Lush West Coast

It rained overnight - really rained.  Nothing too surprising there, as it was forecast afterall.  What I was surprised by though was the intense noise in the van.  My bed is now 'upstairs' and just centimeters from the roof.  There were times when the rain was slinging it down so hard that I thought there must be so enough water to float me away!  I was thankful when I woke to find that the noise appeared to be a lot more intense than the rain itself, and I was spared the need to row to safety.  Given that the forecast is even worse for tomorrow it didn't take me too long at all to decide that I'll stay here another night - the Haast Pass is beautiful but I'm well aware of the risk of slips in bad weather and I certainly don't want to get stranded.  So today took on a very relaxed look.....beginning with a l-o-n-g breakfast.  

I decided that I'd head down to Jackson's Bay.  It's a bit off the beaten track but I was surprised by just how many vehicles I did see along the road.  I did however notice on the return trip that the road had a bit of a green hue to it from all the moss growing where tyres don't normally roll.  I guess that says something about how much traffic there really is!!  The trip itself is through some utterly gorgeous native Westland forest - dense, green, damp, luxurious and a smell that is beautifully earthy.  Jackson't Bay itself was once home to several hundred whalers (or were they gold diggers?).  Today though, just a handful of locals call it home.  It has an active crayfishing port and there are signs everywhere of this, including a new and hard-to-miss orange and purple container cafe called 'The Cray Pot'. Of course, I had to stop for some refreshment.  Unfortunately, as soon as a body stops, the other locals, sand flies (which outnumber human inhabitants by about a million to one!), descend on the unsuspecting humans for their refreshment.  Thankfully, a generous visitor who had just bought some bug repellent was happy to share it with me and others at the cafe.  Such is the price to pay for a small slice of Paradise.