What comes into your mind when you think about New Zealand?
Lord of the Rings? Yes ok fair enough.
Sheep? Yep, that too, they are absolutely everywhere.
Funny ‘acceent’? Yes, that’s pretty cute.
Mountains? Yes! Nature which as you already know is pretty unbelievable here.
I spent a lot of time day dreaming about New Zealand mountains before coming down here. It is when I first drive from Christchurch towards the West coast on my way to Arthur’s Pass that I really experience those jaw dropping kind of landscape.
Railway linking the west to the east coast
Arthur’s Pass became the first national park of the south island in 1929 but has been a key route a long time before Europeans got there. Maori used to travel west that way in search of the valued pounamu (green stone used for many things such as weapons or jewellery). In 1864, Europeans discovered gold hidden around there so it suddenly became an emergency to build a road for coaches to cross over (one of those old coach can be seen at the DOC office there). the First European to go through the pass with his brother was called Arthur, thus the name of the village.
Arthur’s Pass from above
Camping around or just stopping for coffee, you will eventually meet an inquisitive visitor.
kea, a native parrot
Keas are one the ten endemic parrot species in the south island and are not to be found anywhere else in the world. They are considered very smart and their curiosity will encourage them to approach people which ironically represent a threat. What do people do when an animal comes to them? They look for things to feed then, which is pretty much the worst you could do. As a matter of fact, baby keas are taught to look for food by older experienced keas. Obviously that is very important for them to know where and how to find food in their rough alpine home otherwise they will die.
Their sometimes intrusive behaviors have led to a certain unpopularity as people happened to get their keys stolen, unattended backpack or tent inspected or even their car a tiny bit damaged. Nothing ever happened to me except for a tent lightly shaken one morning. I like knowing they are around and listening to their peculiar sound while hiking.
There are numerous day trips directly from the village and even more in the area. There are also a few really nice DOC campsites (standard and basic). My favorite was about half an hour from Arthur’s pass, a free campsite on lake Pearson, gorgeous little spot.
Admiring the scenery and enjoying the hot weather
Lake Pearson on a fine day
A rather fine campsite!
Reflection on lake Pearson
Here are a few photos of my favorite day hikes before a longer story about the one that should not be missed.
Hut at the end of the Temple Basin track
Amazing views over Mount Rolleston (2275m) from the hut
Beautiful Devils punchbowl 131m high waterfall
