Farewell Spit/Collingwood

Farewell Spit

Past Collingwood is Farewell Spit a 35km long sand bar which acts as a breakwater for Golden Bay. The Sand dunes are internationally renowned for being a bird sanctuary with over 90 species being recorded here. Hundreds or thousands of migratory wading birds spend the summer months here. These include godwits, curlews, gulls, gannets, cormorants and other sea birds. You can only visit the small area at the base of Farewell Spit, unless you go with a licensed operator.

Farewell Spit Eco Tours  - Departs from Collingwood (Bookings Essential)

Farewell Spit Nature Experience  - Departs Old School Café – Pakawau (Daily)

Wharariki Beach

Approximately an hour’s drive from Takaka, a short gravel road leads you to a car park, from where you take a 20 minute stroll across private, rolling farmland. A short incline at the end takes you to dramatic landscape, where the actions of wind and wave have combined to produce one of the most superlative coastal landscapes anywhere.

Quiet inspection of the islands and headlands accessible at half-tide may reveal groups of seals, sometimes at play in the large rock-pools.

With the Tasman Sea washing it's sandy shores, and prevailing winds stirring up the sand dunes it is a place best visited on a fine day with very little wind. 

Collingwood

A small historic township located just north of Takaka, it was settled in the 1850s during the gold boom. Collingwood today is a small community consisting of a general store, hotel, garage and café as well as a few small motels. Collingwood was once upon a time proposed as being the capital of the country.