Farewell Spit

We woke up, and were amazed, thrilled and delighted to have a perfect, sunny day. We had a leisurely breakfast, got dressed and walked out to the road for our 10:15 pickup for our Farewell Spit tour. Our vehicle turned out to be a medium sized, four wheel drive, bus/truck hybrid that was converted by our tour company. It had great big windows and about seven sets of double seats plus the row in the back.
One of the double seats was taken by a couple, and the rest of the doubles were all occupied by one person. Nobody made any effort to move over except the couple sitting on the large back seat. It wasn’t clear there was enough space for all four of us in the back seat, so Miriam sat in the middle and I sat just in front of her. At first we were kind of bummed because we always sit together, and also because it seemed odd that no one moved over or was welcoming. After a while, however, we realized that the double seats were really small, and we had great views and could easily talk to each other, so we were probably better off than if we had gotten a double seat together.

The tour was advertised as an “eco” tour, and it lived up to its billing. Our driver had been doing tours on Farewell Spit for 20 years; his grandfather was a coal miner who worked near the spit. He knew a whole lot about the wildlife and the history of the area, and had a good sense of humor to boot.

Farewell Spit is unusual because it is a big spit that is entirely sand; there are no rocks under it. It is formed because it is at the junction of two ocean currents; one heading Northeast up the West side of NZ and the other heading Northwest up the East side of NZ. Where they meet the currents clash, the water loses speed, the loss of speed reduces the ability of the current to carry sand, and the sand is deposited on the spit. As a result, the spit is continually growing, kind of like me. It isn’t hardly getting any longer, but it is getting wider.

Only tour companies with permits from the NZ Department of Conservation can go out on the spit, so taking a tour is the only way to see it. It is desolate and beautiful.
We stopped at several placed on our way to the lighthouse at the end of the spit.
The lighthouse was originally constructed in the late 1800s. The current structure is made of iron, and was built about 110 years ago. It originally took three people living out on the spit to keep the lighthouse running. We ate lunch at one of the houses that used to be occupied by one of the lighthouse keepers. It had this signpost and whale skeleton outside it:
On our way back we stopped and climbed one of the sand dunes. The blowing sand makes beautiful designs on the dune surfaces.
We then drove to Cape Farewell, stopping at a small, flat, grassy area at the top of a cliff overlooking the cape. The NZ Department of Conservation has erected a 40 foot long fence at one point on the edge of the cliff to keep humans from falling off. The area is part of a working sheep ranch, and there are sheep grazing all around, including the sections of the cliff top where there is no fence. I guess this means that the NZ Department of Conservation has figured out that sheep are smarter than people.
There is supposed to be a “bush walk” right outside our cottage that goes along the stream and up the hill. We found the stream but couldn’t find the trail. After slipping and stumbling into the creek a couple of times we gave it up as a bad job, came back to the cottage and poured ourselves some wine. I barbecued lamb chops for dinner and made fresh tomatoes with balsamic vinegar dressing; they are practically becoming a staple for us. Miriam worked on our itinerary, I plunked dobro and worked on the blog, and we went to bed early.