With a beautiful, clear summer’s day in the forecast we decided to head north from Golden Bay towards Farewell Spit and the beaches on the west coast. As we made our way out of Golden Bay we stopped briefly at a view point to look back over the rolling hills towards the curve of Golden Bay.
After a short while we arrived at the start of Farewell Spit. We decided to head over to the western, seaward side of the spit first. Despite this being the widest part of the spit, in less than 2 kms (1.25 miles) the farmland gave way to sand dunes.
We walked along the beach for a while towards the cliffs; known as Fossil Point the area is named for fossilised shells and worm casts that can be found in the blocks of mudstone that break off from the cliffs. We found a few small shells in the rocks, before heading out along the sand spit.
We made our way along the windswept beach towards the track that would take us across to the bay side of the spit. Much of the spit is closed to the public to provide a protected habitat for the various birds that live there.
From this side of the spit we had great views across the bay towards Golden Bay, and were able to spot lots of black swans feeding in the bay. The Inner Beach was a little more sheltered and covered in shells rather than sand which made it a much quicker route back to the car.