Our tenth day of the trip, which happened to be Valentine's Day for us (but Feb. 13 at home), showcased the spectacular beauty of the Southern Alps. I think Wendy is starting to tire of my constant phrase..."oh, just let me stop real quick to take a photo..." She would not be surprised to find out I took hundreds of photos of mountains. Okay, I admit it. I like mountains. A LOT. hehehe.
So we started heading east on Arthur's Pass, a road that cuts across the top third of the South Island towards Christchurch. We had to face the sad reality that we simply could not make Queenstown and Milford Sound to the south without driving day and night just to get there and race back without seeing much. But we decided to make sweet nectar out of that news and so we hit the Southern Alps in search of great views and maybe some hiking.
A beautiful valley flanked with some fairly large mountains greeted us. Bridge over the river only allowed a few people on at a time. Some crazy bicyclist kept passing us as we stopped for photos and Wendy named him Apollo for his extreme fitness level. We decided that Apollo probably beat us to Christchurch and swam across Cook Strait with the bike strapped to his back. People are super in-shape in that country!
Holy smokes, photos cannot even show how crazy this road is. There is a sign for Death's Pass (turn left in 100 m)! It has a 16% grade--16%!!! There were diversions above the road for waterfalls and rockfalls, and we honestly had to dodge large rocks!
The "viaduct" roadway was built with much thought given to the native Maori traditions. This passage through steep mountains was a common route for their people and so the road was built above the pass rather than through the mountain to reflect their traditions of respect for nature. This viaduct style had the lowest environmental impact of all roadway options. It reminds me of photos I've seen of roads in the Swiss Alps.
Speaking of the environment, it was a whole lot colder up in these mountains, brrr! This area is home to the endangered kea bird, a strange green and red alpine parrot that is quite mischievous. They hop on cars and try to bite the rubber seals on car doors, they peck away on bike seats. This is the only place in the world where they live and they are not bashful creatures for as few as there are. Wendy offered her hand towards one and it bit her finger!! She can now rightfully claim she was bitten by an endangered alpine parrot.
We entered the Otira Valley and pulled into a relatively empty gravel lot surrounded by steep peaks that are covered with snow probably 11 months of the year. Right now they are simply gray gravel with rock rivers running down where snow typically slides.
Time for a tramp! That's what they call "hiking" or "backpacking" down there. We had to bundle up because alpine tramping required plenty of warm layers. There was a gravel road winding its way up a mountain so we struck out in hopes of a nice view of our surroundings. Sometimes it's too much to take it all in from the ground.
Up we hiked, further and further into the very strong wind gusts. Short alpine grasses, a skinny stripe of waterfall. The gravel road turned into a trail that involved a little more rock climbing. Views of a glacier up on the mountain, look for the light blue!
We took a short break on a bench (what a strange place for a bench! Although I personally needed a rest--the coughing from my cold was really bad).
Wendy went up a bit higher and I sat and admired the sparkling beauty of this region. Fresh chilly mountain air in the lungs, views of amazing mountain peaks holding glaciers in their grasp. I couldn't ask for a nicer place to spend some time. Just breathtaking.
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