When Steven and I'd visited Hokitika the day before, we spent some time wandering through several fancy showrooms selling pounamu, or New Zealand jade. We were put off, however, by the high prices at the upscale shops where the tour buses stopped. After talking it over, we decided to return to an independent shop the next morning, which made all its items on-site in its factory and therefore sold them with less markup.
We ended up buying four lovely items from Ruma, the shop's owner, to display at home. I've completely forgotten what they look like now, since it was so long ago, and we shipped them home six plus weeks ago. It'll be like having a second Christmas when we finally open up the two parcels waiting for us!
From Hokitika on the South Island's West Coast, we had a long drive ahead of us, crossing almost to the island's east coast, then back inland, southwestward through the mountains, to Twizel. As the crow flies, it would have been comparatively short, but it was almost a 500-km journey on two-lane roads and one-lane bridges for mere mortals!
Shortly after entering Arthur's Pass National Park, we passed the Historic Otira Stagecoach Hotel, which had been voted "New Zealand's most interesting cafe." We didn't try the coffee, but the items out front were quirky enough!
The only route through the park was the drive through the 12-km-long, 16-percent-grade Otira Gorge, with stunning views at every turn. The Otira Gorge Road, aka State Highway 73, aka Arthur's Pass Road, aka Main Road, aka Main West Coast Road, and also known as the Great Alpine Highway, was considered an important part of the country's engineering heritage, as men toiled through the terrible winter of 1865 to cut a coach road from Christchurch on the East Coast to the West Coast's gold fields.
A view from where we'd just driven from the Otira Gorge Rock Shelter Scenic Lookout:
I hope you can sense the majesty of the views we enjoyed of the Otira Viaduct, even though it was also called Death's Corner! The crossing is the highest crossing in the country's Southern Alps.
Even though the plaque memorialized someone's passing, we had to smile at the sentiment.
This historic red cottage in Arthur's Pass Village served as housing for railway workers constructing the Otira Tunnel in the early 20th century.
Next to the red cottage stood the last corrugated-iron cottage, Gaya Cottage, originally the home of an engineer working on the tunnel. The park's first ranger lived there from 1929 until 1937. Since the tunnel was completed, it has been used as a holiday rental. Its owners won a Canterbury Heritage Award for its retention and restoration.
Keas, endangered, highly intelligent mountain parrots only found in the alpine and forested regions of the South Island, are occasionally killed because some people consider them a nuisance and a threat to private property and farm animals. They also destroy seats and hydraulics in heavy machinery and other equipment. Kea have been traded illegally to international markets.
We backtracked to hike the Devil's Punchbowl Walking Track, which would take us across Bealey River and a 150-meter climb before reaching the base of Punchbowl Falls.
When work began on the Otira Tunnel in 1908, footbridges were built across the Bealey River to access the power station that supplied electricity to the tunnel. The track to Punchbowl Falls became a very popular route for climbing Mt. Aiken and reaching the falls. The 1948 footbridge was made of three wires!
The current footbridge has been continually upgraded over the years following major floods in the Beasely River.
As Arthur's Pass had become a holiday village by 1926, Herbert and Annie Brown built this cottage as their holiday home that year. They called it Āniwaniwa, the Māori name for a rainbow, which is sometimes seen at the base of the falls. The home's simple design and the use of stone as the primary building method marked the beginning of a style of construction that became distinctive to Arthur's Pass.
The Punchbowl Falls had been admired by visitors to the Bealey Valley from where we stood since the 1860s. Until the early 20th century, the pool at the foot of the falls was called Devil's Punchbowl, and the waterfall itself was the Zealandia Falls. With a 131-meter drop, the Devil's Punchbowl waterfalls have been a favorite among visitors and their spectacular beauty has been captured by numerous artists.
The first photos of the waterfall were likely taken by Christchurch photographer Daniel Mundy when he traveled over the then-new coach road in 1868.
At several points along the track, we would be standing above the Otira railway tunnel, which was built between 1908 and 1918. When the tunnel was drilled from both sides, the two headings met in 1918, and their alignment and levels were accurate to within 3 cm!
Faced with more flights of steps, Steven said, "OMG, they keep going." A while later, we asked a woman coming down how much further it was, and she said we'd come about 60 percent of the way, and that it was worth plogging on. Unfortunately, she wasn't wildly enthusiastic about it, however.
The view through and over the treetops:
Considering Steven had one unsuccessful back surgery a year ago, is facing a more invasive one in early July, and is in constant pain, it was no small feat that he not only made it to the base of the stunning falls but was also smiling!
I read that the Māori associated natural features in the landscape with ancestors or their actions. Their stories linked people to their landscape and reflected the inseparable ties between the natural and human world.
After reaching the bottom of the track, we didn't dilly-dally any longer, as we still had a five-hour drive ahead of us to reach Twizel.
A view of the Waimakariri River meandering through a gravelly valley:
As it was fall in the Southern Hemisphere, the trees had already turned shimmering shades of yellow and gold as we drove along the Inland Scenic Route. We were within a 45-minute drive of Christchurch on the East Coast, a city we'd visit for a couple of days at the end of our New Zealand vacation, but we headed southwest toward the center of the South Island.
If I hadn't known better, I'd have thought we were looking at a painting!
Finally, some sheep!
OMG views of the Rakaia Gorge near the town of Windwhistle:
We had never previously seen field after field bordered by massive hedges on three sides, with each one manicured to the same height and depth. They were so strange. We figured the hedges were likely a windbreak.
Magical ...
We noticed that there was a chill in the air, and the fall colors were more striking the further southwest we drove.
St Patrick's Union Church in Burkes Pass was built in 1872 and was the oldest surviving union church in the country. Since I hadn't heard that term before, I thought you might be interested to know that it refers to congregations where multiple denominations share the same building, minister, and resources.
Close to sunset, the Southern Alps near Pukaki were an almost unbelievable pastel pink.
As a final send-off, here's a shot of turquoise-colored Lake Pukaki before we reached Twizel that night. It seemed like Steven and I had been lucky enough that day to witness every color of the rainbow, and even a rainbow itself, on the jaw-dropping drive from Greymouth to Twizel!
Next post: Epic views en route to, and of, Mt. Cook aka Aoraki.
Posted on June 7th, 2026, from Tainan, Taiwan, where we've seen just a few temples since we arrived yesterday! We're not yet "templed out," but give us a day or two, and we just might be. However, since we're still discovering something new to admire and no two are alike, the temples remain a big draw for us. Please take care of yourself and your loved ones.
