Saturday, November 27/Day 7 South Island

Our goal in Takaka was to get to visit the Farewell Spit, an incredible sand spit and nature preserve that extends out into Golden Bay like an arm and is the northernmost point of the south island. Because of the tides, you have to get in on a tour super early in the morning, and we'd booked our tour for the next day. So we fossicked about Takaka, souvenir shopping and stumbling upon an amazing weekend market full of jewelry and handmade trinkets. We popped into an internet cafe to check for grades since we'd finished our final exams over a week prior to leaving for the trip, and I discovered I'd passed all of my classes. HOORAY. The day was leisurely. We checked out rock formations at The Grove.

We chilled at Ligar Beach. It's probably my favorite animal.

And then we had a crazy steep hike to check out one of the largest cave entrances in the southern hemisphere, I think. One of us thought we read that somewhere, and now we can't find information about its size. It's poorly signposted, but we were determined to find it. A website about the cave says, "The last section of the hike, from the valley floor up to the cave entrance, is a steep and rough track requiring good fitness and experience." True story. It was a workout. This post is nearly identical to the experience we had.

From outside:

From inside:

It was super slippery, and I was too nervous after a couple of good slips to go too far down. Those Smiths, though, are fearless.

And then one more tiny adventure for the day: Pupu Springs, the clearest, cleanest water outside of Antarctica, apparently.

We planned to stay overnight at a campsite in Collingwood, the closest town to the Spit, but the campsite was charging $16 per person. SIXTEEN DOLLARS PER PERSON to park our van on a patch of grass, and maybe flush a toilet once or twice. In unison we said fuck that and went off in search of a freedom campsite. Freedom camping is generally frowned upon because tourists park wherever they want, clutter up the scenery, and leave trash. We were travelling before peak season, so we probably got away with far more than anyone campervanning it in late December or January did. There are many signs on city streets and water fronts explicitly warning against overnight parking or camping. So we wound our way up into a slightly residential area on a big hill and spotted a perfect spot: an undeveloped plot of land hidden from the street and other houses by trees and bushes. We zipped up into our little clearing and made dinner as the sun set.

We felt so victorious over the exorbitant campsite, though slightly paranoid that someone would spot us and kick us out in the dead of night. That's the kicker when it comes to freedom camping. But we were safe, and we even had a view of the bay with the tide out to go with dinner.