A fast trip to hospital -

two hours drive away - was the last thing I wanted.

That done, there was no way I was going to be able to

untangle this creature with the scary eyes so

I had to sacrifice my net and cut a hole to get it out.

 I won't be setting my net out there again.

I haven't untangled the net yet and don't

know if it's repairable... Bummer!

Having loaded up the net and left the Stingrays to

the seagulls I took a few minutes to enjoy this perfect

early morning on the beach... Tranquil and no wind...

mirrored reflections in the water... And

then it was onto the quad and home for breakfast...

Not fresh flounder!