Day 30

Westport to Punakaiki 58km

I found Westport to be kind of a bland town and the campsite was a bit noisey, so I was up early and packing to the smell of coal burning. Apparently Westport is also known as coaltown. The stiff westerly wind from the day and night before had died down but was now coming from the south east. Resigned to the nature of things I set of to the south east ready for a day of headwinds. However, after passing the mouth of the Buller gorge the winds calmed, the sun came out and it was the begining of a beautiful day. And hot, as in very hot. The gradients on this stretch of road were quite stiff and made even more so by the intense heat.

As the road tracked towards the coast the vegitation became even more lush. It is very much the verdant rainforest here on the west coast of the south island. It obviously rains here a great deal, but today every bit of cloud had been boiled away by the blazing hot sun. Still very nice.

Then I hit the Pakihi hill. Yikes! Four climbs of nearly 150 meters, each in less than 10km. Did I mention it was also hot? It must have been well above 90 degrees. By the (almost) last climb I had arrived at the coast and was out of water--having started the day with over 3 liters. When II finally made the summit I was grateful for the strategically placed picnic bench overlooking the Tasman sea. I fortunately had several bottles of Powerade. Not the best while riding--more of an end of the day surgar blast type thing--but I gulped down an entire bottle while enjoying the magnificent scenery.

I've never really been in an actual rain forest before. Really quite beautiful. I pedalled slowly down the coast, drinking all of my powerades and taking lots of photos while preparing for the final climb of the day. Perpendicular Point. I'm pretty sure the name is not in reference to the gradient but it might as well be.

250 meters of nearly straight up later I stopped for a few pictures and ate my banana before it finally melted. A very friendly, rotund couple pulled up in their gas powered, air-conditioned behemoth and offer to take my picture. Apparently they though it wise to commemorate my having made it to the top. They mentioned that seeing NZ on a push-bike seemed crazy. I could almost see their point. Then they got into thier giant steel enclosure and speed off past the Paporoa rain forest at 100kph. I coasted down the hill to the holiday park and set up my tent for $10 just off the beach. I'll bet they spent $10 on gas getting their motorized home up the next hill.