Blogs from Arthur's Pass National Park, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 4

I was sitting here at the Youth Hostel having lunch with fellow travellers and we felt the earthquake that was centered in Christchurch, many miles away. It wasn"t until supper that the news spread throughout the hostel It is only because yesterday was sunny that we decided to come through Arthur's Pass National Park instead of doing a city trip. We are grateful for that sunny day as the hostel we would have been at is devastated. We have been traveling almost a month now with our tent visiting north and south island. We have stayed at Doc sites,( department of conservation), family campgrounds and the occasional YHA when the weather has been inclement We have visited volcanic sites, parks with great redwoods, fought wild winds with the tent. We have visited Napier, the art deco ... read more

Pretty much as soon as we arrived in Christchurch, we started gearing up for some hiking/camping/kayaking that we are planning to do. Since we've been on the road for so long, it just wasn't practical to bring all our outdoor gear from home. We've also rented a small car for the next three months and our gear (new and old) has already exploaded throughout our new home. It will take us a bit before we get a new system down for organizing our stuff since it doesn't all have to fit in our packs anymore. The most shocking thing we've found so far is the cost of everything. We're trying so hard not to convert the prices back into Chinese Yuan, and we remind ourselves that our budget for New Zealand is higher than it was ... read more

THE EPIC JOURNEY By Kaitlin Arntz Starring: Sunny Nissan 10-Second Timer Me Chapter 1: Christchurch, Across Arthur’s Pass, Punakaiki and Winding Roads It all started with a girl, a cheap and cheerful car, and a fabulous camera. The girl drove Sunny to Christchurch, where she saw an amazing exhibit of scarily-real sculptures of humans in all forms. After the quaint charm of Christchurch, Kaitlin had only one more thing left to do in preparation for her epic journey across South Island: buy a jug of water and a loaf of bread (to complement her leftover cereal and half-jar of crunchy peanut butter). These would serve as her meals for the day. Food in passenger seat, Sunny and Kaitlin began to steadily climb into Arthur’s Pass. The journey beheld many wonders, including massive boulders straight out of ... read more

Monday morning we were up & ready to go soon after 9am. My foot is still sore so Julian is doing the bulk of the driving (sorry!) - except for the high mountain passes, I'm doing those! We were not far down the road from the rafting lodge when I noticed the fuel guage was low & the light on. Ah. So we drove back 17km to Geraldine & found a petrol station to top up at, whilst there we also stocked up from the local supermarket too. We then set off along the Inland Scenic Route up through Mayfield, Pudding Hill & Springfield then further up towards Arthur's Pass. We stopped off several times to admire the view or take short walks. Noticable were the Rakaia River where we had lunch, a pretty grassland DOC ... read more

Off to ski today! An early wakeup and drive through the quieter streets of Christchurch. Porters is an easy 1.5 hour run (max) from Yaldhurst Road to the west. A few small towns dot the way, providing fuel and toilet relief but we passed all those, keen to get to the skifield. It's easy to find, just follow the highway to Arthurs Pass and look for the big sign on the left after Lake Coleridge. Joseph and I kitted up with the usual boots poles and skis $202 for the both of us. I'd picked up a really good deal through the KidsFest with Joseph's lesson, beginners lift and equipment only $52. Gloves and goggles are not part of the clothing hire of jacket and pants, $20 and $40 extra to buy respectively. With it being ... read more