Bird appeal: Farewell Spit is one of the country's most important bird sanctuaries. Photo / Supplied, Nelson Tasman
Bird appeal: Farewell Spit is one of the country's most important bird sanctuaries. Photo / Supplied, Nelson Tasman
It's wild and windy but, if you have feathers, Farewell Spit is prime real estate, writes Elen Turner
Most people who have flown between the North and South Islands on a clear day will have seen the 25km sandspit reaching into the Tasman Sea. Farewell Spit forms the northern boundary of Golden Bay, and setting foot there feels like being on the edge of the Earth. It practically is.
Taking the brunt of northerly and westerly winds, and growing and shrinking with the tides and the drift of sand, Farewell Spit is an inhospitable landscape for people, although there is a decommissioned lighthouse and adjacent lodging near the end of the spit. However, the environment must be appealing to birds, because Farewell Spit is one of the country's most important bird sanctuaries.
To the lighthouse: Farewell Spit, Golden Bay. Photo / Elen Turner
Describing Farewell Spit as a "sandspit" belies the variety of its habitats: salt marshes, estuarine and freshwater wetlands, open mudflats, freshwater and brackish lakes, ocean sand beaches, and both vegetated and bare sand dunes. The Golden Bay-facing side of the spit has more vegetation, whereas the sand on the northern side is less stable. Pools and lakes can be found "inland", although even at its widest, the base, Farewell Spit is only 1.5km across. The tidal mudflats expand and contract enormously with the tides. If you've ever sat on an Abel Tasman or Golden Bay beach and been amazed by the breadth and speed of the changing tide, spare a thought for Farewell Spit's wading birds, who have to dash out of the path of incoming tides.
A lonely tree trunk on the 25km sandspit. Photo / Supplied, Nelson Tasman
More than 90 bird species have been recorded in these habitats, including native birds such as kea, but the most significant are the migratory wading birds. Thousands arrive at Farewell Spit from the Northern Hemisphere every spring, after 12,000km journeys from Siberia and Alaska. You can't blame them for seeking warmer Antipodean climes in the northern winter. Farewell Spit isn't the only place in New Zealand where these migratory birds land, but it is the most protected. Godwits, red knots, Mongolian dotterels, wrybills, long-billed curlews, little whimbrels, and other birds with cute and fanciful names are just some of the dozens of species recorded here.
It's hard to overstate the ecological importance of Farewell Spit. Most of the spit is managed by the Department of Conservation, and it's more tightly controlled even than a national park, with public access restricted on all but the first 4km of the spit. An 11,388ha portion of the spit is designated as a Ramsar Wetland site, a wetland area deemed to be of international importance under Unesco's 1971 Ramsar Convention. It's also a Flyway Reserve Network Site—one of a chain of wetlands around the world that migrating birds stop at on their round-the-world journeys—and is on Unesco's World Heritage Site "tentative list", along with the nearby Kahurangi National Park, Te Waikoropupu Springs and the Canaan karst system. In effect, Farewell Spit is a World Heritage Site "in waiting", and may be fully listed when certain conditions have been met.
The area around the base of the spit, Wharariki Beach, and the Puponga Farm Park is open to visitors on foot. You're less likely to see the most protected bird species around here, but you're sure to see fur seals. They breed around the caves, cliffs and rock pools of Wharariki Beach and can often be seen basking in the sun, both here and along the length of Farewell Spit. Maintain a safe distance, especially if there are seal pups around. Also, keep an eye out for little blue penguins on the Archway Islands just offshore from Wharariki Beach (binoculars are handy), and other birds around the Puponga Estuary, including white herons and royal spoonbills. An animal you really don't want to see at Farewell Spit is a beached whale. Sadly, pods of pilot, sperm, minke and fin whales do get stranded from time to time, most recently in February, and they can't always be saved.
Beyond the first 4km of the spit, you must join a guided four-wheel-drive tour to get a closer look at the birds. Only one tour company is allowed to run tours, which makes trip planning easy: Farewell Spit Tours, based in Collingwood. As well as the standard, year-round, day-long Farewell Spit Tour, the company runs a couple of bird-specific tours. Sporadically between September and April, the Wader Watch Tour observes wading birds on the inter-tidal plain near the base of the spit. During the same months, the Gannet Colony Tour travels 2km beyond the lighthouse to visit the area that is sometimes home to 9000+ birds, and is a rare example of sea-level colony. As these specialist tours restrict visitor numbers and only run during certain months and tidal conditions, it's important to book ahead.
Whichever tour you choose, you'll certainly see seals and a variety of birds, and will be regaled by the expert live commentary of your driver/guide. The longer tours make a tea stop at the lighthouse, built in 1869 to guide ships away from the treacherous sandbank that claimed many ships in the 19th century. If you visit on a windy day — frequent on Farewell Spit — the ramshackle teahouse beside the lighthouse and protected by shrubs provides some respite and the chance to shake the sand out of your hair. Bird-watching enthusiasts should opt for one of the specialist tours, if they're being offered, and bring their best camera gear as this is one of the most remarkable bird habitats in the country.
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