After saying our goodbyes to Elspeth, our gracious hostess, we left the little orchard on the estuary at 9:42AM, forty-two minutes past our planned departure time. We had relative clear skies for our drive ahead to the West Coast of the South Island. The state highway sliced through the Kahurangi National Park in a couple of places as it left the orchard and pasture land and rose up through the Buller Gorge. The road climbed as it followed the course of the Buller River that carved a winding path on its way to the Tasman Sea to the west. We passed over so many streams that apparently they gave up creative names and turned to measurements as descriptions. For those keeping score at home: Eight Mile Stream, Nine Mile Stream, Ten Mile Stream, Four Mile Stream,
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