Arthur's Pass

Castle Hill

November 18, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We stopped on our way to Cass to eat a late lunch at Castle Hill and explore the rocks. The boys had a lot of fun! This is the view down the valley as we walked out to the hill.

Looking the other direction from the trail.

We were heading toward those huge rocks directly ahead of us. There were a lot of tourists, mostly Oriental, there when we arrived, and then a busload of them arrived as we started walking.

This rock is out in the paddock by itself.

We were amused, watching the tourists. This pose seemed to be the favorite of the day. Most of the people from the bus just walked out here, took pictures all around, and headed right back to the bus. One or two, though went up into the rocks, then had to run back before they got left behind.

Our boys wasted no time climbing up into the rocks. There are all four of them, at least a hundred feet up. It was a lot easier climbing the backside of this rock than it looks from this side!

Mr. Inventor and Mr. Intellectual had great fun practicing their rock-climbing skills.

Mr. Sweetie had fun finding caves.

Mr. Diligence and Mr. Sweetie did some climbing, too, but in slightly tamer places than their big brothers.

The valley behind the rocks is quite different from the front.

Castle Hill Station

Mr. Imagination called this rock a rabbit.

Cass

November 17, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We got to spend three nights in a cottage in Cass, near Arthur’s Pass, owned by some friends of ours. What a lovely place to spend time relaxing and being together as a family!

Some of the mountains we saw on our way there. This first one is leading up to Porter’s Pass.

The cottage we stayed in.

A mountain in front of the cottage. There is a row of trees directly in front, but if you go around them, this is the view.

The red building is the Cass Railway Station. We enjoyed watching the trains going by at all hours. Except for the daily passenger train that goes from Christchurch to the West Coast and back, all we saw were coal trains carrying coal from the West Coast to Christchurch, and presumably, empty cars going back. I didn’t get any pictures of the trains while we were there, but saw this one after we were out of the mountains, going home.

We roasted sausages and marshmallows our second evening there.

One of the days we were there, it rained all day, so we stayed inside and played games.

That evening, I allowed the boys to roast a few marshmallows in the stove.

Shantytown and Arthur’s Pass

December 18, 2014 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

The final day of our trip to the West Coast, we stopped at Shantytown, a historic village, for several hours. I didn’t take many pictures there, because I had gotten to the point where I mainly needed to sit. Here are a few, though. One of the first things we did was to ride the steam train. They take you on about a 20-minute ride, back into the bush, then back. Most people got off on the way back at the restored sawmill, then toured the gold-mining area. I opted to go back to the village where I could sit and wait.

This enormous stump was at the end of the line—apparently a sample of what they logged out of the area 100 years or more ago.

Esther got this shot of our youngest at the sawmill.

While I was waiting, I amused myself watching Oriental (probably Japanese) tourists taking picture after picture of each other and themselves, and watching this weka go in and out of building after building.

We also did the touristy kind of things—posing the boys in a stagecoach and playing around at the jail. The boys shoved their daddy into the jail—but a couple of them got locked in with him! Right to left, this is Seth, James, Nathan, Simon, Elijah, and Joseph.

This is Seth, Nathan, and Elijah, with Joseph just visible inside the jail to the left.The two youngest enjoyed this play fire engine!And then, we were on the road again! We had originally planned to camp in the mountains that night and arrive home the next day, but the weather was cold and damp and we decided to push on for home. Towing a camper up Arthur’s Pass is a slightly risky proposition, with a 16% grade for several miles, but we made it. The van did heat up (we have some kind of radiator problem at the moment), so we stopped at an overlook at the top to cool off. That afforded quite a view of the Otira Viaduct, which we had just crossed.

This structure allows a waterfall to cross the road, just below the Viaduct.

This is the road we were to take next, going east across the Pass.

There were a lot of keas at the overlook. They are a wild mountain parrot, but not afraid of anything—and they love to eat rubber and plastic! We had to ward them off the open windows of the van so they wouldn’t eat the weatherstripping, but they did manage to eat part of the skylight of the camper. Naughty birds!

And then, we were over the Pass and on the dry side of the island. The scenery on this side is much different! This top picture is Castle Hill. We had hoped to stop there, but it was getting too late.

And, one more picture from the West Coast that I didn’t get stuck in anywhere else. As we drove the highway along the coast south of Hokitika, I was amazed at the trees. It was so obvious that the prevailing wind is from the sea!

And speaking of wind, we arrived home to find damage from strong winds while we were gone. The chimney above the kitchen had fallen on the roof, and broken the light directly below it, and a row of willow trees lost their tops. One tree fell on this shed. The fellows spent the day after we got home fixing broken things and cutting wood.