Travel: Down the edges, through the passes, up the mountains steep 🏔

Started the day at the parking from the Junction Cafe. It’s a parking for self-contained vans just before Arthurs Pas. It’s the pass we want to drive today and explore some of this area everyone is talking about. Can it come up to the expectations after our triple drive through Haast?

Well the day started at it’s best with a nice sunrise. Way better than the rain we got last night after the glowworms.

Such a shame that after some driving the sun dissapeared completely. But even grey and misty we hope to see some of Arthurs its fame.

Our first stop for the day was at the Devil’s Punchbowl falls and the track called Arthur’s valley. Last one I didn’t walk because I noticed that my D700 gave an error while watching over the falls. Last night some people stumbled at my equipment and only checked if the people and my lenses where ok (not my body). So this morning my body returned an error... well you can say I was a little bit too grumpy and forgot to enjoy the amazing view at the fall. My girlfriend wanted to do the Arthur’s Valley track so we decided she would walk it and I would try to fix my camera.

After some trying and reading about the error I found the problem. I could manually solve it but that needs to be done with every lens change🙈 but anyway I was happy that I got it working again during our trip. The remaining problem I’ll solve when we return home. To late to join my girlfriend so decided to get back to the waterfall. Exploring waterfalls with a smile is way better I can tell you😉 This fall has everything you can expect from a waterfall: heigth, sprays, multiple stages, good viewingpoints.

My girlfriend joined me later again and we wanted to get closer. So we climbed off the beaten path our way to the fall. We found a nice pool (water is freezing cold!) and lots and lots of spray! We’re soaked in less then a minute🤣 I wanted to get as close as possible but the spray didn’t allow me to take any decent pictures. So I returned with a nice adventure but not the best pictures😎 my tip for this fall get away from the viewingplatform and find your way to the top.

After this we started our van to drive along but not without refuelling. So a nice coffee break (with good coffee!) at the only gas station in the area I presume we continued our trip.

We stopped again at a not so well known adventure I think. The DoC failed to promote this adventure properly I think. Lots of people unprepared at the parking. Oh boy those people missed some kind of an epic adventure. Walking through a stream in a cave. And this is totally free!?!

Took this picture from the arthurs pass website I have only a picture where my girlfriend and I are standing in front of this beautiful scenery.

It starts with a big cave opening where you step into the stream. The water was freezing cold and balls deep😬 we followed it up and downstream inside the cave. Upstream is easier to follow. Won’t spoil anything here but it’s a great dark adventure. @Valderrama you really should try this one 😎

After our cave adventure we brought a quick peek at Castle Hill but it started to rain again. So we decided that rock climbing is no fun in the rain while already cold from the cave adventure. But when your here you should start climbing those limestone boulders. They filmed an epic battle at this location. Check it out in Narnia the lion the witch and the wardrobe.

We started our van again and headed for our way back through Arthur’s pass. Why back I hear you think? Well if you can do Haast multiple times a day you must see Arthur’s pass from both sides as well!

We stayed for the night in Greymouth. Somewhere at Cobden. Not a beautifull view but close to a supermarket for two hungry people😍