June 22, 2017 – Takaka and Wainui Falls

There was a wonderful breakfast awaiting us this morning with cut-up fresh fruit, both plain and strawberry yogurt, many kinds of cereals, three different loaves of homemade bread and four kinds of jam from Marie and Serge’s own fruit trees, lots of “bad” things for the bread, like Nutella and marmite, and eggs fixed anyway you like!  Oh, and endless coffee!  Serge and Marie are endlessly funny and we spend lots and lots of time laughing during and after breakfast. 

We also get to spend some time with the teacher who is staying here for a few days.  Once a fortnight she comes through to assist five schools with their special-needs students.  We exchange details about our school systems and realize that middle schoolers are pretty much the same all over the world!

After the teacher leaves, a friend of Marie’s comes over to show her some purses she is making out of fabric.  They are quite lovely and should sell well in the little shop in town.  She is also going to work for Marie and Serge next season so they don’t have to make breakfast at yuck o’clock every single day!  Not only do the run the B&B;  they also have a spa and sauna that is used by the towns’ people.  During the season there may be as many as one to two hundred people a day enjoying the pool, sauna and hot tubs!

The weather is supposed to be ugly, so we think we’ll take our down day.  But the rain never materializes, so we take our courage in our two hands and head off to Wainui Falls.  They aren’t too far away and are supposed to be beautiful.

Look! Some more autumn leaves!

Our first view of Golden Bay!

Those are crayfish pots,

Redhot Pokers

Serge’s directions, and his map, keep us on the right path, past the milk dehydrating plant and over the one-way bridge and through a couple of tiny little towns.  The walk to the falls is only about forty-five minutes.  But those are New Zealand minutes.  It takes us an hour and a half!  But, to be fair, there are a lot of stops for birds and beauty!  The fantails seem to be leading us down the first part of the bath!  Some fly so close they nearly hit us!

He's a pukeko.

He's a chaffinch.

This drenched little silver eye was enjoying his bath!

We meet a man from DOC who is walking up to the falls to check the counter and to clean toilets (they weren’t at the top!).  He stops behind me and I move over, thinking I’m blocking his way.  Turns out he just didn’t want to photobomb us!  He tells us a lot about the various birds we’ve seen and that the fantails are hoping we’ll kick up some insects for them.

Here's a tomtit!

The humongous tree ferns are unbelievable!

Wainui Falls!

We hardly see anyone on the path;  it is winter, after all.  Finally, we reach the falls and it was all worth it!  So beautiful!  We start back down and decide to see if we can make better time.  Downhill – and no more stopping for pictures – makes a lot of difference and this time it really is a forty-five minute trip.  Marilyn is in the lead and she sees a mama and baby mountain goat!!  They scatter before I can even focus on them and shortly after we encounter a man and his daughter.  We ask if they saw the goats and he says no, but he smelled them!  Turns out the goats are another invasive species and the kiwis don’t have any more use for them than for the possums or rabbits or stoats!

On the way home we stop at the Penguin Café and Bar for lunch.  Of course it’s after lunch time but the girl is happy to make us each a side salad and we split an unusual and delicious pizza with bacon, hoisin chicken, camembert and spicy plum sauce!  It’s her favorite pizza, too!  And I have a different Speight’s beer called Gold Medal Ale.  It’s as good as the other one!  She talks me into a pint!  There’s a blazing fire and it feels good to just enjoy it!

So many different kinds of ferns!

The golden sands of Golden Bay!

And the source of that sand!

No comment

Back home we start a laundry and out teacher friend comes home from work.  We’re all sitting around the oversized dining room table with Serge and another lady who apparently lives here sometimes.  The conversation ranges over immigration, religion, reincarnation, international politics, and all the other problems of the world!  It goes on for at least a couple of hours!  We also discuss everyone’s ancestry and Serge assures us that the bust of Julius Caesar is really his uncle!  We also get quite a lesson in Belgium’s history, all the way back to the Romans!

Eventually everyone runs down and the evening draws to a close.  Half of our laundry is done and the rest is in the dryer, so that’s a good evening’s work.  We’ll finish in the morning.