Oh the places we've been...

"It’s opener there in the wide open air.

Out there things can happen and frequently do to people as brainy and footsy as you.

And when things start to happen, don’t worry. Don’t stew.

Just go right along. You’ll start happening too.

OH! THE PLACES YOU’LL GO!

You’ll be on your way up!

You’ll be seeing great sights!

You’ll join the high fliers who soar to high heights." An exerpt from Dr. Seuss

I appologize for the blog hiatus, but in the words of Dr. Seuss...things just started to happen, so we went along and we started happening too.

Since my last post we have been to the end of the earth and back...quite literally.
We drove north, to the furthest point possible on the south island - Farewell Spit. Here, the land ends and a spit of sand begins which extends for 27km, arching out into the ocean. You can take a bus out on the spit, but we opted to walk.

We started out along the beach, much like others we have been on, and followed others up the spit. The ocean stretched out to the south but a hill of scrubby brush, gorse and flax blocked our view to the north.
Soon, our curiosity got the better of us. We saw a man coming up and over the hill from the north. We started towards him. Meeting mid-way, he greeted us...

"You like sand? There is lots of it!" He said in a thick Dutch accent.
As we crested the hill we understood.
We were instantly transported to another world - a dessert world, void of humans, save for a few footprints. Sand dunes dominated and the wind shapped the landscape, grain by grain, creating endless patterns of ripples, disturbed only by circular patterns created by grasses rotating around thier roots...and of course, our footprints.

As the saying goes, we took only photographs and left only our footprints, wondering how long it would be until the wind reclaimed the sand and turned it back into ripples.
Farwell Spit...an appropriate name, as you really did get the sense that you were leaving the world behind.

Disclaimer...the spit is a nature reserve and you are supposed to take a tour, however there is public access on the first 2km of spit...this is where our dune adventures took place...we weren't breaking the law! Promise!