Holy smokes do we ever love Takaka! The most beautiful friendly comfortable and amazing place on our trip thus far. My friend Allison recommended it as her favourite place in NZ so we allotted a full week.
Off the ferry we walked to find our snazzy Nissan Highway Star waiting (with the keys tucked super secret under the visor). Feels like a race car after our minibus.
On the way we stopped at Totara Flats and found an amazing blue swimming hole and jumping spot that we didn’t have time to fully enjoy.
Then it was up and over the Takaka hill and down into heaven.
Our place was amazing log cabin. Built around 50 years ago with love and landscaped with an artist’s eye.
We were surrounded by cicadas and fruit trees and the beach was a short walk down the lane.
Our personal beach was a huge tidal plain that we didn’t have to share with anyone.
On our first full day Zeke and I did our own morning walk to explore tidal pools and measure ripples in the sand and discuss wave dynamics.
Zeke took this great picture of me that I promptly used to advertise our blog on social media. Nice work Zeke!
The next day we visited Pupu Spings, the largest freshwater springs in NZ. Beautiful clear water and a nice walk. We saw some Wekas. Little did we know we would become very familiar with the little devils in Able Tasman.
Mikaya’s journal: [We got to feed a horse and wen it relisd that we did not have applse it did a hair tos and now we call it sasy lasy]
We spent an afternoon exploring the labyrinth rocks which was a significantly more complex system than we were expecting. After an hour or more Kylie and I were completely lost but the kids knew exactly where we were. Levi says he has a highly developed maze memory from playing Hollow Knight. He was proven correct!
Some pretty tight options and a couple actual caves.
At the end of the day we loved coming back to our cozy cabin and making tasty food. Ty helped put this meal together while we all listened to Kylie’s favourite 80s rock hits. Beer for us and Lyft for the kids…
So much to do in Takaka we need another post to do it justice…
