737m above sea level, Arthurs Pass is a small village in the South Alps inbetween Christchurch and Greymouth. After a 3hour scenic coach ride, I arrived in the national park keen to do some hiking. On my first night I stayed at the YHA hostel, where I met a guy who was hiking the whole of the South Alps, south to north, a mammoth 450km! He had started just after new year eve and aimed to reach the top of the south island in May. Incredible!  

On my first day I went to the Department of Conversation centre and got some information on local hikes. I decided to do a 15km hike called Temple Basin. This involved a 5km forest walk from the village, then a steep ascend up to 1500m. The views of the surrounding 2000+ meter
mountains very amazing. This is what I came to New Zealand for! At the top of my ascend were some huts used for the ski session. Surprisingly I found a group of university students staying in one for the weekend, painting the roof ready for the winter. They had managed to winch alcohol, food and their bags up and were set for a weekend. They even had twister at 1500m!

The next day my friend Colin arrived from Christchurch, where he'd been recovering from his long flight. We had a walk to the Devil's punchbowl and viewed a 130m waterfall, followed by the pub in the evening where it was nice to order New Zealand dark ale and not pay the high Australian prices for alcohol.

On the last full day we did a challenging hike up to Avalanche Peak. This was a hard 7 hour hike up very steep tracks, including a tough ridge at the top with steer drops at places. This hike was a personal best, having ascended more in a day than before (1100m) and reaching a new highest point for my hiking (1833m, double England's Scar Fell Pike mountain). The views from the top were spectacular with a small glacier visible on a northern peak. In the evening we
lit a wood fire in our accommodation at the YHA mountain house, a
small cottage, as it was very cold in the evening.

Back to Christchurch now for 1night. Collecting the campervan tomorrow, exciting!