A grey afternoon in Greymouth…but not 50 shades!

This morning we headed inland for a spectacular trip through Arthur’s Pass and onto Greymouth – 177k’s and a 2 hour drive.

Arthur’s Pass road is the highest and most spectacular highway across the Southern Alps. From Springfield the road climbs steeply to the 945 m Porters Pass before travelling through wide tussock-covered basins hemmed by mountains and past dramatic limestone outcrops.

The large limestone rock formations of Castle Hill are eerily impressive,

 and very popular with rock climbers.

Entering the eastern flank of the Arthur’s Pass National Park the road is enveloped by mountain beech forest. This is Lord of the Rings country.

The road is a mix of single-track bridges across wide, stony river beds and ice-blue waters, splendid vistas of snow-covered peaks and high lakes.

It then climbs to the 924m Arthur’s Pass summit before descending steeply on the western side of the Southern Alps.

We had a coffee break at Arthur's Pass village it’s half way and is one of the highest settlements in the country. The historic Otira rail tunnel is also at Arthur’s Pass – an epic engineering feat through 8.5 k’s of rock.

Another 5 k’s along we stopped at the Otira Lookout. The panorama sweeps across the Otira Viaduct – completed in 1999, this section of the road spans the rugged Otira River spanning a long stretch of unstable terrain, a remarkable landscape that has been used in quite a few TV commercials.

We were very pleased to find a flock of Kea’s there to greet us. They are on the endangered list, it is estimated that there are only 5,000 of these alpine parrots left in the wild and there are signs along the way which include the following pointers;

  Do not to feed them, ever. 

Human food is harmful & turns them into beggars.

Close car doors when parked alongside the road. 

The Kea’s are intelligent, friendly and likely to take your belongings.

We saw some cheeky and inquisitive birds pecking the
 rubber from around car windscreens!

The road then descends steeply on the western side of the Alps to the coast and from there we drove into Greymouth, the largest town on the west coast. The closer we got to Greymouth the greyer the sky became, it began drizzling and since then the rain has been very heavy and it's quite cold outside.

Our accommodation is a very spacious 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment 40 metres from the beach. 
Here's a photo…it's from the website…it isn't us in the photo!

As I write this we’re feeling very cosy…sitting on the leather sofas...big enough to seat 6…around the gas log fireplace. We’re toasty warm and have enjoyed a restful, quiet afternoon and much to dad’s delight we had fish and chips for dinner.