Arthur's Pass

We set off to cross the island from East to West via Arthur’s Pass. Rain was predicted but it turned out to be a great day. The scenery was incredible and very un-Australian: bare green hills, spectacular mountains and water.   

In Arthur’s Pass (the town) we went to the Information Centre and worked out we could do a walk up to the Devil’s Punchbowl Waterfall. There were a lot of stairs but a spectacular reward at the end.

Driving on, we stopped for a spectacular view of the causeway that that took us out of the pass and met NZ's famously clever (and hungry) Keas for the first time.

We were making good time and so we diverted to the very pretty Lake Brunner where we swam and had a glass of wine looking out over the Lake. 

Then it was time to drive on to our motel in Greymouth. Greymouth is more famous for greenstone than scenery so we headed north to Punakaiki for a last sightseeing trip of the day. Punakaiki turned out to be a beautifully laid out roadside site featuring the West Coast’s weird 'Jurassic Park' vegetation, the spectacular Pancake Rocks and blowholes.  

It was a spectacular day.