27 July 2010

Westport

I have never been to the West Coast of the South Island before. I wasn't sure what I'd think of Westport, but I quite like it here. It's pretty. My motel is right on the banks of the Buller River, which is flowing serenely to the sea about 50m from where I'm sitting in my motel room, and I would be able to see it - if it wasn't raining. But this is the West Coast - it rains here more than almost any other place in New Zealand (except Fiordland!). Last night after I got here, the rain began and it was the hardest rain I've ever see anywhere - it was bouncing about 1m off the ground after hitting and sounded like thunder on the concrete roof here! It seemed to be even harder than monsoon...

I discovered an amazing little eatery called the Denniston Dog last night. I got a seafood chowder - the West Coast being famous for its seafood - and it was seriously the most beautiful chowder I've ever had. Tonight - whitebait fritters from locally caught whitebait. Whitebait in Wellington is ridiculously expensive (I haven't had any since I was about 10!) so when I spotted the fritters on the menu I couldn't resist. And they were huge - and stuffed with so much whitebait that the fritters were suffering from integrity issues....

I would like to have more time here to explore. There's a lot of beautiful things to see around here, including the huge Paparoa National Park, the rugged coastlines, the mines... maybe I'll be back here some day. That would be good!

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