Brilliant sunshine on the West Coast? For a region that is known for it’s high rain fall, we were pleasantly surprised to be out and about without a single drop of rain falling as we happily did our sight-seeing. But the weather reverted back to normal and the rain fell with a vengeance overnight. We reckon that a goodly portion of the 2.5m annual rainfall went “rat a tat tat” as it fell on our caravan roof. This sort of high density rainfall is what gives life to the West Coast rain forests. Robin splashed about outside, ending up looking like a drowned rat (and I wasn’t looking much better) as he hooked the caravan up and we drove to our next overnight stop of Harihari (means “song for canoe paddlers”).
There was a reasonable amount of traffic travelling on the road, and we barrelled along quite well until we reached Mt Hercules Reserve. With a combination of a steep narrow road, very tight corners, misty wet conditions, and large vehicles coming towards us around blind corners, I was definitely a white knuckle passenger. Once down the other side we soon arrived at Harihari. This sleepy little settlement has one major claim to fame. In 1931 Guy Menzies made the first solo airplane flight across the Tasman Sea. Aiming for Blenheim, the flight was well off course and he crash landed in a nearby swamp. Harihari has a replica bi-plane on display in a custom built enclosure.
The Guy Menzies Memorial Park serves as the local kids play area and has a large mural depicting the flight and upside down landing in the swamp.
So that is Harihari, kind of a sleepy little place, we decided. But it would have been buzzing with action in 1931 when all the townsfolk turned out to see just what had appeared in the swamp a wee way out of town.
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