Blogs from Westport, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania

As expected the weather bomb arrived overnight into Westport.A howling wind from the northwest,driving rain and some thunder announced its arrival some time during the night. Dawn bought passing heavy showers with horizontal rain and a wind that was incessant. However it wasn’t that bad to stop most of our plans for the day. The bush train at Charleston however was only taking adventurers who wanted to get into the bush to do some rafting and other activities on the river. So as we were only up for the bush train ride we gave the drive out to Charleston a miss and instead headed straight for the seal colony at Tauranga Bay,south of Westport and on the southern side of Cape Foulwind,so named by Captain Cook in 1770 when his ship was blown offshore. We arrived ... read more

" Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did." Mark Twain Friday 10th March 2017 As one travels a few things fall into place tidily which makes it all so much easier and more enjoyable. One of them is information and believe me, there is tons of the stuff available. Early on we would pick up more brochures and maps than we could read in a lifetime and they simply piled up on the floor of the HBS. The solution was found and we now devote our attention solely to "AA Traveller Visitor Guide" and there is one for every region in NZ. Hugely informative about the region one is travelling through with pointers to all places of interest and all in one ... read more

Dinsdag 14 Januari 2014: Als ik ontwaak is er veel wind. Een pluspunt is dat de was kurkdroog is maar een minpunt is da deze me het leven de gans dag zuur zou gaan maken. Het nieuwe Therm-a-rest matje laat zich moeilijker in het opbergzakje wringen dan het vorige. Ik ga nog even naar de supermarkt om proviand in te slaan voor de komende 3 dagen. Volgens de dame van de toeristische dienst ligt er niet veel op de weg. De eerste 25km zijn nog redelijk vlak en gaan langs de grote baan met toch nog verrassend veel verkeer. De wind is enorm en ik geraak amper vooruit. Er staan nog 2 beklimmingen op het programma en ik vraag me af wat die combinatie gaat geven. Op het moment dat ik de eerste klim verwacht, ... read more

Had a great walk yesterday just souhth of Bleinheim, walked for about 2 hrs through the grazing land of aworking farm so very different to my previous walks the bush. Very hot abouth 28C. It was quiet all I could hear was the sound of seed pos bursting open in the heat. Then drove through mile up on mile of grapevines. SatNav told me to turn left in 123km which seemed to take forever. Thought I would start counting cars only saw 60 in 100km, and that included the ones that overtook me. Stayed at great site near Murchison last night lovely log fire in the kitchen. Took an walk nr old power station before I left Murchoson, took about an hr. Drove toward Westport and stopped at the longest swing bridge in New Zealand. Not ... read more

Efter hyggelig morgenmad sammen med Marianne og Jørgen, pakkede vi sammen efter 3 dage i Franz Josef. Dagens etape bød på ca. 290 km blandet kørsel med mål i Westport. Undervejs blev der spist frokost i det fri (der var til at komme til for sandflies), og vi gjorde holdt i Hokitika – hvor der sælges smyker lavet af den specielle new zealandske grønne jadesten – og ved de smukke og specielle Pancake Rocks. Derudover blev sovet en del i bilen, da både Morten og jeg var mærket fra gårsdagens adventure. Vi ankom til Top 10 Holiday Park, med kun 100 meter til stranden, i Westport sidst på eftermiddagen. Og så blev der ellers slappet af for alle pengene med kølige drinks, champagne, gå- og løbeture på stranden og en god gang spaghetti med kødsovs. I ... read more