Like many of the other places we have cycled through, on this trip and others including the UK, minerals play an important role in how places develop, decline and then change use. Westport is an example. From an 1860s gold rush to a later coal abundance (30 million tonnes were extracted from nearby Dennistown and shipped from here). Uranium was just up the road. Today it is a tourist entry point to the South Island north west coast.
The other connection is rivers. We followed the Buller river all today…..you’ll of course remember this from yesterday’s missive. The landscape is enormous – from nearby distant mountains, to narrow gorges, to pasteural flood plains. We were fortunate with the weather so (once the sun got up proper, we left at 6:30am) a blue sky and a light wind guided us along the highway.
By the time we get to Westport the river is very broad: a 300m span bridge is needed. It must be terrifying when it floods, as it does. It’s Saturday night and the prospect of sharing a restaurant with a miner’s Xmas party is also terrifying – curry it is.
It is scheduled to rain for all tomorrow – a proper rest day beckons!
Travelling reflections 