Wild and Windswept Farewell Spit

Another place we visited in Nelson was this expansive place Farewell Spit - quite a long drive out, took us about roughly 2 hours but unlike where we live the scenery wasn't boring. After leaving the carpark we walked out onto this beach and carried on for at least 20 minutes.

After walking along a track for another 30 minutes we climbed over sand dunes to read this very wild and windswept beach that looked almost like no one had ever been there.

This huge piece of driftwood caught my eye and I took photos of it from different angles. FYI Farewell Spit is at the northern end of Golden Bay. Known as Tuhuroa meaning "explore" it is the longest sandspit in NZ.

Although it looks like wind in these photos it is actually fog, we spent the whole time in Nelson with overcast rainy weather. The dunes are constantly exposed to very strong winds around 25 km/h.

At some point along the beach I spied something moving near some more driftwood - it turned out to be this Fur Seal sleeping on the sand. It's best to stay away from wild ocean critters so we carefully walked past and hope it wasn't going to be harassed by other people as they sometimes are. This beach is a popular place for Pilot Whales beaching themselves on the sand.

After walking through some farmland privately owned which had been opened up to the public we walked past herds of cows and sheep being moved into an upper paddock.

It was nice to see this little well with a sign saying "This wishing well is here for you whatever you wish for I hope comes true". I think in total we walked about 10 kms - good exercise and we were shattered once we got back to the car.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday

Grace Brothers

We have 2 new chickens, both black ladies. If any of you are familiar with British comedy tv shows you will recognize the names we have given them. This one is named Miss Brahms. And this one is named Mrs Slocombe. At the moment we have them in a temporary shelter next to the Special Patrol Group that we've had for the last 9 months just so they can get to know each other before we intigrate the black ones in with the brown ones. These ones give us a white coloured egg whereas the brown shavers give us brown coloured eggs. Linking up with Tuesday Treasures , Happy Tuesdays and Wordless Wednesday .

Auckland Metropolis Museum

In amongt the modern new highrise buildings in Auckland City is this smaller vintage building that is currently for sale (I'd buy it if I had the money). My research found that: "It was designed by English-born architect Charles Towle and erected in the early 1930s as the Church of Christ, Scientist, the building's Graeco-Roman facade has towering columns that frame its impressive entranceway, with three ornate timber doors decorated with leadlight inserts providing access to the expansive foyer. Arched ceilings dominate the former congregational high stud space beyond the foyer and numerous picturesque windows provide a light, airy feel and an ambience many office buildings lack. The building housed congregational and Sunday school services for 70 years until it was sold and converted into office space in 2003. A significant refurbishment was also carried out with care taken to ensure that the building's distinctive character remained intact. Special architectural ...

Westland Explorer's Monument

In the nearby town of Hokitka (half an hour away) is the cemetery with this monument near the entranceway. It commemorates 4 men who lost their lives between 1863 and 1866 ; George Dobson - road engineer, murdered in 1866 Charlton Howitt - explorer, drowned in Lake Brunner 1863 Charles Townsend - drowned at Greymouth (probably in the Grey River) 1863 Henry Whitcombe - surveyor, drowned in the Taramakau River in 1863 Construction of the memorial started 1868 and the railings were added in 1869. Linking up with Mosaic Monday .

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