We decided against our original plan to visit Franz Josef Glacier. Instead, we headed straight for Hokitika Gorge. Once you get to the town of Hokitika, you turn east and zig and zag your way around the farms for about 35 minutes. Fortunately, the route is well marked.

Once at the carpark, it’s only about a 10 minute walk to the gorge. The color of the water is this unique milky turquoise from the glacial runoff.   Our photos are not retouched!

We crossed the bridge to the other side and wandered around a bit on the rocks.

Instead of driving back to Hokitika, we continued on the backroads to Lake Kaniere. There were several geocaches placed along its shores, which was one of its draws. The first one looked like it would be an easy walk a bit off the road. Wrong! It was about 2km up and down some steep hills, and ended at a platform overlooking the lake. We never saw another person the entire time.

The next geocache took us to Dorothy Falls. There was another couple there so we didn’t attempt looking for a cache and only took a quick photo. Across from the trailhead to the falls is another trail to the lakeshore. A geocache was located there as well. There was a family with a dog at the edge of the lake and Fred talked to them, while I went into the bush and found the cache. The never suspected a thing.

We still had plenty of time so headed up to Arahura Cesspool. We had read about a swingbridge at the Arahura Styx River track and tried to get to it. We found the iron gate and traveled to the washout. Then we attempted to travel on foot for the last 2km to the bridge. We had to cross the stream and through a cow paddock, then cross the stream again and head up a hill. The track was in bad shape and progressively got muddier and muddier. My shoes were soaked. When we came to about the 7th mud puddle that required bushwacking around, we threw in the towel. I was disappointed we couldn’t get to the swingbridge, it was made entirely of cable from what pictures showed of it. Too bad the track was so bad.

We headed for our campground located halfway along SH73 to Arthur’s Pass. Jackson’s Retreat had fabulous views across the valley viewing Lake Brunner Road and the owner was very welcoming. There were two other campervans there besides us. The toilet and shower block was top notch. It was a good end to a long day.

The Adventure Continues>>>