Arthur's Pass

After our rest in Akaroa we started to hit the road for real. Since we'd already seen the northern end of the island we decided to head across the middle of the island instead, crossing over the Southern Alps via Arthur's Pass. The Southern Alps are some pretty serious mountains and I was holding my breath to see how the campervan would handle the long climbs. I had also been warned about "those roads on the South Island" more than a few times. As it turned out, White Bird campervan was up to the challenge and driving in Wellington is harder than driving on the South Island. But on with the story...

Our first stop after Akaroa was actually back in Christchurch. We dropped off some excess gear and then headed to the local wildlife sanctuary. As with our last visit to the zoo, the rules were a bit more lax than we were used to. This meant that we were able to feed the giraffes and get really close to the rhinos. Feeding time for the lions was also groovy; they starved them for a day prior to feedings (it's good for them, I swear) so they are really motivated when the meat shows up.

We left the zoo late in the afternoon. The kids were falling asleep and we needed a place to camp (aside: we weren't the first people to think about driving around the South Island in a campervan. Everybody does this, and locals got fed up with people trashing the popular spots. Ergo, there are now some rules about where you can and can't camp. Your choice is to camp in a pay site, crammed next to other campers but with amenities like electricity and showers, or "freedom camp" in a remote spot where you don't think you'll be bothered). We pulled out a map of Christchurch, located a road near the zoo that looked pretty remote, and headed that way. Before long we found a gravel parking lot for an all-terrain vehicle park that looked suitable.

White Bird Campervan at the ATV park.

The dirtbikers showed up right as we were cleaning up from dinner. The first dude was driving an old Ford Falcon Ute (only in NZ is the El Camino still alive and well) with a horn that played exactly half of Dixie before petering out. His mates weren't far behind, and we got to see an interesting slice of Kiwi culture that evening. It all worked out in the end because Quinn somehow slept through the noise of a half dozen dirtbikes ripping through the parking lot, and nobody kicked us out of there.

The next morning we headed for Arthur's Pass. We didn't snap any pics of the pass itself because we didn't want to stop (the kids wake up whenever the van stops) and the camera was in the back of the car. Hey, it was a learning process. You should check out this pic, though, because the pass was amazing.

We soon passed Castle Hill, the local rock climbing spot. I drooled when I saw it: a bunch of limestone boulders a few hundred feet tall in the middle of a field, all on top of a gorgeous mountain range. I'd like to head back there some day...

Castle Hill; see horses in front for scale.

We did a lot better with our choice of camping spot that night. By this point we realized that it was important to have chosen a place to stay by early evening, so we stopped shortly after passing Castle Hill. To say that we found a remote spot is an understatement.

Van on the left.

Quinn checks the place out.

Amelia helped out by washing the bumper.

The next day we packed up and moved on, stopping for a short hike before arriving on the West coast. The West coast is known by Kiwis as a wild and rugged place, which makes it pretty interesting by my standards. That's a story for another day, though...

Amelia and me hiking back from seeing a waterfall.

Editor's note: I know, I've repeated some pics. That should stop soon as I catch up on my sleep and move on to the more recent stuff.