While having breakfast on the veranda of the Bronte great house, our host, Daniel, told us that he spends the off-season winter months in Sri Lanka. His partner is from there and from an apparently wealthy family but the family are unable to leave Sri Lanka without leaving their financial holdings behind.
The government has prohibitions on withdrawing bank accounts. So, Daniel and his partner are building a family complex in Sri Lanka and plan to spend 4 months a year there and the balance of the year in New Zealand running the Bronte Lodge.
After saying farewell to our host Daniel we headed back toward Nelson to pick up Route 6, the main road south. Without stops it would be a five and one-half hour drive to the Rimu Lodge in Hokatika.
Our first stop was Murchison to visit their little museum and learn about the devastating 1929 earth quake. Approaching the little town were obvious signs of the quake that resulted in extreme ridges in the surrounding hills.
New Zealand has a major fault line which runs down the entirety of the South Island. Last year Christ Church experienced a major earthquake and has not fully recovered.
Just outside of Murchison we turned west toward Westport, our destination for lunch. However, when we got there we discovered it was closed on Monday.
We continued on.
We soon crossed the O'Sullivan Bridge over the Buller River. We later learned that the river had been closed as a precaution during the recent storms but just opened prior to our crossing.
The river is a favorite rafting area and we happened to catch two rafts running the rapids.
This river is a Grade 4 rafting river which the highest grade allowed for rafters in New Zealand but, the recent rains have raised the river level so it is not nearly as challenging.
Slowly drifting down river to the next set of rapids.
Back on the winding road along the river,
we followed the suggestion of Noel (our earlier guide) to stop in the town of Charleston (which turned out to be no more than a few buildings at a bend in the road) and watch for the public toilet sign. His instructions were, "Take the unmarked road to the public toilets then take the unmarked path through the pampa grass to the top of the cliff."
Well, indeed, everything was unmarked. We found the toilets with no problem then after scratching our heads took a path and started up the hill.
Part way up, we came across this sign.
Pausing for a moment, we continued our climb and kept climbing, questioning each turn. We reached the top and discovered a beautiful view of an angry ocean from the top of a sheer cliff.
It took a couple of minutes before we looked across the cliff to notice a couple of rock climbers who, apparently, had just scaled the damp, windy cliff.
It was a long, straight drop down.
Apparently they were successful as we watched them gather their ropes.
When we looked down, we saw two more contemplating their own ascension.
We trust they made it safely.
Back on the road again, around a bend near an overlook and on the side of the road, we spotted a strangely constructed camper which looked like it had been made from parts of several vehicles.
This is the only photo we could get of it because as Jerry got out of the car with his camera a very mean looking guy came from the cab and stared him down. I managed to take the picture while the guy was in the front of this thing giving Jerry a threatening look.
Strange things like this are always fascinating when one travels as are road and informational signs found in other cultures. Here is one we found puzzling.
We learned that it identified a disposal area for livestock trucks that have holding tanks to catch animal manure and waste water. It is a law that they dispose of the waste only in designated areas. We didn't have these in Ft. Worth when I grew up.
Oddly enough, later in the day when we were driving through some farm land we came across this next sign.
Our last stop before our destination lodge was Pancake Rocks, a popular tourist attraction. It is a busy stop that includes an information center and a cafe. We had a late lunch of Blue Cod "fish & chips" not to be confused with the Blue-Nose we had at the Jellyfish Restaurant in Mapua.
The Pancake Rocks are outcrops of stratified limestone created by wind, rain and waves pounding the rocks and eating away the softer layers over the course of many years.
Our photos don't really capture the uniqueness of the formations.
We reached Rimu Lodge just 10km up the hill from the coastal town of Hokitika in late afternoon.
The lodge is owned by Peter and Helen Walls, both New Zealanders from Nelson, who decided to add the lodge on to their hillside vacation home in Rimu. It is a charming bed and breakfast, accommodating only eight guests and the view from our deck is beautiful.
Tomorrow, we explore the town of Hokitika.
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