We were pretty tired this morning so we did not get away to a flying start. Our plan today was to get to Springfield via the Inland Scenic Highway. The terrain was mostly farmland with mountains in the background.
The drive wasn't very far to Springfield and it was mostly farmland with one exception. We had to pass through the Rangitata Gorge and cross the Rangitata River. It was pretty nice and of course we had to take pictures.
Once we got to Springfield we didn't find a suitable campsite so we backtracked about 20 minutes to a place called Glentunnel. Glentunnel is a small town which is about 15 kilometers from Darfield. Darfield was the epicenter for the September 4, 2010 Earthquake. There was a nice campground so we settled in for the night.
The next morning we headed for Authur's Pass via Springfield where we stopped for breakfast. It was a glorious day, warm and sunny. However we were told it was raining in the pass. We were still 60 miles from the pass when we left Springfield but we started into the foothills almost immediately.
It was about half way to the pass and just before we started to climb that we came to Castle Hill. Castle Hill is a collection of Limestone Rocks that were formed about 25 million years ago. These rocks would be from the same era as The Elephant Rocks near Duntroon. This is also a popular area for a sport called "Bouldering". This is rock climbing with no ropes or protection except for foam pads that are placed below them. They free climb but do not go that high.
A short distance up the road was a place called "The Caves" but I am not sure why as there was only one cave. You could actually walk through from one end to the other. When I saw that there was crawling through tight spaces involved it became an easy decision. No bleeping way.
We did walk the overland route to see both ends of the cave and to take a few pictures of the surrounding area.
It wasn't long after we left the caves that we entered into Arthur's Pass National Park.
At this point we didn't stop until we reached Arthur Pass Village except to take pictures and enjoy the view.
It was at the pass that we could see our lovely day was about to end. There was weather in the distance.
When we reached the village it was raining so we stopped for a hot chocolate and see if we could wait it out. Of course at this altitude the Kea's were out in full force.
There were a couple of hikes we wanted to do but it didn't look like it was going to stop raining. So, as this was a round trip, we thought we would go into Greymouth for the night and make the return trip the next day. We took one picture just outside the village and then the skies really opened up. This made keeping the van between the white lines the priority.
It rained all the way into Greymouth so we got a few groceries and settled in for the night.
We took this shot on the highway coming into Greymouth. The train always gets the right away.
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