Arthur’s Pass via the Otira Highway & West Coast Road

Heading over this morning to the Arthur’s Pass National Park it was windy, very windy. Greymouth was living up to its name with another very grey outlook. The drive over to Arthur’s Pass is up an incredibly steep, mountainous set of roads, at one point a 17% gradient (steep), which in the deluge that had begun, wasn’t a pleasant driving experience.

Our first stop off, at the Devils Punchbowl waterfall was not a success. After about 20m down the track we were immediately thwarted by a stream formed by the heavy rainfall that had continued from overnight. With that defeating us we stopped off for petrol. A simple task one may think but no, not in Arthur’s Pass. Firstly you pull up basically beside the road at the one and only pump, unorthodox but fine, then you have to run into the cafe to leave them with ID, again, no problems there, they then didn’t release the pump for me to actually use. So I go back inside to ask if I can actually get some fuel, and, after queueing up behind the cafe customers, end up with the owner, an employee and an interested group of Asian tourists back outside where someone else is filling up their tank with fuel. After a confusing 15 minutes we did eventually end up with some fuel and could continue our journey (super interesting segway). 

We journeyed on to Lake Pearson, which is an entirely unnecessary stop, and on to Castle Hill, which is definitely recommended. Somewhere along the way from Arthur’s Pass itself we left the rain behind and entered a zone of glorious sunshine albeit still with a very (very) strong wind. Castle Hill is a large formation of limestone rocks which look like they could have been carved by ancient man for some purpose, but is actually completely natural. They’re scattered over a couple of hillsides and are a destination for rock climbers. We nestled into a cave away from the wind and sun (I’m slightly burnt) and ate lunch watching some climbers attempting (mostly failing) to climb a large boulder. 

Returning back towards Greymouth from Castle Hill we had a look at Cave Stream scenic reserve. Experienced cavers can traverse a near 600m long cave formed by a stream. I’d had grand visions of being able to do this ourselves however you have to wade, waist deep up a stream, which was obviously freezing, and crawl through rock formations with absolutely no light at all throughout the duration of the 600m. Not for us, even with our head torches. 

Continuing our trip back from here we felt the full force of the wind in the face of the van. So much so that it blew my drivers side wing mirror so it was parallel to the window, ideal for seeing myself in the mirror but not entirely safe to drive with. Following this little hiccup we safely made it to the Devils Punchbowl waterfall again to see whether it was now accessible. Luckily, with only one wet toe, we made it further than 20m this time. The walk up to it is a very pretty traverse through a wood, which was heavily infested with very cute, tiny mice, much to Amelia’s delight. At the waterfall itself you get soaked by the spray, which makes for a really cool experience. Albeit a wet one. 

The journey back was uneventful, and had an evening of Lord of the Rings and a bowl of soup ahead of us. Delightful.