February 6 - Murchison to Westport - 98 km

Sunday morning and a slightly later start - after all we have a mere 97 km to bike today.

Here's the main street of Murchison - just before I took this shot there were 6 or more folks in there Sunday whites standing in front of the hotel, probably contemplating their washed out lawn bowling day.

Before I go any further the NZ Geography Police noted an error in my blog yesterday - it is the Buller River, not the Bulla River.  Oops.

Either way, it was raining in the Buller Gorge when we left, so we're just peddaling and not sightseeing.  About 20 km down the road the rain stopped.  Cloudy with no sun, wind or rain is just about ideal conditions so we made good progress.  Stopped at Inangahua for a bacon and egg pie and coffee.  15 km further we passed the Berlin Motel (only building for 15 kn either direction) - they were having a country music festival this weekend.  Kiwis imitating country didn't sound great, so we gave it a pass.

These are a couple of shots of the gorge.  Note the very thick and lush vegetation on the hills.  On the opposite side of the river there is a railway, but it is almost impossible to see.

Another interesting feature of NZ roads and this one in particular are a large amount of 1 lane bridges or culverts.  Most are small so you can see the other guy, but there are some larger ones.

This bridge across the Buller is one lane with signals at each end.  Bicyclists have a button to push.

This is scarier.  You can see they carved a one lane road out of the cliff face and put Yield signs at each end.  If you are on it first you win.  Ties go to people traveling south, based on the Yield signs at each end.  The system seems to work well enough - it teaches patience I guess.

The rain started again. but we made our target and are snuggled into the TripInn Backpackers in Westport.  It's actually a very nice large old home with additions.  We've bought food and wine for dinner.  No concerns about getting up early tomorrow because we are taking the day off.  I'll trip around town and give you the lowdown on beautiful downtown Westport tomorrow.  I also have to do some work on the bikes.

FYI, Monkey Bay Sauvignon Blanc costs $16 NZ (about $12 Cdn) here verses $15 Cdn in the BC LDB.