Golden Bay is located in the very north-west of New Zealand’s South Island. The clocks tick very differently in this hippie centre. The houses are colourful, the people relaxed and/or naked. The sea runs endlessly flat on the beach, so flat that you can’t even see it on the horizon at low tide. Herons stalk through the mudflats.
Near Takaka, the largest freshwater springs in Australasia spew 14 cubic metres of crystal-clear water per second from the karst ground. Sheep pastures and roads are rarely separated by fences. We drive to the last corner of New Zealand, Farewell Spit. A 50 kilometre long sandbank stretches out into the sea.
Mrs Matzke wanted to go horse riding. So we book a ride over the Old Man Range. I’ve only been riding once in my life. That remains the case today, because our tour is more like mountaineering with horses. The Old Man Range is a cliff about 200 metres high, which we climb on our 4WD off-road horses over some very steep steps. The panorama is endless, the sun beats down in the bright blue sky.
After a short time, I have to rename my horse Chutney “Franks Farting Fury”. It farts constantly, full-flavoured and in impressive sound creations. We quickly become friends. Despite the afterburner, its speed lags somewhat behind my expectations. The steepness of the path rarely allows more than walking anyway, and that is exciting enough.
The ride takes a good four hours, definitely far too much for our arses, which are not used to the luck of the earth. By four o’clock in the afternoon, we’re both already sunburnt. But one of New Zealand’s most beautiful beaches still awaits us.
Wharariki Beach can be reached after a short hike across sheep pastures and high sand dunes. White icing sugar sand, yellow cliffs, caves and arches in the rocks of the bay are bathed in the orange light of the evening sun. We are washed clean by large waves, the strong current drifting far to the side. Hardly anyone is here. I’ve been pretty tired of travelling for the last few days. This beach wakes me up.
Frank Woelky, born in 1973. Kitesurfer since 1998. Since 2006, I have been combining kitesurfing and web design on trips lasting several months off the beaten track.