Last Day in Westport

We wondered what we might do during our last day in Westport, but the day disappeared very satisfactorily.

Our visit to the museum – aptly called the Coaltown Museum – helped many of Jet’s stories fall into place. Watching the videos and seeing the exhibited paraphernalia made sense of much he had shared with us yesterday. As its name suggests, the museum is purely focused on the history of coal mining in the area and is well worth a visit. Entry fee of $10 is very fair for the time needed to take in all there is to see.

Our wander around Westport took us to the library as well – oh no! they were having a book sale. Always a dangerous thing for us. But hey, we’re not flying so surely we can fill the car with some much needed reading material.

Afternoon and Evening

We headed to the Charming Creek Walk after lunch. The sky was darkening, but a text from our friendly local assured us “its an easterly, its not going to rain” so on we went. We sat at the entrance to the walk for about ten minutes, texting Jet to defy his weather forecasting ability. But a break in the reasonably heavy rain saw us grabbing an umbrella and heading off up the track. It was such an easy walk I would have loved to have gone further as it meandered along the Ngakawau River but the rain returned with a vengeance. We never saw the bridges, tunnels or any of the old mining so this is yet another place we have to return to. When confronted later about his garbage forecasting ability Jet merely assured us “the bush looks different in the rain.”

Two Old Salts Sharing Dits

What better way to spend our last day in Westport than to while away the hours at Jet’s place. Lots of sharing of salty dits and projections for the future. We are so pleased we allowed this amount of time in Westport. Being able to spend it with Jet has been priceless.