Fox to Bruce Bay

Ever since we left Westport, highway 6 has been zigzagging its way along the West Coast, the zigs being right along the beach and cliffs, the zags through thick and humid rainforest or over the New Zealand Alps at the foot of glaciers and 4000 meter high mountain tops.
Leaving Fox meant we were gradually working our way out of the mountain range back to the sea through the rainforest and it was a very hot day for it. We could feel the humidity stick to our faces and taking off our t-shirts felt like peeling off a skin layer. Still, it was a nice change to the horrid conditions we had to cycle through further north.

For most of the day we enjoyed slightly downhill roads but Ella was not in the mood. After 17 kilometers we had to stop along the road to give Ella some time off from the buggy. After an hour or so we continued through the rainforest that looked impossible to walk through. The rainforest’s thick vegetation, sandflies and swampy soil makes this country a haven for wildlife and a nightmare for hikers. For kilometres and kilometres there is nothing but impenetrable forest which continues at the horizon up to the sheer walls of massive mountains. This green mass ends where the Alps become too high for vegetation and the landscape turns alpine…and the sea is only a few kilometres away, it´s just the most amazing place. Seagulls and cormorants can be seen flying over the rainforest’s treetops, wood pigeons fly off in panic when a hawk patrols the area, dozens of possums lie dead on the road with their bodies all blown up from the heat and the stench is awful, sandflies attack as soon as you there to stop, dark coloured creeks meander through the forest, and where bigger pools are formed, it smells of rotting vegetation.

The native trees, mainly kahikatae and rimu, stand tall and support dozens of other plant species, it´s as if looking at an apartment block. Some can grow up to 55 meters but they look even taller with their branchless trunks. This is what I came to New Zealand for, to see nature in its purest form. For most of the day I was cycling with my eyes on the forest soil or looking at the tree tops.

We intended to stop at Jacob’s river but we didn’t find any suitable accommodation. We continued to Bruce Bay where the road finally got back to the seashore. The beach was beautiful and wild…and sandfly infested! There is only one lodge in Bruce Bay and it was fully booked but the friendly owners put us up in a small cottage near the river. It was perfect and after 47 km in the heat we were lucky and very happy to have a whole house to ourselves. We went to the river for a swim, had a big carbohydrates filled meal and watched TV!!!