Arthur’s Pass

Wednesday April 19

During our trip thus far, we had ridden in cars, buses, vans, ferries, kayaks, airplanes, commuter rails, cable cars, gondola and by foot. So, it was only natural… we needed to take a train as well.

Wednesday was an early morning for us. We gathered our stuff and the motel staff kindly drove us to the train station. We would be taking a couple hour train ride into the mountains in the middle of the south island. This is one of three long distance trains in New Zealand and they are mainly used for tourism. And I can see why! The views were stunning. We began by traveling through farmland but it soon switched to huge mountains.

The train had a nice cafe car and an observation car but it was so crowded, we had a better view from our seats.

We arrived in Arthur’s Pass around 11:00am. Now, remember how I thought Stewart Island didn’t have a lot of people? And I made a joke about how there were 402 people, time to make it 405. This place has roughly 10 times less residents! Only 48 people live here. There’s a small store and a restaurant that closes at insanely early times and that’s about the extent of it! I was so grateful we were lugging a suitcase full of kiwis, lox and other essentials!

We dropped our luggage off at the Info Center (our Air BNB hosts kindly offered to deliver our stuff to our place once it was cleaned and ready). In the meantime, we ventured on a hike to “The Devil’s Punchbowl”. It’s a waterfall. And on the way back, believe it or not, I ran into two students from the US I know from my hall in Wellington! They were going on a roadtrip around the South Island.

Once we were done, our Air BNB was ready so we walked to it. Walking is our only mode of transportation here. There are no buses or ubers or anything like that to get you places. Our Air BNB was a gorgeous home with lots of space. After fueling up with lunch, my dad, Elina and I ventured out on the Arthur’s Pass Walk. We took a quick pit stop at the store where I got my dad and I orange ice cream with chocolate chips and Elina got a popsicle. It was an even longer hike than earlier but in the same general location as the first one.

By the time we returned home, we were wiped! After dinner, my dad had us to go outside to look at the stars but he was actually hiding a couple plastic eggs and two small stuffed animal Kiwis as a belated Easter surprise. So, we hunted around our Air BNB and found the adorable Kiwis. Apparently my mom had just found them by chance in the cafe car on the train!

Thursday April 20

If you don’t like to hike or sit in nature, I don’t recommend Arthur’s Pass. That’s all there is to do here! But you will quickly want to like those activities because the views are simply gorgeous! We ventured back out to the Arthur’s Pass Walk but this time, it was the whole family!

We stopped at the end of the trail for lunch and then my dad and I continued on to another hike while Elina and my mom walked back to town. My dad and I did the Temple Basin hike which was an open air hike basically walking up a mountain on a rocky path. You could see the view as you went so you could appreciate the beauty the whole way, not just at the top. It was epic.

Meanwhile, Elina and my mom had a nice time at the cafe in “town” and had a visitor!

After my dad and I did our hike, we had to redo the morning hike to get home because, remember, no cars! I was SO tired by the end! In the evening, we watched some New Zealand TV. We watched a little Māori TV, a bit of a show about the Chatham Islands and a little Educators.

Friday April 21

It was time to pack up our stuff and continue our journey. We got our stuff together and our Air BNB host was kind enough to offer to deliver our luggage to the train. It was much appreciated! We took the train west to Greymouth which is the end point of this train route.

There was an one hour stop in Greymouth so we walked around and looked at the stores and the river. Then we hopped back on the train and retraced our steps all the way back to Christchurch.

The motel staff picked us up from the station and then Elina and I went out to get dinner from Speights (we love this place haha). After organizing our luggage for the following day, Elina and I ubered to New World, got some foods we needed as well as the New Zealand soda L&P. We then headed to the city center, got gelato and hung out sipping our sodas. We felt pretty cool. It was a fun time!

Tomorrow, we return to Wellington for some more adventures before my family heads home!