(2015/01/30-31)…the first night on the Southisland wasn’t really spectacular, so the destination was still NORTH! I had read in the LP guide that just behind Takaka are some springs which are worth to see and even on this junction is a place where i could setup my tent for free. When i passed that bridge i noticed, that camping in a tent wasn’t allowed so i headed to the springs. Springs, what could be so amazing on springs? A hole where water is coming out and feeding a creek. No passion to search for a new accommodation for this night, i headed to these springs. Springs? This question was still in my mind. Arrived, i followed the nice path to the SPRINGS! HOLY MOLY! SPRINGS??? The word “springs” is definitely underestimated, but there is no other word to describe what kind of springs these are. Imagine a river, like the Isar, Groß Arche and with other words, currently 11qm/s water is “springing” out of the ground. You’re standing on a railway, behind you is the forest and in front of you a RIVER is coming out of the ground. I was so fascinated that i totally forgot to make a good picture. AMAZING, speechless, several places where water comes out of the ground. No wonder, that _one_ of the spring is called “Dancing Sands”.
Not far away from the “a huge river is coming out of the ground” aka. Waikoropupu Springs aka. Pupu Springs, there is an old restored and now working again hydro power plant. This hydro power station had a nice trail which covers all the area inclusive the water race and the falls where they get the water from. This was now my first real hike after the attack and a try to see how good this works. This was a real good trail, very good prepared, non frequent and with lots of options for a rest or picnic (almost no rest options i have ever seen on my hikes, except one on Kauai). Even the trail along the water race was awesome to walk, very uncommon and nice.
After this breathtaking day, i choose the campground in Collingwood, because i had todo some serious business. I had to get my tickets for the AfrikaBurn and the campground hat wifi. Phone signal was with 3 bars of 3G not the best. I switched to Spark Telecom in Wellington, because they have free data for Facebook and 1GB per day on their Hotspots which are place in almost every bigger city or village. Sadly here was no hotspot available, but Wifi by the campground. Really annoying for burners, when they don’t live in the same timezone as where the burn is, because you have to stay awake or wake up to very uncomfortable times. Ticket sale, 2nd round, started for me at 1am at night (2pm SA local time). The called “wifi” was more a pain in the ass because it worked almost never. Just from time to time and of course not when i needed it to get my tickets. Hell, 3 bars of 3G, 400ms internet latency to the servers in South Africa, how should i get tickets,when the first run, when i was at Maui, was sold out within minutes. My sister Mephy was with me together online to backup me and try if she gets a slot for the tickets. Finally i got my tickets! *yay*. Relieved to fell a sleep was now so easy.
A perfect morning for me, but not such a good morning for the weather. Cloudy, rainy and i had to pack my tent and stuff really fast in the car because i woke up as a few raindrops drummed on my tent. Just after i had packed my stuff in the car, it started to rain, but not constant. A bit more and a few minutes a bit less. What should i do with this day? My original plan was to head north. Should i drove now directly to the west cost, to the city Westport? Ah never mind, lets see how far i can go north and what i can see there. Just after Collingwood i turned with my car to the road to Farewell Spit as there was an hitch hiker on the road. Pickup? Drive on? Hm, the most people i picked up didn’t donated anything to me. Okay, one last try, pickup. Sanders his name, from the Netherlands. He wanted to go to the Wharariki Beach which i haven’t heard before. So why not, lets see and i agreed that i will also see what this beach is about.
While driving it started raining and it got very cloud. He told me that he just had changed his mind and didn’t wanted to get to Nelson and instead checking out the north. Hm, nice, exactly the same i had myself in the mind(North, instead directly heading to Westport). The car park was nice with a small coffee spot between the trees and very inviting. As it was still a bit rainy we decided to get a coffee there. Sanders invited me to a cup of coffee and i was very happy about that donation because i didn’t had to ask about something, he was happy to got me as driver. After a very nice small talk with the girl behind the desk, the timing couldn’t be better, it had stopped raining and the sun came out. Let’s go for the hike on one of the trails. Oh! Hiking with someone unknown? It after i saw how good he prepared was, i felt very comfortable and happy no to hike alone. I really enjoyed the hike with him, he had the same pace, same thoughts, views about life and as i asked he was, of course, a capricorn (Steinbock). I really don’t believe in astrology but it’s very astonishing how often i ran into capricorns and how they fit together. No wonder, that my last girl friends where capricorns.
After this hike in this beautiful and awesome nature we drove back into the direction of Nelson. On the way is asked him if he had heard about the Pupu Springs. As he said no, i couldn’t stopped myself to show him these “springs” and i got my good pictures. He also said that he never could imagine that and he also was so astonished and speechless. We both had short but nice trip together, i definitely would hike with him again, even on a long distance hike and maybe we ran into each other somewhere else on the world. Happy about that i directly dropped him at this hostel before i headed to Greymouth…