New Zealand

---

Wednesday 17th November: On the road again, this time heading for Westport. A local we met in Reefton suggested if we had enough time to head for Westport. Not for the town but for the drive. We took her advise and headed out from Slab Hut Creek conservation national reserve and headed north west on highway 69 and 6. It was a bit of a divert, by about two hours, but it was worth it. We drove a long narrow mountain roads cut through the rock. One pass was only possible for one way vehicles with just a barrier from a sheer drop and sharp bends. I began to think this local in Reefton wasn't too keen on tourists! We followed the Buller river above the Buller gorge. Very scarry but orsome..... We were now in the Mt. William Range. When we finally made it to Westport we only stopped briefly to refuel. The town is where the Buller river meet the sea, a small industral town with one main street. We were back on highway 6 and more mountian passes and many creeks. We finally met the west coast and the Tasman sea. We've been driving about five hours a day depending where we are heading for. This one was going to be a long one with our divert but the coastal road which took us through Punakaiti, Runanga and passing the whale and dolfin areas broke the diving bordom. We stopped again at Greymouth two days before the fatal accident in the pike river mine. I took some photographs of a wall covered in Greymouth's history and mining was one of the main things I photographed. the road from Greymouth was as scenic and interesting as before. Narrow bridges, creeks, rivers and gorges.The landscape on this side of the coast feels jarasic and wild. Not sure why possibly because of some of the swomps we've passed and New Zealands ferns mixed with the tall pines gives it a primitive feel. By now it was getting quite late so we decided to start looking for a site as we needed to hook-up and charge the battery. We came upon a place called Harihari and stopped the night at a road side motel and motorhome facility. More to come.....

---

Comments

[John Cook]

excellent
Well done Charlie, thought I was back there for amoment. JC xxx