Blogs from Buller Gorge, West Coast, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania

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, ... read more

The rafting trip was not cancled. A couple from the Netherlands signed up for the trip last night. We met up with the rafting company at thier base close to Westport and then followed them up to the take out point. It saved us about an hour's drive east after the rafting trip was done. Then we hopped on the van with the raft and drove to the put in point about 11 km up the buller gorge. The trip was lots of fun. A good introduction to rafting for Chris. There were a few nice rapids and everyone worked well together. Anne got out and floated down the river through some small rapid a couple of times. Tony took a swim twice too, but only once was intentional. Tony also jumped off the side of ... read more