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westport: general info
· city links
· history
· things to do
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WESTPORT
Calling Code: +64 3
With a mild climate boasting 2000 hours of sunshine each year, Westport provides an ideal setting for
outdoor pursuits and earns the city the title "Adventure Capital of the Coast".
The first settlers to Westport were lured to the area by the promise of wealth in the form of gold. When the gold began to dwindle,
attention turned to the hills north of Westport for a new source of wealth - shiny bituminous coal, "black gold". So in the late
1870s the town embarked on its long history of coal mining.
A feature of the town would have to be its breakwaters, which stretch out to sea and end with a lighthouse positioned on the end of
the man made construction. If you have a spare moment in the evening walk down the edge of the breakwater during sunset is amazing on
a clear night. These breakwaters were developed to help ship the coal from port and effectively provided a deep gully maintained by natural
scour for the ships to pass in and out.
Quick tips/suggestions
The seal colony at Tauranga Bay is worth checking out, as is the display of mining memorabilia at the Coaltown Museum in Queen Street South.
A popular activity in Westport is underworld rafting where you are taken through the caves and caverns of the Nile River in a rubber
dinghy.
If there's a place you've stayed or something you've done, but we haven't listed, review it for us!
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