Saturday Mar 7

After five very nice days in the Abel Tasman area it was time to head south. Today we had set our sites on Westport, a small community at the north end of the long stretch of coast line that makes up the west coast of the South Island. The weather forecast didn’t have a lot of sun in it, but it was not raining when we set out. Our trip today involved a bit of backtracking so our first stop was in Nelson where we had a short list of things to do including; laundry, a photography store stop for Don and groceries at Lydia’s fav grocery store New World (you'll have to ask Lydia why).

Later on our drive south we stopped at a funky little touristy place along the Buller river gorge where they have a swing bridge and zip line – but not much else. It is a popular water kayaking location but the water was currently low when we passed through. There were high water flood markings on the short loop walk we did which indicated that the lazy river we witnessed could be a raging torrent in high water conditions.

Pushed on to Westport and found at a very nice campsite by the beach. Had time for a quick walk before supper.

Sunday Mar 8

Because rain was in the forecast we decided to stay another day in Westport, there were a few nice walks and points of interest in the area for us to explore, so we decided on a coastal walk from  Cape Foulwind down the coast to a seal colony. It was a mixed bag of a day weather-wise with some drizzle and the odd sunny break, but a good day for a walk along a very nice coastal track to visit the seals. The viewing area for the seals was on a bluff overlooking the rocks and ocean below. A nice setup for the seals and for the gawkers! It was a great spot to watch them from.

After the coast walk there was another track up to a water fall that had good reviews, so we headed 20 km north to the little town of Ngakawau. The trail follows a river upstream to a waterfall and meanders through an old coal mining area. We only walked a short way along the track when we noticed high above us on a cliff face, evidence of a recent slip (landslide). A few hundred metres up the trail, we came to a gate indicating that the track was closed due to the recent slip and that the area was to unstable for tramping! Darn. So, we turned around and headed back to the car. As it turned out we had just enough time to drive back to camp, make supper and then head into Wesport for the 7:45 pm show at the local cinema! There were only six of us in the theatre and we enjoyed the movie “The Invisible Man”, which turned out to be a science fiction horror film – very scary kids!

Coastal walk near Westport 

Coastal walk near Westport

Seal colony - there are seals in this picture

Seal colony

Long way from a lot of places

Windy day at Cape Foulwind

Seeking shelter from a "slip"