




We've done this trip one and a half times. The first time was by train. This was one of the things we had been looking forward to most but ended up being just ok. the scenery was great, when we could see it, but the train's other passengers all tended to be on the mature side.
Anyway, we then borrowed a chums car and drove to Arthurs Pass from Christchurch. The road runs parallel to the railway in most places so you see an awul lot fo the same stuff but we got awesome weather and being able to stop where you like and do it all in your own time is unbeatable.
On the way we stopped at a place called Castel Hill, famous for it's huge limestone rock formations, also for having a big battle in Lord of the Rings filmed there as well as Narnia(i think). Possibly the most awesome landscape in NZ. We spent hours walking through the formations and just chilling out. Climbers sometimes scale some of the larger rocks.
We stayed the night in Arthurs Pass, New Zealands highest village, 737 metres above sea level (apparently). We had been hoping to meet one of NZs most famous birds, the Kea, the worlds only Apline Parrot. The first once we saw skipped out of a cat flap at the restaurant we had just eaten at, funnily enough, it was called the Wobbly Kea. They have a funny kind of walk, like a two step waddle. Anyway, this particular Kea, waddled around us a for a bit, reckoned Amy had some food, realised she hadn't and then wadlled off.
The next day we headed off for a short drive and came across three, we think a mother and two babbies. They're incredibly inquisitive birds and incredibly intelligent. They have a strange fixation with rubber, they peck at the rubber seal around car windows, they do this so much in fact, that rental car companies dont let you take their cars into areas where the birds are often found.
Before we were ready to head off back to Christchurch, we bought some snacks at the local shop and sat outside. Within seconds, about 5 keas had descended to the table where we had sat. i headed off to the car to get the camera and turned round to hear amy yelling that one of the them had nicked our bag of crisps! all i saw when i turned round was the bugger flying off over the trees with it! and this wasnt a small bag either, it was a large sized bag. We did get it back unopened however but we kept a firm hold of everything else we had.