Headed Northwest today, past Abel Tasman National Park (we'll visit it on the way back tomorrow) towards Farewell Spit. There are a few things to visit on the way and the scenery from the road is also pretty amazing.
Ngaura caves are just off a winding road in the hills just after Motueka. They are quite big but we all donned helmet on just in case. For some reason Aisha wasn't happy with this cave and was a bit of a handful. What was really cool about Ngaura is that you get to see some Moa bones. Moas were large flightless (wingless as well in fact) birds similar to an ostrich that were hunted to extinction by the Maoris over 500 years ago. They would regularly fall down holes into the cave and never make it out again.
The road from the hills into the valley down to Takaka is amazing - snow capped peaks in the background with a bright green valley below. The only shame was that there didn't seem to be a place to stop to photograph it properly. Takaka is the last major town on this road, and it looks like a bit of a hippy enclave. We will probably stop here on the way back as it caught Esther's curiosity.
Just after are the [Waikoro]pupu Springs, the purest, clearest water in Australasia. To keep it like that you aren't allowed to swim in it or even touch it, though there is a hand pump at the carpark so you can taste it. It tastes of water.
We are now near the end of the road, just before Farewell Spit (not Split Ends as I mistakenly called it yesterday, much to the amusement of the woman at the information office).
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