For the first day of 2015 we decided to try our hand at salmon fishing at the Anatoki Salmon farm.
They offer you the use of free fishing equipment and in return you pay for any fish you catch. I was looking forward to fresh smoked salmon for our New Years Day picnic so we got up early and headed out to the salmon farm.
After almost 3 hours and no such luck as even a decent bite we decided to call it a day and left disgruntled but with some salmon we purchased from their cafe. Oh well! that's fishing for you! We did have lots of fun though and that place was absolutely stunning!
After I got over my fishing disappointment we headed out to Wharaiki beach, one of my good friends had told me about how beautiful this place was and I thought it would be the perfect spot for a New Years day picnic.
It was a good drive west of Golden Bay past the Farewell Spit. Pretty soon after that the road turned into gravel and man! was it dusty and busy! There were people everywhere! We parked but then discovered you had to walk for 25 mins to get to the beach. I soon realised carrying our picnic lunch in a chilly bin was not the wisest move, oh well!
Even though the track was pretty busy it was great because the scenery was awesome and the weather perfect! in fact there was not a cloud in the sky and it was so hot I could feel my sunblock melting. There was also the occasional cow or sheep lurking on the track which made for an even more interesting walk and I can honestly say I've never walked to so long to reach a beach before. Something about the anticipation along the way made the walk even more exciting! Every corner we rounded I expected to get a little peak of the water but no such luck and then after a good 15 mins or so we reach this little estuary bit and I could see the sand dunes.
Hooray! we made it and what a beach it was! I can see why it was so popular. HUGE sand dunes which provided sand surfing for some and running races for others. There were giant rock formations, fur seals, lots of sea caves and a rugged untouched beauty thats hard to beat really.
We spent a while exploring the beach and then found a picnic spot to rest and enjoy our salmon and fresh fruit. There was a few seals close by to us and every so often you'd hear one yawn or roll around which made for an interesting lunch eating experience.
Then it was time to venture back home, we stopped to look in the sea caves which made our voices echo and James took some arty sand dune pictures.
We called into a cute little cafe called "The Archway" on the way back where they had a fairy garden that was beyond adorable! I took tonnes of photos and sipped my coffee under a huge sweetly scented pine tree which was heavenly. To top things off they placed a little heart on my takeaway cup!
Home to our cottage for dinner and a pretty pink sunset, what a great start to 2015!
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