Visit to the Southern Alps

Friday was a slower day than the last two. We had a nice breakfast with our fellow guests and bid them farewell. The English ladies were off to Christchurch on the TransAlpine train and then to Sydney, Johannesburg and London. The Israeli couple were heading south for the glaciers and Haast.

We headed for petrol in the "booming" town of Hokitika, and got by for under $90NZD today.




Then headed north to catch the road to Arthur's Pass. Arthur's Pass links the East Coast(Christchurch) and the West Coast (booming Hokitika and suburbs) over the Southern Alps.






Another stunning drive, although on and off rain all the way to Arthur's Pass. Waterfalls, rivers with crystal clear ice blue water, snow capped mountains, ferns everywhere, no people, no sheep and very few turnouts to pull off the road.






We had the usual New Zealand one lane bridges, in some cases shared with a train. Well, not really shared. It's still a one lane bridge, with railroad tracks running down the middle.

This region is inhabited by the Kea Parrot, a large and very friendly parrot. Locals say they are the only parrots to live in this cold a climate. Green in colour, they have brilliant orange under their wings. You can only see the orange when they fly. They were more interested in food handouts than flying.




The town of Arthur's Pass looked to have about a dozen buildings. A couple of places to eat and some homes. Didn't see a petrol station.






The rain stopped at Arthur's Pass. To the west the view was clouds and rain. To the east were brilliant clear blue skies.

This evening we had an excellent dinner in downtown Hokitika at the Cafe de Paris. Brian called during dinner, great talking to him (cell phones still work out here in the middle of nowhere) and we got back to the lodge in time for another beautiful sunset.




Tomorrow, Saturday, weather permitting we will get on a helicopter and head for Fox Glacier, about a 2.5 hour drive south of here to reach the helicopter.