Tākaka

We left Nelson and picked up our hire car at the airport, then drove the long and winding road around the bottom of Golden Bay to reach Tākaka. Our original plan involved stopping at McCashin’s Brewery on the way, having discerned from the website that they were open from 10:00am daily. When we got there, however, the 10 had been taped over and 11 written on instead, so we continued on.

We’d been advised to go to Harwoods Hole, which is also on the way so we turned off the road. The first stop was at the Woolshed, a café with a petting zoo attached, for some beverages. They have an emu.

Harwoods Hole is a cave system with the deepest drop in New Zealand. There’s an unsealed narrow road to reach the car park, along which one must look out for, and avoid, oncoming drivers. Fortunately there are wide parts of the road along the way so we didn’t encounter any difficulties, as everyone was very polite. We reached the car park and set out on the 45-minute walk to the Hole. You can’t actually get to the hole without falling in and there are dire warnings at the beginning of the walk about this:

We walked through the beech forest on a clearly marked track, a bit muddy in places, looking out for wildlife on the way. We saw South Island robins, a tomtit, waxeyes, fantails and weka along the way. The way back was the same as the way there so we covered that somewhat quicker, then sat in the car eating cheese scones from the Woolshed under the beady eye of another weka – they’re notorious scroungers – but didn’t feed it.

We then headed back up the unsealed road and on to Tākaka to find our accommodation on the edge of town. Having deposited our stuff we walked into town to explore and find venues for dining over the next three nights. A short stop at Fresh Choice to stock up on breakfast goods and we were ready to go.

In the evening we went out to the local bar, Roots, for burgers and Captain Cooker beer.