Arthur's Pass

On Wednesday morning it was time to depart from Franz Josef and depart from Nathan, Mitchell, and John for good. They were headed back to Queenstown and we were continuing up the coast and then driving back to Christchurch along Arthur's Pass. We left pretty early in the morning to blue skies and nice crisp weather. We knew we had quite a bit of driving ahead of us so we gave ourselves plenty of time to stop for air and to walk around. We didn't really know what to expect on Arthur's Pass, but everyone was telling us that was how we should get back across to the East side. 

We left Franz Josef and then headed back along the coast. We drove up the West Coast for about an hour before it was time to head down Arthur's Pass. The roads were really windy, but we were getting used to that. Again, people back at school were so shocked to hear that we had really good weather because I guess it is usually pretty crappy on the coast. The beginning of the drive was really pretty, we could see mountains all around us, and the view was great since the skies were so blue. There were a couple of places where we stopped to take a look out. 

Although Arthur's Pass is the name of the road that took us from one side to the other, there is also a town along the road called Arthur's Pass. We decided to stop here and ask someone where a good walk was. The lady we asked told us to go and do the Devil's Punch Bowl. We drove to where she told us it started and then began our walk. The walk only took about 30 minutes, and then we were at a nice waterfall that I would assume was the Devil's Punch Bowl.  I really don't know why it is called that. It was a really pretty view.

The walk felt really nice since we had been in the car for a couple hours, but once again it was time to continue our journey. The roads were really curvy still has we drove up and around the different mountains. We found a fun place to stop and take a picture, so we took advantage of that! You can see how wonderful the weather was. Even people we talked to here who have driven on Arthur's Pass before were amazed by the view.

Since we were getting pretty attached to our car, Shaina thought it was the perfect place to stop and get pictures with her. It almost looks photoshopped, but I swear it's not! I'm not the only one who posed with Fran, Shaina and Courtney did as well. We were tempted to send the pictures to our rental car company so they could potentially use them as advertisements! If only, right?

Once we had that out of our system, we kept on driving. We came to this place called Castle Hill and I saw some rocks in the distance that looked pretty cool so I had Shaina pull over to look at them. It turns out that you can actually walk up to them and explore, so we did! They were so cool because they seemed like they shouldn't be there. I have no idea why they are there or how they got there. The only piece of information we found was that the Mauri people used to use some of them as shelter during storms and other bad weather.

As we ventured up, the rocks just kept getting bigger and bigger. It was so amazing We spent a good chunk of our time just climbing up them and exploring them. There was such a huge area where the rocks were that there was plenty to keep us busy. I found the prime relaxing/ reading location!

I think the weather definitely helped to make this place seem pretty magical. It was by far one of Shaina's favorite spots. I know I talk about how nice the weather was, but we were told before going down to the South Island that it would be cold and rainy most of the time we were here, so we just kept getting so lucky!

When it was time to go back down the hill, we hit some trouble. We didn't want to go back down the way we came because we had to climb on some rocks that we would probably not be able to climb down on safely. We kept following little paths, but sometimes we hit dead ends where we would have to jump like 15 feet, which I didn't think I could do successfully. I also realized how strong I was when I was able to prevent this rock from rolling down the hill.

After wearing ourselves out playing in the rocks, we headed back to our car and continued to Chirstchurch. When Zac had given us ideas of things to do in the South Island before we left (since he used to live in Christchurch) he told us where a really good pie place was on Arthur's Pass. In all reality, Zac basically gave us a food tour...the Cadbury Factory, Speights Tour, custard squares to look out for, cupcakes in Queenstown, fudge in Arrowtown, and now the pies in Darfield on Arthur's Pass. We found the city and bought some pies...they were of course DELICIOUS! That is one thing I am definitely going to miss about New Zealand, their pies. It's not just sweet pies like apple or strawberry. They make pies with like mince and cheese, steak and cheese, pepper and steak, thai chicken, and the list just goes on and on. They are such a hearty meal and really not too expensive (although I'm sure they're terrible for you). They are essentially chicken pot pies with the various fillings inside. 

Once we were stuffed and satisfied, we headed into Christchurch. Unfortunately we hit traffic which was like the first time since being in New Zealand. I was driving and I've driven in plenty of traffic, so it wasn't too bad. We had booked a hostel at the YMCA. We had our own room (which was awesome) and it felt more like a hotel than a hostel. We didn't mind though since it was nice getting a bit of luxury. We knew we were headed to a new city in the morning, so we really didn't have anything planned for the day. We watched a movie and then went to sleep. It was a very adventurous day, so it felt good to just relax in our own room. We only had a couple more destinations on our agenda, so we were off again in the morning!