Sunset in the Pass

As our heli-hike on the Franz Josef was cancelled for the second time due to bad weather, Stuart and I decided to try our luck with Arthur’s Pass. The pass is commonly known throughout New Zealand as one of the most scenic drives in the whole country, with a winding road cutting through the dramatic and imposing western alps. By the time we reached the pass it was getting near sundown so we decided to drive to an overlook about a quarter of the way through the pass to watch the sunset. A short walk to a viewpoint gave us the perfect spot to watch the sun go down and watch the clouds slowly turning pink. It was a great view and we were sad to leave but we had a bit of a drive to get back to our campsite for the night so we headed back.
 
As we got to the campervan we noticed two Kea birds perched at the side of the carpark. The Kea is an endangered species with only between 1000-5000 birds left in the wild, so to see two was very special. The birds were very inquisitive and one even decided to take a liking to our campervan when our back was turned, hiding underneath. We watched them scavenge for food with their green feathers flashing as they hopped from one section of bush to another. It was great fun to watch these smart birds but we had to move on, checking the underside of our camper before moving off for stray kea.
 
One feature of the camp we stayed in just outside Arthurs pass was a glowworm trail, which at night you could follow to see some spectacular glowworms, which were filmed as part of a BBC documentary. We thought we couldn’t miss this opportunity so at 11pm we headed into the woods with our red plastic covered torches to search for the glowworms and if we were lucky spot the elusive kiwi. We found a huge number of glowworms along the banks of a small river, which ran about a 15 walk out of the camp. When the torches were off the glowworms could be seen stretching into the distance, lighting up the river bank.