Sun 24 Jan - Across the Great Divide to the West Coast

After an early morning swim we packed up and were on the road by 9.30 am! It was clear and sunny so the drive up and over Takaka Hill was stunning. What a Sunday morning drive this would have been in the Porsche! New Zealand must have some of the best driving roads in the world. Despite being single carriageway the roads are generally straight with flowing bends. What appear to be towns marked on the map are no more than one or two houses so progress is good so one is able to maintain an average speed close to the legal limit of 60 mph. The distinct lack of traffic, even in the height of the holiday season also helps! From Motueka we took a back road across to Murchison and then on down through the Buller Gorge to Westport. Again, there was fantastic scenery most of the way. It has to be said that Westport was a disappointment, an old coal mining town, it was still heavily industrialised and on a Sunday afternoon the Main Street was like a ghost town! We stayed in a cabin at the ‘Top Ten’ holiday park at nearby Carter’s Beach which was marginally better. This time our evening excursion was to visit a Seal colony a little way down the coast which kept the naturalists amongst us happy. Why is it you can always smell a seal colony long before you see it?