Arthur's Pass

We woke up at 3am to an almighty crash of thunder and water pouring in the back of the van. After blearily looking around for something to catch it in we opted for a saucepan. That lasted all of 3 minutes until we realised that perhaps the saucepan wasn't big enough to catch the volume of water pouring in through the top of the back door. The ring of the water hitting the pan would have also driven us insane. We then upgraded to a bucket which we precariously balanced on the end of the bed.

When checking the weather in the morning, we found at least 3 different forecasts, all of which generally focused around rain. A cycle ride was therefore not that appealing so we popped into the Greymouth information centre who told us that it should be dry around Arthur's Pass this afternoon so that's where we headed.

On the drive there it started relatively clear and then we drove into some of the worst downpours ever. We crept at like 30kph with the wipers on full so that we didn't drive over the edge of the very windy roads. In the distance however we could see blue sky so we weren't completely disheartened. Not far from Arthur's Pass village we drove into blue skies and there were even glimpses of the sun! I was literally cheering driving into the car park.

We popped into the information centre to make sure none of the paths were closed and were told the Devils Punchbowl (which was one I was particularly looking forward to) would be a great choice due to all the rainfall. All geared up we started the 1 hour return walk. It was a bit drizzly but the falls at the end were pretty spectacular. Once back at the van we had a little visitor in the form of a kaka trying to join us for lunch. He was quite happily chomping away on the seal around the back doors of van. Now we know why so much water pours in the back when it rains!

Luckily whilst we had lunch the rain had hit and passed again so we decided to get back out and walk along Arthur's Pass to the Bridal Veil lookout and back. It was a nice walk and we were there and back in around 40 minutes or so. Time for our afternoon tea and chicken noodle snack before being on our way back to Greymouth.Read more