Let it rain, let it rain, till the sun comes out again

What a weekend!

We set off on our journey on Friday after school with our personal guides from the frontdesk Miles (Smiles) and Gabi. Already the drive over Takaka Hill, which separates Nelson from the Golden Bay, was an adventure, such a windy road!

Once on the other side, we arrived in the big city of Takaka. There are two special things about it: first of all, you need about 30 seconds to see the whole village. And secondly, it is really a Hippie place ;)

Our accomodation was in Collingwood, a sightseeing tour lasts more or less 20 seconds. But our hostel was really cool and after settling in we went to the beach for a stroll in the strong wind.

Fighting against the storm we deserved our dinner and more than enough cake ;)

The next morning, Miles wasn't that happy. There were two main reasons for his mood:
1. Every time when we goes on a trip, the weather is bad.
2. This time the weather was even worse!

Rain would have been alright but this storm was incredible. But since we all are real kiwis we took our Shorts and walked through wind and rain to the Wainui falls. Nobody cared about floating rivers or slippery stones, we were wet and we had fun!
After that, as a surprise, Miles shouted us a warm coffee before we did another short walk in a nature reserve.

In the evening we had an amazing dinner and a lot of fun playing silly games. But at 10 pm we had to go to bed as we forced ourselves to watch the sunrise at one of the most famous beaches in the world: Wharariki Beach!

We left at 4.38, Swiss punctuality, and drove to the top of New Zealand called Farewell spit. There it took us about twenty minutes to walk to the beach. Our timing was perfect: thanks to the low tight we had the opportunity to walk almost inti the rocks. But the tight is raising sooo fast and the sea is very rough.

At 5.58 the sun came over the hills and enchanted the beach into a indescribable paradise.
We took our time to stroll along the beach, looking at the seals and listening to the explanation of our clever guides before we drove to the whale rescue center.

There we learnt how to save a whale :) no, it is seriously a big problem that whales get stuck on the beaches. They can't go back until the high tight comes six hours later and during this time it is the job of the local to cover the whale constantly with water. Despite these efforts, many sperm and pilotwhales die...

Afterwards we had breakfast in the hostel. With the car we drove to the Pupu Springs. This is really fascinating! Water just comes out of holes, and always with the temperature of 11.7 degrees. For Maoris, this source or water is sacred and therefore people are still not allowed to touch it. 

Then we visited a spectacular grove and a funny labyrinth. As the weather turned cloudy again, we decided to drive to Kaiteriteri on the other side of the hill. Having survived the windy road, we had lunch at the pretty beach before we continued to Riwaka River. The water comes out of a cave and just in front of the cave Maori women used to give birth to their children. It is hard to believe that this is possible because you get cramps of the cold of the water!

With every weekend more it geta harder to say goodbye to all these nice people. I made so many new friends from all over the world and we had such a good time together. 

Thanks so much for that!