New Zealand TRAVEL
What a fantastic start to our journey! The drive from Christchurch to the West Coast, through Arthur’s Pass National Park, yields phenomenal views, one after another. We’re right at the heart of the Southern Alps here and they’re capped with snow even though it’s high summer.
Castle Hill, a striking scattering of huge boulders resembling ruins, calls us, a path snaking through them. Colourful lupins grace the roadsides. Our first night in our cosy hired Kia Ora campervan is spent surrounded by mountains at Lake Pearson, one of over 100 Department of Conservation (DoC) campgrounds in the South Island.
At the summit of Arthur’s Pass (3,018ft), a sign proclaims the West Coast as ‘untamed natural wilderness’. Light rain enhances the power of the Devil’s Punchbowl falls nearby. Impenetrable-looking mountains tower over wide river valleys, scree slopes cascading down steep sides adding to the drama. Single-lane bridges lead over rocky rivers, the crystal waters icy blue.
Though I always take tourist ‘blurb’ with a good dose of cynicism, the claim for West Coast visitors to ‘prepare to be astounded’ is, I can assure you, true.
Nowhere is that more so than at Hokitika Gorge where two suspension bridges are strung across brilliant turquoise water between sheer white cliffs.
Around our pretty Lake Mahinapua (DoC) site we look for glowworms. Hundreds of teeny lights sparkle in the bushes. Next morning we’re enchanted by a walk through surrounding rainforest listening for the distinctive chiming of the bellbird. Never has a 10 minutes’ stroll made me feel so good to be in nature.
En route to Franz Josef Glacier we stop at Ross, one of many historic goldfield towns, to look around the old gaol, church and miner’s cottage. On our last visit to Franz Josef three years ago, we crossed the moraine for a closer view of the glacier. The Waiho River has since washed away the track so that there is no longer access to the valley (at the time of writing).
Taking the Forest Walk to Peters Pool instead,
