Couple of wet days to pay the debt collector back and now have another 5 days credit for more good weather. Morning coffee finished and off to the Rawhiti Cave. The carpark is in private property where the owner has allowed access via their farm.
Arriving at the carpark there was only one vehicle that had just arrived at the same time. Jude and I changed into our tramping boots, put on our camelback bike packs and grabbed a walking pole and headed off into what was track shaded from the sun and made for a really a cold start. The first couple of hundred meters follow Dry Creek and was reasonably straight forward, flat slightly damp underfoot until we crossed Dry Creek, named Dry Creek because although it was full of boulders of all shapes and sizes there was no water anywhere, was it always this way… don’t know.
Once on the other side of the creek the terrain changed to a narrow root and rock laden goat track. The first 1.2km was a light gradient however the next 500 meters of switchbacks was a good uphill gradient was a little slippery with large step up rocks and tree roots making it a slow pace.
The young couple who obviously thought the track would be suitable for gym shoes were having doing alright with their gym shoes although when we seen them they’d probably need a good wash or replacement, depends on what people find more convenient these days lol. But once we climb the obstacle course and reached the cave it was absolutely worth the effort.
As you approach the brow of the hill and the entrance the cave comes into full view you are mesmerized by its share size and depth. This cave was formed over 1 million years ago and had huge stalactites hanging down from the ceiling and stalagmites protruding upwards.
The cave itself was huge as I hope the picture themselves will depict and give a reasonable indication of that. We walked down into the belly of the beast onto the viewing platform. To me you get a weird feeling of insecurity a out such much object just hanging there above you, especially when there is a sign warning you not to stay around the entrance too long in case of falling objects?
We stayed just admiring this colosseum of a natural wonder and we recommend that if you’re ever in Golden Bay that you make an effort to view this in person… you will not be disappointed.
Now for the decent back down this track, although going down is definitely easier than the grind up going down was a difficult task as making sure your footing was a positive placement or you’re going to slip on the wet surface. Once back down safely it was time to go fishing… if you could call it that.
Anatoki Salmon Farm
As we finished our Rawhiti Cave hike early and the weather was still hot and sunny the trip to the Anatoki Salmon Farm that we intended to do tomorrow was brought forward. From where we were at the Rawhiti Cave car park to the Anatoki Salmon Farm was only 15km away so off we went. Arriving at the Salmon farm there were quite a few vehicles already there.
The intention was to catch a salmon and have it for cooked, smoked or sashimi for brunch. However Jude decides she’d rather take it home for later so it was decided that we will have a brunch at the Salmon Farm before catching a salmon. Looking at the menu the salmon platter sounded nice and so it, plus a scoop of chips and coffees were ordered.
When the salmon platter and chips arrived, I did not expect it to be big and possibly I shouldn’t have ordered the chips. There was a large tray, though it was for two people I think it could have easily fed four people, A large smoked salmon fillet, a fillet sashimi, two small bowls salmon soup, six small deep fried potato balls, two crab sticks thingies, a ball salmon cream cheese and herbs, a loaf of sourdough sliced bread and slices of lime… yep it was a good portion and guess what… at the price, it was reasonable, and because of the price we ate the lot lol.
Now for the fishing, the fishing is free but you pay $40 per kg when you weigh your catch and from there you can pay extra for them to process your catch, for example they will smoke or sashimi your fillets or both.
It took Jude two cast in three minutes to catch her salmon weighing in at 1.29kg which was process half smoked and half sashimi total cost $68. Unfortunately in the excitement I forgot to get a snap of her salmon. All in all it was a fun day in beautiful weather.
The evening was topped off with a lovely meal with a group of new friends at the Neko Cafè in Pohara.
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