{"id":40,"date":"2021-01-31T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-31T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eotma.com\/wordpress\/sjs\/2021\/01\/31\/day-32-twizel-to-otira-via-arthurs-pass\/"},"modified":"2021-03-10T08:28:32","modified_gmt":"2021-03-10T15:28:32","slug":"day-32-twizel-to-otira-via-arthurs-pass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sjs.sputs.com\/wordpress\/2021\/01\/31\/day-32-twizel-to-otira-via-arthurs-pass\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 32 Twizel to Otira via Arthur's Pass"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

February 18, 2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Map: Day 32<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Today was one of the longer driving days. Our itinerary was to drive northeast to Otira via Arthur's Pass National Park (estimated 4-1\/2 hours drive time).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We woke up to clear skies and were out early shortly before 7 AM. First stop was the Lake Pukaki Lookout, the same one that we went to 2 days earlier. This time we got to see Mount Cook in the early morning light with very few clouds. I drove to a second viewpoint at the Pukaki Kettle Hole Track. This was up a short and steep gravel road, the end of which I don\u2019t think I was supposed to drive up since the road suddenly got very rough. But the car made it up and down okay. It was a gorgeous view from there, with the morning sun on the golden hills. I drove to one final lookout of Lake Pukaki and Mount Cook, and then it was time to say goodbye to that area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mount Cook and Lake Pukaki in Morning Light<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Lake Pukaki View From Kettle Hole Track<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Final View of Lake Pukaki and Mount Cook<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Next stop was Lake Tekapo. We stopped at the town park and got some nice photos of the lake with reflections from the surrounding hills. The water was very still. We stopped at the Church of the Good Shepherd, which is a famous tourist spot. The church did not open until 9 AM, so we were too early. But I got some good pictures of the outside with the lake in the background. It was also nice seeing it with very few other people, before the tour buses arrived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lake Tekapo View From Town Park<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Church of the Good Shepherd and Lake Tekapo<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We drove onward to the town of Methven where we filled up on gas and went to the grocery store to buy food for dinner. Then we headed for Rakaia River Gorge, or at least I thought that was where we were going. It turns out that the GPS coordinates in the Roadtrippers app for the gorge were incorrect. It routed us onto some farm road in the middle of nowhere. By the time I figured out what was wrong, we had driven about 10 km out of the way. Moral of the story: double check the directions with a second source whenever possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We finally reached the gorge, and it was beautiful. The water was the turquoise blue color that I had expected to see at Hokitika Gorge. We took a hike up the river toward the lower gorge viewpoint. The first 10 minutes of the hike were great, with many scenic vistas of the river. Then the trail started climbing... and climbing... with no views. After 15 total minutes on the trail, we got a good view of the river and the highway bridges in the background, and we decided that was far enough to go. According to the sign at the trailhead, we still had another 15 minutes or so of hiking uphill before we would have reached the viewpoint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rakaia River Gorge<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Rakaia River Gorge Bridge<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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View From Rakaia River Gorge Bridge<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Next stop was a fun one: the town of Springfield where a giant doughnut sculpture had been placed in the city park. D\u2019oh! We ate lunch at a picnic table, and afterwards I asked Heinrich to take some pictures of me next to the doughnut. What a great place for some stupid selfie poses!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Springfield Doughnut<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Heinrich took over driving, and we went to Castle Hill. This was an area similar to Elephant Hill with very large limestone rock formations. We walked around and found a few small arches! Of course we had to take pictures of all of them. The area was quite extensive and we only saw a small portion of it. On a cool day I could see easily spending a half day or so exploring all of the nooks and crannies. When we were there it was blazing hot and uncomfortable to be out in the sun for very long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Castle Hill<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Rock Formations at Castle Hill<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Arches at Castle Hill<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Next stop was Arthur\u2019s Pass National Park. The scenery gradually changed from dry grasses to trees as we got closer to the pass. We took the hike to Devils Punchbowl Falls. There was a nice view of the waterfall at the bridge across the river, and then we hiked up many steps to reach the base of the falls. The hike was worth it! This was one of the nicest waterfalls I have seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Highway to Arthur's Pass<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Devils Punchbowl Falls<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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