Westport, New Zealand

Westport is a town in the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It lies on the southern shore and the mouth of the Buller River, close to the jutting into the sea Cape Foul Wind. She is on the State Highway 6 with Greymouth 100 km further south and connected through the Buller Gorge canyon with Nelson in the northeast.

It is believed that the city got its name from Westport in Connacht in Ireland, on the other hand, the naming was probably also influenced by the geographical location of this harbor town.

At the 2001 census the town had 3,783 inhabitants, the Census 2006, there were 3,900. The Buller District Council are in 2007 about 5,000 inhabitants at ( well, taking into account the surrounding region, which in 2006 counted 1,218 residents ).

History

There is evidence that Māori since the early times of the colonization of New Zealand in the area Buller ( Kawatiri ) lived. Legends put the first visit in the year 950, when the Waka Tahiriangi with the chief Ngahue landed here. The settlers seem to have mostly lived on the coast, although they have dug in the mountains by Pounamu, a jade - type, operated with which they trade with other iwi ( tribes ).

The first European settlers arrived in 1861 as a gold prospector to Westport. The first European ship, the Buller River drove up, was in 1884 the schooner Three Brothers with seal hunters on board. In the 1880s there were numerous exploratory journeys by geologists and surveyors who searched the land for valuable raw materials and the exact measurements. Among them were Charles Heaphy, William Fox and Thomas Brunner. Initially, there were gold discoveries, which drew the interest in this field. For example, were large areas in the coastal area, which consisted of sedimentary deposits of the river, riddled by gold. Soon the area but was known for coal mining, which still determines the area.

The first railroad was already in 1874 by Westport 18kms up built to the coal mines, the majority of which are located in the north of the city. The first track section from Westport to fair down on the Sergeants Hill was opened on 31 December 1875. This line reached in 1895 and was named Seddonville it Seddonville Branch. From these humble beginnings, an insulated from the rail network of the South Island network of branch lines developed. A connection to the network of the South Island was completed with the line Stillwater - Westport created only in 1942 through the Buller Gorge.

The city has several primary schools and one further education school, the Buller High School.

Climate

The climate in Westport is strongly influenced by the high rainfall of the Tasman Sea. All months except February are rather rainy. It is colder than in the northern parts of New Zealand, the temperature during the year is subject to very large fluctuations.

Economy

The economy is based on fishing, coal mining and dairy farming. In the history of gold mining was a major industry, and the coal mining had earlier on even greater significance.

The region has New Zealand's largest opencast coal mine near Stockton. Forestry has played a certain role to set the logging of indigenous trees by 1999. The company Holcim operates southwest of the city a large cement plant.

The city's port is also operated by Holcim, who use it to the shipping of cement, for example, in the harbor Onehunga, Auckland.

There is also a small airport, flying from which Air New Zealand and Air West Coast daily Monday to Friday to Wellington.

Leisure

Attractions in the surroundings of the city are the Oparara Basin Arches and Cape Foul wind with a large fur seal colony. Rafting and jet boating in the Buller Gorge are popular pastimes. Many visitors to the South Island ignore this quieter area and visit instead the Abel Tasman National Park, Hanmer Springs or on the West Coast Greymouth and Fox Glacier or Franz Josef Glacier to the south. Westport is the starting point for a visit to Karamea on an extension of State Highway 67 Coal Museum Coaltown Museum in Westport represents the history of the Buller District

The city owns the St. James Theatre, with 424 seats, which is used for movies, theater and other events.