Te Araroa Day 64, Cape Farewell to Pakawau

Starting km: 1733
Finishing km: (1747)
km covered today: 14

My first day back on the trail was a pretty full and pretty fabulous one.

It started with brunch (really so early it ought to have been called breakfast) in Wellington where I said goodbye to my friends Annika and Dylan. And most especially my partner Sarah. Unlike on the North Island, we have no planned meet ups on the South Island, so I'll miss her lots.

After brunch it was  off to the airport for my flight across the Cook Strait to Takaka.

Those familiar with the TA route will already have spotted something odd. According to the official route, I should have been headed to Picton to start the South Island with the Queen Charlotte Track.

I'd decided to modify my route a bit:
I'd start at Cape Farewell in Golden Bay, walk the Kaituna and Heaphy tracks, roadwalk to Seddonville, take the Old Ghost Road track to Lyell, roadwalk to Murchison, then head into Nelson Lakes National Park where, after a couple more days I'd rejoin the main TA route in the upper Sabine Valley.

The flight over was lots of fun. In a tiny six-seater (including the pilot) plane, wearing headsets that allowed you to hear the pilot (and the air traffic control too.). There were fabulous views of the Marlborough Sounds and Tasman and Golden Bays as well.

On arriving at the tiny Tanaka airport, I was met by my mate Owen who grew up in Golden Bay. On our way back to his family home in Pakawau we popped in to the Mussel Inn, a legendary NZ bar, cafe, music venue and brewery. Owen's former workmates there were kind enough to let him tour me around (and interrupt their lunches for a chat while we had a beer.)

At Owen's home I met his two brothers, sister and parents (in most cases re-met, as his mom was the only one I hadn't met before.)
They were all incredibly kind and welcoming hosts and it was an absolute delight to stay with them.

The day's walking got going after a late lunch when I headed up to Cape Farewell with Owen and his two brothers Jake and Joel.  We all headed out to (near) the cape itself, the most northerly point on the South Island. (Interestingly, Cape Reinga is not the northernmost point in NZ, Bluff at the south end of TA isn't the southernmost point. And Island Bay in Wellington isn't even the southernmost point of the North Island. All of them have nearby, less accessible and more extreme counterparts, so this would actually be my only geographical extreme of the trip.)

Joel and Jake joined us for a bit, then turned back to drive the car home. Owen and I walked long the clifftops chatting with spectacular views out over the bay and down long, narrow, sandy Farewell Spit.

And shortly after reaching the small settlement of Puponga, Owen ran on home leaving me (somewhat appropriately) to finish the first leg of the South Island the way I do most of my walking: solo.

Back at the house I was greeted with a fabulous and big dinner of ham, soup, bread, roasted potatoes, salad, as well as some of Stephen (Owen's dad)'s beers and (later) a tiny nip of a nice Highland Scotch.

After which I got tucked up on the comfy couch with some awesome quilts for my surprisingly late (after 23:00!) bedtime.