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- Pupu Springs Walk
Pupu Springs Walk
| Location: Northern end South Island |
| Nearest Town: Takaka |
| Nearest City: Nelson |
| Length of tramp: 400m |
| Time needed: 30 minutes |
| Difficulty: Easy |
| Route: Round Trip |
| Elevation: 12m |
| Wet Feet: No way |
| Toilets: You Bet |
| Dogs: No NO |
| Mobile phone coverage: No |
| Date this tramp was last walked: 2007 |
| Track quality: Very good |
| Shops/restaurants: Click here to see great restaurants in New Zealand |
| Petrol station: No |
| Hazards: Lots of water |
| Water: No drinking water |
| Driving Instructions: 30 Min 10.3km the centre of Takaka drive to Collingwood on Highway (60) When you cross over the Takaka river at (3.6km) take the turn off to the left on to the Pupu valley Road. At 2.2km you will arrive at a turn off to the left, to the Pupu Springs, there are sign to follow. Now turn to the left, drive over the bridge and to the right. This road (1.2km) will take you to the springs. There are no other roads leading off this road. |
| Camping on track: No |
| Track highlights: The springs Discharge 14,000lt of water a second. That’s 40 bathtubs full. There are eight vents in the main pool. These pools are the clearest, fresh water in the world. The only other place with greater clarity is under the Ross ice shelf in Antarctica. |
Map of Pupu Springs Walk :
This is a dynamic map. You can zoom in and out using the "+" and "-" buttons, drag the map to see surrounding areas and click on the flags to see each position on the map
Detailed track description for
Pupu Springs Walk:
Pupu Springs Walk - Start
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No problem with finding a park. The toilets are right behind me; just walk up a slight hill and into the bush a little. The main track is again behind me and to my left. Take your lunch with you, there are seats set up for you in several places, were you can enjoy the view while having your lunch.
The track drops down from the car park to a panic area. Then you cross over a bridge. from there, take the track to the right,
This small gully is man made, the gold miners in the old days stacked up the rock so they could get to the gold, yeah - what gold!
Pupu Springs Walk - Point 2
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This is your first view of the springs. If you can plan a day, were there is no wind, no clouds and the sun is directly over head, 1200 Hours. That’s the day you will be able to take million dollar photos. Yes we do have days like that in NZ. We could only just make out the sand dancing around the bottom of the springs. The temperature is a constance 11.7°C. The flow varies from 7 cubic meters to 21 cubic meters per second. The springs are the largest in NZ and ranked 90th out of 100 largest in the world. From here follow the track around to the viewing platform. Again, if the conditions are ideal, you might be able to take a photo from the special mirror set up so you can look under the water.
Pupu Springs Walk - Point 3
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From here you can walk around the short track back to the car. You will see other places where the miners stacked up the river stones, and a lot of NZ native trees and ferns the day we walked around, I did not hear or see any NZ native birds. But there was plenty of water flowing under my feet.
Summary:
For us Kiwi, it’s OK. We see a lot of native bush, and water. But to see this varied selection of native trees, ferns and the spring so close to town, makes it worth the 30 minutes drive out there. Another plus is the Pupu Valley walk. You are only 20 minutes away. For a one hour extraordinary walk you will ever see. GO GO GO
