A 5km walk back to town

After such an energetic tramp we did not feel like hanging around for another hour waiting for the shuttle bus so decided to walk the 5km back to town ;) this allowed us to see the work being undertaken to tame the river - there are huge dumper trucks and diggers working flat out to widen the road, build embankments and to dredge/dig out the river bed to deepen the channel - all this hard work seems dwarfed by the work of the river and the vehicles seem like Tonka toys against the backdrop! Asking the driver earlier about the river she had stated that the level of the river bed had risen by over 2m this summer alone and on average rose 1m a year 0_0 Over time this has left the bridge into town just a few feet above the river flow and therefore in great danger of flooding and cutting off a major communications link along the west coast!! I will be interested to see the area in a few years…
I was invited to join the Kiwi Experience group later in the pub and took them up on the offer and I can honestly say that they knew how to spend an evening out on the town!! A rowdy but pleasant group who made me welcome. Great evening.