It rained all night, hard. It was still raining in the morning as we got ready to return to the east coast via Arthur's Pass. It was calling for better weather on that side of the island. We got away about 10AM started for the turnoff for Hwy 73 which was twenty kilometers south of Greymouth. We had just turned onto the highway when we hit a roadblock. It seems our plans of a return trip were not going to happen today. The road was closed due to flooding and slips (rockslides).
This left us with two choices. We could return to Greymouth and wait out the weather or we could return to the east coast via another highway. As we had no inkling of when the weather was going to change we headed north until we came to Hwy 7. This would take us back to Christchurch via Lewis Pass. It seems like we got here just in time.
The drive along this highway would have been pretty nice but with the rain and fog there wasn't much for us to see.
We stopped for a late lunch at a little place called Reefton. The sign as you entered the town called it the Town of LIghts. Upon further exploration we discovered that Reefton was the first town in the Southern Hemisphere to have public electricty. The year was 1888.
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| Town of Reefton |
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| Replica of Original Street Lamp |
The drive from Reefton through to Spring Junction had us passing through Lewis Pass. However with the rain and fog being the main theme there wasn't much to see.
It was shortly after Spring Junction that it started to clear and we got glimpses of what the area looked like.
We decided we would make our stop for the night at Hanmer Springs which had us turning off the main highway and crossing the Waiau River. The town was a further 10 kilometers where we settled into the holiday park and called it a night.
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| Waiau River |
Day 131, February 8th, found us relaxing and just enjoying the town and a bright sunny day. Hanmer Springs exists for two reasons, the thermal spas in the summer and skiing in the winter. There is farming in the area but it is tourism that keeps the town going. It is a nice little town in a very nice setting.
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| Hanmer Springs |
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| Hanmer Springs |
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| Hanmer Springs |
Day 132 had us originally heading into Christchurch which was not very far away. When we got to the junction of the highway we stopped to have another look at the river and the bridge.
It was here that we met a couple who had just come from Christchurch and told us the weather there was horrible. So instead of turning east towards Christchurch we turned west and headed back through Lewis Pass. We decided to take advantage of a nice sunny day and see what we missed the first time through.
There was a portion of the highway that was kind of unique. The trees grew close to the road and formed a natural tunnel as closed in above us. We have seen this before but not on a major highway, it was quite nice.
We didn’t have to go the entire way to Greymouth before coming back through Arthur’s Pass. We cut off prior to and headed north through Brunner Lake until we reached Jackson and Hwy 73.
We were now on our way to Arthur’s Pass and the East Coast. It was amazing what we had missed when we have come through the first time.
We did make one stop near Arthur’s Pass Village at The Devils Punchbowl. A magnificent waterfall just a short one hour return hike from the highway. Actually it was 40 minutes up and in and 20 minutes down and out. It was one of the most impressive falls we have seen in New Zealand. The view from platform was tremendous but we could not capture what we could see. We could not get the entire falls in a picture as the river is plunging close to 500 meters. Truly spectacular.
As it was now early evening we didn’t stop at the Village but headed straight for Glentunnel where we would be spending the night. Even though we had made this part of the drive in nice weather we still enjoyed the reverse view. It was quite stunning and a beautiful way to end a magnificent day.
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