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Published: November 11th 2006
After an overnight stop at a farmstay hostel - nobody much to talk to except Jim the dog, who in the absence of the owners said it would be OK to let ourselves in - we headed to the Buller River Valley via Murchison towards Westport.
Murchison suffered an earthquake in 1929 and clearly not a lot has happened since. Westport used to be a major player in the New Zealand coal industry, but times have moved on and left it somewhere in the 1960's - and very nice it was too, after the traffic chaos of Nelson. The majority of our fellow travellers don't usually find too many kind words to say about the likes of Westport, but if you knew where to look it boasted a multitude of ghost towns, decaying Victorian engineering masterpieces and other relics of the coal industry.
We headed to Cape Foulwind and the seal colony of Tauranga Bay - the seal colony possessed seals and a foul wind, Cape Foulwind possessed neither. The weather was bright and clear and there was no sign of a JCB giving the beaches a helping hand down here. The car gave us the opportunity to stay
at some more out of the way places and we opted for a fabulous place between the coast and the mountains called Beaconstone Retreat.
The drive down towards the Pancake Rocks was very scenic, but interupted by lots of blue flashing lights - no we weren't speeding and the activity was prompted by the discovery of a body washed up on the shore. The Pancake Rocks were as their name suggests and we returned northward, ending up at a tiny place called Hector. We stayed not at Hector's House, but at a place called the Old Slaughterhouse high on the hill - the only way up there was a 10 minute walk and the owner came down with his quad bike for the rucksacks. Top views, but good job we didn't forget to buy some milk!
We took the car back to Nelson via Nelson Lakes - the pristine lakes with a backdrop of snow covered mountains, which were sadly occupied by a few too many sandflies.
We were back on the bus to Kaikoura for a spot of whale watching. The sperm whales don't quite put on the show that the humpbacks do in Hervey Bay,
but at least they put in an appearance. Sea conditions were a bit more mundane than our Interislander experience, but some of fellow whale watchers opted for a paper bag view of the giant creatures all the same.
We are now in Christchurch, which is just as English as ever or not depending on your point of view. As you will note from the photographs, now one of the party has his teeth into the New Zealand Football Championship we were never going to get out of town without attending the "big" game of the week.
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Sam
non-member comment
Looking Good!!!
Miranda, You have had a hair cut? Looks great. You did need it though. Pictures are amazing. Especially those of Whakatane and the White Island. It really did look like the moon.