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Introduction: Golden Bay has long been a stronghold of ‘alternative’ lifestylers and artists, all convinced that they live in paradise. It’s not surprising, as the Bay’s beautiful beaches and the rugged mountain backdrop of Kahurangi National Park make the most mundane tasks a scenic delight, while the only road into the Bay, winding its way over Takaka Hill, has inhibited commercial expansion. It’s worthwhile spending a couple of nights here to enjoy the area, as the trip over the Hill, though short, is time-consuming. There’s a definite feeling of being at the ‘end-of-the-road’ here, where quirky is the norm. The Bay’s commercial centre is Takaka, while the Bay’s other main settlement, Collingwood, is the base for tours to Farewell Spit. There are many funky cafes in the Bay, in spots you wouldn’t have thought could sustain them. The secret is, their long summer opening hours cater for visitors, but in the winter their owners take time for themselves, shutting up shop till spring arrives again. From the air, the northern tip of Golden Bay, Cape Farewell, and Farewell Spit, which curves away to the east, bear a striking resemblance to the native kiwi. The Spit, (Onetahua), stretches in a protective curve around the northern extremities of the Bay. The shifting dunes, which are still growing, are home to 83 species of native and migratory wetland birds, and the Spit is a designated Wetland of International Importance. Bird watchers will enjoy visiting the gannet colony which makes its home beyond the lighthouse, to which most of the tours travel. At the base of the Spit, Puponga Farm Park, a DOC administered ‘buffer zone’ for the Spit, has many rewarding tracks over farm land to Fossil Point and the base of the Spit, and along the ridges of Old Man Range to the wave and wind sculpted cliffs of Cape Farewell and the beautiful Wharariki Beach, one of our favourite spotz.
Wharariki Beach
is just south of Cape Farewell
Takaka Hill
At the northwestern edge of the Waimea Basin, SH60 tackles Takaka Hill, the ‘Marble Mountain’, which rises 791 metres over 24 km of sinuous road, past bizarre outcrops of weather-worn marble, to the pass where astounding views back over Tasman Bay to d’Urville Island and Nelson, and northwards over Golden Bay towards Farewell Spit will vie for your attention with the seemingly endless bends. Takaka Hill’s sinkholes, or ‘tomos’, are popular amongst cavers, as are those under nearby Mts Owen and Arthur, in Kahurangi National Park. Around two-thirds of the way up the Hill, a short stroll takes you to Hawkes Lookout, a wooden viewing platform which hangs alarmingly over a 500 metre drop, with fabulous views over the Riwaka Resurgence below, the Kahurangi National Park, Motueka and Tasman Bay. The Hill is popular with cyclists keen to conquer its heights, and the Rameka Track, which runs from Canaan Downs on the heights of the Hill downhill to Takaka, is considered one of the country’s finest mountain biking tracks.
