So after being woken up by a massive earthquake but suffering no ill effects other than a bit of missed sleep we got up this morning to another day of rain, still not to be deterred after breakfast we set off for Farewell Spit which is the very top of the South Island and as far north west as you can go. Last nights super moon causing spring tides mean that in places the sea was at the same level as the road, it is quite strange seeing these areas both with and without water they look very different. We walked up the hill by the farewell cafe to get a good view of the spit – having walked across a farmers field we were being watched all the way by the sheep, but as the rain (and that high up the wind) was quite heavy we didn’t stay too long. Next we planned to drive to Bainham where there is a ‘historic’ store which also has a cafe where you can get coffee and homemade cakes, unfortunately the town was obviously so small we missed it so we went to Salisbury Falls instead, this is over a swing bridge, which rather worryingly just after we had driven over it the local park services came round to check that it was ok and safe to use – it was but the ‘swing’ element of the bridge is actually that it isn’t connected at either end! Anyway we walked down to the falls which although not very high were running really fast – a major positive of all the rain is that the waterfalls are really spectacular. We stood there watching the falls for a while but then as we were quite wet decided to head back to the car. On the way back to the Apartment we actually found the general store which is ‘closed until summer!’ It did actually say it was due to re-open today but I assume they didn’t think any tourists would be out so didn’t bother! We drove round to Collingwood on the way back to the apartment. This is an old gold mining town and although it has a couple of old buildings is defiantly only still running to attract tourists. By this time the rain had adopted monsoon like tendencies so we decided to head back to the apartment and spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing and packing before we head off tomorrow. The good news is that despite the fact there are still a few aftershocks from the earthquake (all quite minor) the roads on the route we have planed are not affected so we don’t have to re-plan our journey.
