4.11.13 we followed the Buller River downstream for 70+ miles! stopping to do the gap year thing of crossing NZ's longest swing bridge at 110 m over the Buller gorge, and getting the zip wire back! 
We have been following the fault line overlying the junction of 2 tectonic plates and earthquakes are common place here - perhaps one every week or two, they say up to 5 or 6 on the Richter scale. The big quake in 1929 caused the cliff to rise up 4.5m at the site of the now bridge. All our accommodation tells us what to do if there is an earthquake. In Coromandel they told us what to do if the tsunami siren blew. And in Saint Arnaud they have been hit by lightening bolts several times in past 6 months. In fact our motel was full of electricians there to fix the damage from the strike of last week! 
We cycled on to Inangahua to our B&B. I would like to have stayed there as I like saying that name. But there is nothing in Inangahua - no shop to buy wine, no pub and no B&B! On phoning to get directions we were told it was another 40 km. This was no joke - after 77 miles and 2000 ft of ascent (also 4000 descent!) we were not in the mood for more. Mercifully Kathleen from the B&B very kindly gave us a lift (and the bikes went in her horse box) for the last 20 miles. The Riverside Retreat where we stayed has a simply amazing terraced garden, all laid out Japanese style, with a pond, bridges, gazebo, pergolas, lawns, flower beds, all over looking the river in the valley below. But the most magical thing about this place was a torch lit trip after dark to a dell in their garden - actually where a stream flows under an old road so it's like a little cave. There were hundreds of glow worms and it looked like santa's grotto with garlands of fairy lights. Fabulous.

The Buller river

Buller gorge swing bridge

Jim and Kathleen's garden