Rest Day In Westport

Westport is a small town. It is much larger than Murchison where we spent the previous night. The Main Street is several blocks long with stores, cafes, gas stations and commercial buildings. A few buildings have "For Lease" signs on them. The city hall stands out as one of the best buildings.

Ann and I walked down the street for a few blocks for breakfast at a café that was on of the top 16 food establishments in town. We had poached eggs over crispy (their word, not ours) bacon and toasted ciabatta bread. It was covered with hollandaise sauce. We also had a large long black coffee with a dab of milk. A good breakfast.

Several of us over filled the van and Asbjorn drove us out of town to Tauranga Bay where we walked along a hilly nature trail to see seals. It was a beautiful walk along the seashore. As a bonus, we saw a New Zealand land bird with her chicks.

This was the first time on this trip where I have seen real surf.

After this adventure, we came back to town. Ann and I went to the local supermarket and got some supplies for the group. We also bought some pasta salads for our lunch which we ate on the patio outside and of our room.

After hanging out in our room and catching up on our internet things, we took a walk to find the town's river. We saw it, but the shoreline was in an industrial area and a bit too run down for me. I saw some old railroad cars at a local railroad preservation society.

Ann persuaded me to go into the local library. Being a librarian, this is one of the things we usually do when we have time. 

We had a spontaneous dinner at the Dènniston Dog Restaurant and Bar. There were 13 of us sitting around a long table. Ann and I both had Vietnamese lamb salad. It was a good dinner with good conversation. It was not exactly a sports bar, but there were a couple of TVs showing cricket matches. When we left the bar was crammed with people.

It is getting late. We need to prepare for tomorrow's leg of our tour.