Minette Soekoe
- Mar 12, 2021
- 2 min read

On the other side of the Hills

The idea was to go from Motueka over the Takaka Hills, through Takaka to Collingwood and then on to the Farewell Spit. Sadly this did not quite work out as planned due to bad weather and a bit of a wild cat(and maybe just a little lack of courage on my part). I knew the pass over the Takaka Hills is notoriously windy so I gave Ferrari a good dose of motion sickness medication that also calms her down. Maybe I should have taken some as well - for the calming down, not so much the motion sickness. There were roadworks in the pass so for about a kilometre there was only one lane with cars at the other end waiting patiently for their turn. Many times I thought we reached to top of the pass, just to find out we're still climbing. But the view is beyond belief. Going down is worse than going up. You can't drive on your breaks, especially with the weight of the motorhome, so it was 2nd and 3rd gear all the way. We drove through Takaka and camped at Collingwood right by the water! The weather was appalling though with rain and wind. It cleared up a little later in the evening. The area is a bird sanctuary so Ferrari was on a leash the whole time which meant I explored the streets of Collingwood with her at night time. A child about a block away waved at us and called out "Hallo!". A dad and his toddler was walking home in the dark after they went fishing, without a worry in the world. The thought crossed my mind briefly that Heaven is probably like Collingwood, where people live without fear.

The plan was to go to Farewell Spit in the morning, but when we woke up it was raining again with low cloud, so I decided to head back to Motueka instead.