Day 74 - Monday 18th March 2024

Awake at 06:00 with the alarm, and my mojo has returned this morning. Hurrah! All packed away again, and I left my cabin at 08:00. I backtracked into Franz Josef village for coffee, and I was going to resist cake ..... until I spotted Strawberry and White Chocolate muffins ..... possibly the best muffin I've ever had. Must find a recipe!

Away from the coffee shop at 08:30, and onto the road for a long day of driving. Well, long by New Zealand standards; it'll seem insignificant compared to some of the Aussie days to come! I had a number of points of interest planned, but none on the west coast.

First stop was almost two hours later when I stopped at Hokitika on the west coast for a leg stretch and call of nature. It looked like a nice little town, and just to the north I turned away from the coast road to cross the Southern Alps by way of Arthurs Pass.

The next stop was at The Devils Punchbowl; a waterfall and a good 'un at that! Across a bridge and up a path, then the steps started. Nicely spaced for my short legs, I made quick work of these, only to then be presented with 97 steps down and then a bit of an undulating path before the last few steps up to the lookout. It was well worth the effort as the falls were spectacular; the best that I've seen for a while.

On the return leg after conquering the steps again, just before the bridge there was another path that I'd read leads to Bridal Veil Falls only a quarter hour away. Never one to knowingly miss out on a waterfall, I took this trail, and 15 minutes later was at the lookout. It took me a couple of looks to spot the falls a fair way away, and they felt a bit of an anti climax after the Devils Punchbowl.

Back to the car, and my legs were chastising me; while it was easier walking alone and going at my own pace it was still uncomfortable. Just 8 minutes up the road was the next spot I wanted to find, and Arthurs Pass Scenic Lookout. A beautiful 360 degree viewpoint just a couple of metres from the car (which was a bonus ... no walking!) looking into the mountains along a valley. What a fantastic spot this was.

As I drove away across a bridge and up a hill beside the valley, the views behind me continued to just get better, so I stopped again to capture the scenery.

In all of the planning I did for this trip, there were a few places that stood out from the rest, and today I was to visit one of these. Castle Hill is another site much like Elephant Rocks that I visited a few weeks ago; a collection of eroded limestone features that were began with the deposition of shells at the bottom of a shallow sea millions of years ago. Now they are collected on the top of a hill. 

I'd seen them in a couple of vlogs, and visiting them in person did not disappoint at all. It was a fair walk (about 10 minutes) from the car park, then a loop path took me up the hill and into the rocks. I reached the top of the rocks and the hill, and the view before me was stunning. This place was everything I had hoped it would be, and it was fairly quiet as well which was a bonus. However, I could see from the top that status wasn't going to last as large number of people had arrived at the car park and were on the path, so I made my way down and back to the car before it became crowded.

Only one place to visit now on my way down into Christchurch, and again it was only a short distance away. A sharp right hand bend loomed, and satnav told me that I had reached my destination. I spotted a gravel track behind the barrier and aimed for that in the hope that was the place. It was, and I was treated to another fantastic view of where I was about to go.

It was now 15:30, and time to put my final accommodation in New Zealand into my satnav. At 16:30 I pulled into the car park of my motel for the next two nights, and unloaded the car. This is only a couple of hundred metres from where I stayed a few weeks ago, so I'm not quite sure why I'm in a different place now.

Anyway, I decided to wander along to a brewery that I found last time, but that was closed so I made my way down Columbo Street to The Victoria for dinner (bangers and mash - yum!). Then back to my room for 19:00, and time to update the blog and vlog. Not much else to report really; it's been a long but good day to bring down the curtain on New Zealand ..... tomorrow doesn't really count as I'll be getting ready for flying away on Wednesday, so laundry is top of that list at the moment. Exciting eh?