While I seem to return to many of my favourite places each time I visit Golden Bay I also manage to discover something completely new almost every time I’m over there. Driving from our home in Riwaka I can be in Tākaka within an hour, and although only a short drive from my house, it always feels like I have traversed my way onto another celestial plane. There is something uniquely Golden Bay about Golden Bay. I’ve heard people say it has a similar vibe to what California was in the 1970s, and although I spent the 70s living in Murchison and not in the United States, I still like the comparison.
When I do head over the hill we will either take our trusty campervan, Queenie, or more recently, have taken to renting one of the many great-value holiday homes available throughout Golden Bay. Most recently, I’ve been hitting some of the spots where I haven’t spent a lot of time before. I’ve read all three of Onekakā local, Gerard Hindmarsh’s, Kahurangi Calling books, and have found these to be an absolutely delightful source of stories and knowledge about many places I have visited in the area, and a whole lot more I haven’t.
We have a new culinary tradition whenever we drive over the Tākaka Hill, stopping at the Woolshed, the café at Canaan, for a coffee and bite. Kath Kelly, formerly the owner/barrister at Kelly’s Coffee Cart in the middle of Motueka, is now running The Woolshed, serving up awesome baked goods and toasties from Thursday to Sunday. Inside, you’ll find a wonderful collection of wool and woollen items for sale and outside, an eclectic menagerie of animals.
Prior to my first recent stay at Te Hapu Coastal Cottages I had only been to the western side of Golden Bay a handful of times. On two of those occasions we only drove as far as the Whanganui Inlet where we had launched our boat, a water taxi we repurposed for the day, before crossing the bar and then heading south down the rugged coastline in search of crayfish, blue cod, snapper and hāpuka. I would hazard the guess that the reason the fishing is so good in that area is due to the fact it is such a remote and weather-beaten part of the country that it doesn’t get a lot of fishing pressure. Whatever the reason, the fishing on both missions was some of the best I have ever done. The style of fishing during which you drop your line and feel a strike the moment it hits the bottom. You do that until you’ve caught as many fish as you can eat, the legal quota for the species, or whichever comes first. Then you crack a cold one and silently wonder if you should consider going pro with this fishing thing.
"The rugged coastline (at Te Hapu), with its huge palms, dense bush and rocky outcrops, is breathtaking..."
I had been looking for opportunities to get back to do more exploring in the area so jumped at the chance to head to Te Hapu, in what I believe is loosely termed the Westhaven area, for a couple of days. It wasn’t long into the drive from the Pākawau turnoff to the west when things started to feel remote and although the road is largely unsealed and narrow, it is well formed and easy to navigate. Te Hapu is a privately owned, working farm with a couple of options for cottages to rent. We had the repurposed shearing shed/quarters, a wonderful cottage with a wood stove which heats the water both for use inside and an outdoor bath. Having an outdoor bath, in the clear sky conditions with no light pollution, was one of the highlights of the stay with the stars even brighter and more visible than I see at home in Riwaka. We spent the days exploring the farm, and with a number of track options, I found the terrain more suited to walking rather than running, but I mostly just relaxed by reading my book and playing my guitar. It just seemed like the perfect location and opportunity to do very little. The rugged coastline here, with its huge palms, dense bush and rocky outcrops is breathtaking and the private beach just down from the cottage is postcard perfect.
We had decided to contrast the stay at remote Te Hapu by spending a couple of nights in Pōhaha, arguably the most developed and suburban-esk part of Golden Bay. Having turned my nose up at Pōhara in the past, I’ve grown to enjoy the place in more recent times, particularly being able to run along the sand on the long beach and then undo all of the health benefits of running by drinking a few craft beers in the sunny beer garden at Molly B’s.
We stayed at the Ratanui Lodge, my very first visit, and we found both our room and the restaurant to be excellent. Jude, an old work colleague and friend of mine had mentioned the Rawhiti caves were worth a visit and as we had never been there before we headed back to Motupipi and drove straight through, rather than taking the turn towards Tākaka, and found the DOC car park easily. Just as we got out of my truck a couple returned to the car park and they were both wearing helmets. We asked if helmets were a necessary safety precaution for the caves but they replied that they had been mistaken and Rawhiti wasn’t a cave where cavers do their caving thing, wearing their caving helmets. I was tempted here to launch into a tirade about how weird I find the concept of crawling through caves as a hobby, but in the nick of time I remembered many people could potentially find my idea that running up hills is a fun activity equally as weird.
The track up to the caves is reasonably easy but it does climb for a bit and was a bit slippery when we did it, but the caves are absolutely stunning, largely due to the huge amount of stalagmites that line the entrance. Reading the information signage at the cave entrance I learned Rawhiti Cave is a nationally significant phytokarst. What’s a phytokarst? A phytokarst is a phenomenon where plants and calcium work together to grow stalagmites. These actively growing stalactites are festooned with mosses and algae, and as the calcium carbonate is deposited constantly over this growth, the plants are incorporated into the structure of the stalactites. The plants grow towards the light and grow faster on the sunlit side causing the stalactites to grow towards the light.
The other short walk we did while staying in Pōhara was from the Wainui car park at the northern entrance to the Abel Tasman Coast Track as far as Uarau Point. We took the high track up and over the small hill on the way to the beach and then walked around the headland over the rocks and sand on our return, a round trip of just under an hour. I am semi-ashamed to admit this is the first time I had actually been to the northern trailhead of the Abel Tasman. This visit, however fleeting, had only reinforced my opinion that Wainui Bay is yet another magical part of Golden Bay.
On two other visits to Golden Bay, both in the middle of winter, we rented a bach at Paton’s Rock, another area where I hadn’t previously spent much time. On the most recent visit we managed to have all five of my immediate family members in attendance, something that has become a rarity, as our kids have grown up and moved away from the area, and is therefore increasingly precious time together.
On both occasions Paton’s Rock has been perfect for a couple of days of pure relaxation. The bach has a wood fire, a prerequisite for any winter accommodation in my view, and it is also able to accommodate my dog, Maggie, another massive tick for me. With an elevated outlook across the beach and over Golden Bay, the view in general, but particularly the sunsets are stunning. Paton’s Rock ticks yet another box for me personally with the beach being long enough for my daily run with Maggie.
Located roughly halfway between Tākaka and Collingwood, Paton’s Rock is no more than a 15-minute drive from many of the places in Golden Bay on my must-do list. This includes a coffee and bite at the consistently excellent Courthouse Café in Collingwood, a pint of Captain Cooker malt beer at the legendary Mussel Inn and a beer sitting in the sun at Tinky’s, aka the Collingwood Tavern, on the lawn beside the lapping waters of the Ruataniwha Inlet.
I would suggest Tākaka provides a wider range of culinary varieties than any other small town in New Zealand. My personal favourites are the burgers at the Root Bar, pizza from Dangerous Kitchen, the brunch options at Wholemeal Café, Thai from O’Sha, also located on the main drag or the wonderful bread from Bacca Bakery. This list only scratches the surface in terms of the food and beverage options, but just like Golden Bay in general, I feel like I have so much more to discover there, and I’m already looking forward to getting back over the hill whenever the opportunity arises.
Blog & photography by Brendan Alborn
Owner Operator
Brendan has a long association with the Abel Tasman, visiting it for the first time when his parents moved to Marahau in 1997. After spending much of his life overseas, Brendan and his family moved to the area at the end of 2010. When Brendan is not spending his time in the outdoors he seems to spend much of his time creating even flimsier justifications for spending more time in the outdoors.