Westport
provided the amenities we needed; laundry again at the backpackers, gas refill
at the service station, diesel at the Truck Stop and a trolley full of
groceries at Countdown. The only miss was someone who could fix my computer
problem. My 12 volt charger has died and when I telephoned the two numbers
found online, the first a youngster absent from his workshop most likely
enjoying summer elsewhere and the second an outfit in Nelson who after a series
of emails and phone calls admitted they could not help me.
We lunched beside the Buller River at the edge
of town, near the yacht club in a place we had not previously discovered. After
satisfying our hunger, we wandered across the relatively new “floating basin
boardwalk” and found that it is the other end of the cycleway / walk we did
part of behind the NZMCA park over property at South Beach. We will have to
leave this for our next visit to Westport.
It
was not until nearly 2pm that we left Westport and headed back through the
lower Buller Gorge, on through Inangahua and on through the upper gorge to
Murcheson. It really is a lovely drive especially if one has time to pause and
take in the views over the river and up into the mountains.
Tonight
there are thirty motorhomes or caravans in, and out in the street trucks parked
up to spell their long run through to Christchurch on this mandatory
alternative route. The Four Square where we popped in to buy a bottle of wine
was packed with travellers; hopefully Murcheson is mindful of making hay while
the sun shines, this opportunity the Kaikoura earthquake has afforded the local
businesses.
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