We continued up Arthurs Pass, across the viaduct, which had interesting rock shelters and a waterfall you pass under!

It was very windy at the top where the trailheads to the waterfalls were. We hiked to Devil’s Punchbowl Falls. It was fairly steep in places and had lots of steps. The waterfall was huge and would have made for some great photos. But unfortunately, the sun was positioned right at the top so we couldn’t get shots from the end platform.

Fred and I mulled over whether to venture to Bridal Veil Falls. It was so windy and from what I read, Bridal Veil is much less impressive than Devil’s Punchbowl. We drove the short distance to the visitor center checked out the displays there. Behind it, there was a short walk up Millennium Track to Avalanche Creek Waterfall. There was a geocache there we hunted for, but people were coming and going, so it was difficult.

When we returned to the campervan, a family was watching a Kea on top of our van! He was probably trying to pull the rubber gaskets off the sunroof.

We drove east a bit and had lunch at the pullout at the eastern edge of the National Park. As we sat at the table, we had views of snow-capped mountains in the background, and lupines in the foreground. And we could hear a Kea walking around the top of the van – again!

Our next stop was Cave Stream Reserve. I had every intention of going through the cave for the full experience. It sounded like great fun when sitting, nice and warm, reading about it. We brought headlamps and watershoes. We checked out both entrances, but didn’t see any one else gearing up for it. Zorah had mentioned it was a fun adventure but very cold. Since we had to return the campervan in a few hours, I worried about how to deal with the wet clothes and whether we would have time for it.

Our last stop was at Castle Hill. It is a very green hillside with enormous boulders. It was used as a filming site for the movie, Narnia. By now it was getting rather hot, so we stayed to the flat track and only ventured a little way up the hillside. Those rocks got bigger the closer we got to them! Fred and I did a little rock climbing – on little rocks.

We returned the van with about half an hour to spare. It was kind of a madhouse because there must have been about 8 other vans being returned at the same time. I went in and checked us out while Fred quickly unloaded all our stuff.

The Copthorne Hotel sent its shuttle around to pick us up. We had a drink on their patio to unwind and then had dinner there. Our farewell to New Zealand.

Epilogue>>>