Spirit's Bay

The road to Sprit's bay is long and windy, and changes to dirt for last 18K. Around each bend, we were greeted with stunning views of the forests and vast wetland areas. Finally, we arrived right before sunset.


Entrance to the camp ground.


Beautiful volcanic hills.


The horses were the only other large mammals in the area!


Spirit's bay gets it's name due to Maori legend. They believe (so I read) that the soul travels to this area, and climbs a pohutukawa tree at the edge of a cliff to travel across the sea to the after life. It's amazingly similar to the Chumash transition legend near Point Conception. You can really imagine how this belief arose by experiencing this heavenly landscape.


Our campsite right on the estuary with beach dunes in the background. The horses are across the river.


The rock formations are amazing. The low, windswept plants are teatree. Cordyline australis, a common landscape and houseplant, are the tall strap-leaf plants at the top of the ridge.


While Jon went out exploring, I cooked an Indian curry dinner. We found some garlic naan at a shop on the way here, we've got our mango chutney and yoghurt, and we're ready to dine!


Time for Kim's sunrise walk...time for Jon to snore at full volume! Yes, the white speck is the campervan, and yes, we are the only people out here! It's pretty darned cold, which is why I suspect we're the only people crazy enough to camp here. But it is stunning!


The beach is sprinkled with chips of seashell, creating a peach color in the morning light.





We suspect that this is a native dune grass. There is a lot of European Beach grass here, as well. The coloration on this species is beautiful. I'm noticing a lot of the oranges and dark greens in the flora here.



There are lots of little Plovers on the beach, and apparently it's nesting season here! We'll definitely have to be very careful on the beach.


The weather is shifting from sun to dark, but we're still planning to hike out to the other end of the beach, to a place called Pandora. The big rivermouth is at the other end of the beach. Time for breakfast and to bundle up for the long walk! Stay tuned!