New Zealand - South Island - Motueka - Day 9
December 25, 2005

Christmas morning we enjoyed a late sleep in, encouraged by the overcast sky outside. Regardless of the weather we finally set off for a day of sight seeing. Our first stop was the lookout at Takaka Hill, after taking a few snapshots of the foggy hillside we were about to leave when I accidentally dropped the lens cap to my camera and it bounced and slipped between the slats of the platform we were perched on. We peeked through cracks to try and eye the fugitive cap, Fiona finally spotted it between the jagged rocks underneath the platform and climbed under to collect it off of its cliff side perch.


Fiona
To the Rescue
Heroics aside we set our sights on Harwoods Hole, a 50 meter wide hole in the ground that drops down 176 meters into Starlight Cave making it New Zealand's deepest vertical shaft (must... not... make... joke). We turned off the main road onto a 11km long gravel track weaving along precarious cliff sides, through forests, up hills and past many, many sheep. Arriving at the parking area for Harwoods Hole we got out and bush walked for45 minutes through forest and over some craggy rocks.

We took a slight detour on the way to go up to a lookout which overlooked the surrounding valley, the final 20 meters of which requires you to climb up a 45 degree angle collection of sharp and jagged rocks before clinging to the edge of said rocks and peering sheepishly over the edge. I left Fiona behind as I crawled my way to the top and snapped a few shots before climbing back down to solid ground.


Careful
I literally just stuck my hand out over the edge for this shot.
Another 10 minutes walk and we arrived at Harwoods Hole, with no fencing or barriers it was difficult to tell where the hole actually started and again I journeyed in closer alone to have a better look. I climbed in through a narrow crack in the rock, jamming my back against the rock behind me and my legs pushed forward, hard. I peered over the edge into the abyss and all I could see was darkness below. We grabbed a few shots where we could, but the size of the hole and the collection of rocks around made it hard to see the hole itself.


Harwoods Hole
It's there if you look closely.
We made the long walk back to the car and as we headed back along the gravel road, we decided to stop on a nice patch of grass under a tree and have a picnic lunch which we had packed, a box of Shapes and all. We finished our gourmet Christmas lunch and packed up, just before the rain set in.


Christmas Lunch
Picnic at craggy rocks.
We set off again, this time for Te Waikoropupu Springs, which produces some of the purest water on the planet, producing about 14,000 litres of water per second. It also holds the world record for horizontal visibility in fresh water at 63 meters which "approaches the theoretical maximum for optically pure water". I filled up a couple of bottles for the road and had a taste, it was icy cold and beautiful. Fiona of course refused to try it "you don't know what could be in it!"


Te Waikoropupu Springs
World Record Owning
With no petrol stations open on Christmas Day and our fuel running low we decided to head home rather than risk continuing on. Back at the White Elephant we had a Christmas dinner of spaghetti bolognese, garlic bread and a bottle of champagne and some pudding for dessert, then sleep.

Posted by WetWired
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