Oct 26 Friday West port to Hammer Springs 132 miles 4 hrs. 8am briefing. Westport is an old coal town with NZ ‘s oldest port sits on the Buller river. We go into town and stock up on more groceries and buy a new heater as ours caught fire last night. Today we do more twist and turns going through the Buller gorge. We pass through Reefton the first town to get electric lights in the Southern Hemisphere. We fuel up 64.74. We take the Lewis Pass hwy and reach the summit only 924 m. We go through more beautiful rainforest . Bill is enjoying the driving especially having to use the jake brakes. We arrive in Hammer Springs a ski area and spa resort. Fantasy has paid entrance for everyone to the pools including a towel ($4+$12). Bill and I soak in the pool for about 1 hour then I paid for an one hour massage $80. It was my first but not my last. It was heavenly. A group of us go for dinner at a pub $13 included a chicken dinner with wine or beer. The price was right and the meal also. Tonight we fall asleep listening to the rain playing a tune on the roof.