From Murchison to Westport, which is officially 96kms as you leave Murchison. I think that's pretty much 60 miles. The day dawned bright and sunny. We both slept so soundly that quite a few campervans had left before we even surfaced. I'm recovering from a cold and making up for a poor night's sleep when the rain was so loud (even for someone wearing ear plugs). Judging by the exodus from the campsite we reckoned that the roads were now open. So we had breakfast and packed. Being stuck in Murchison has allowed me to knock Steig Larsson's rather grim crime novel on the head and push on to Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy(free download from http://www.gutenberg.org as so much of my holiday reading). We checked with the info place in town that the road west was open and then headed out. The road follows the Buller River for the 60 miles to Westport. The scenery is of bush covered or pine covered hills with the river winding through. At some points the valley becomes a gorge and there's hardly space for the road. We saw the longest swingbridge in NZ as we hurtled down the valley. We shot past Lyell - once a thriving gold town but pretty much deserted now. Evidence of the effects of the recent rain was everywhere - in the turbid water rushing through the valley, in the rocks and debris heaped at the side of the road by a bulldozer, places where a slip had rushed through a hillside, leaving a trail of broken trees and mud.We had lunch around Inghanui Junction - visiting the museum which lays particular emphasis on the 1968 earthquake. More pictures of tumbled cars, bent roads and cracked houses. Just before Inghanui Jnt we saw a Swiss biker with an impressive trailer, waves were exhanged, and then we met two German bikers heading for Murchison with the goal of reaching Golden Bay (NW tip of NZ).Finally we took the road to Westport when we reached the coast road. We shopped and hauled up at the YHA affiliate hostel called Bazil's where we are camped, along with another tent, on their small lawn. It's a bit tight but it did make cooking Brocolli in Cider (a favourite recipe) more viable than at most campsites. We bumped into Anthony from Denby Dale that we last saw in Pahia. He's doing NZ by bus, evidently doing a fair few outdoor things as he goes. He mentioned the idea of doing a sponsored bike ride in memory of a relative who died of cancer, which has echoes of my bike ride last year in memory of Tim my brother.
From Murchison to Westport, which is officially 96kms as you leave Murchison. I think that's pretty much 60 miles. The day dawned bright and sunny. We both slept so soundly that quite a few campervans had left before we even surfaced. I'm recovering from a cold and making up for a poor night's sleep when the rain was so loud (even for someone wearing ear plugs). Judging by the exodus from the campsite we reckoned that the roads were now open. So we had breakfast and packed. Being stuck in Murchison has allowed me to knock Steig Larsson's rather grim crime novel on the head and push on to Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy(free download from http://www.gutenberg.org as so much of my holiday reading). We checked with the info place in town that the road west was open and then headed out. The road follows the Buller River for the 60 miles to Westport. The scenery is of bush covered or pine covered hills with the river winding through. At some points the valley becomes a gorge and there's hardly space for the road. We saw the longest swingbridge in NZ as we hurtled down the valley. We shot past Lyell - once a thriving gold town but pretty much deserted now. Evidence of the effects of the recent rain was everywhere - in the turbid water rushing through the valley, in the rocks and debris heaped at the side of the road by a bulldozer, places where a slip had rushed through a hillside, leaving a trail of broken trees and mud.We had lunch around Inghanui Junction - visiting the museum which lays particular emphasis on the 1968 earthquake. More pictures of tumbled cars, bent roads and cracked houses. Just before Inghanui Jnt we saw a Swiss biker with an impressive trailer, waves were exhanged, and then we met two German bikers heading for Murchison with the goal of reaching Golden Bay (NW tip of NZ).Finally we took the road to Westport when we reached the coast road. We shopped and hauled up at the YHA affiliate hostel called Bazil's where we are camped, along with another tent, on their small lawn. It's a bit tight but it did make cooking Brocolli in Cider (a favourite recipe) more viable than at most campsites. We bumped into Anthony from Denby Dale that we last saw in Pahia. He's doing NZ by bus, evidently doing a fair few outdoor things as he goes. He mentioned the idea of doing a sponsored bike ride in memory of a relative who died of cancer, which has echoes of my bike ride last year in memory of Tim my brother.