Awoke to a glorious sunny day in Greymouth and headed off for Arthur’s Pass on our way to the area around Mt. Cook. The drive wasn’t as terrifying as I had expected. I think I was picturing something like driving between glaciers on Mt. Cook!  Although the road was steep and narrow, we’ve been on other roads about as tough.  (Of course, since Rich did all that driving, maybe I underestimate how tough it was.)

I wasn’t feeling like much hiking today, so Rich did several hikes while I sat admiring the lovely scenery and reading.  Hurrah for Kindles! 

First Rich did the Devil’s Punchbowl hike at the Arthur's Pass National Park visitor center, then I joined him on a short hike to see the waterfall from a distance.

Then we drove to the Cave Stream parking lot and I read while Rich hiked to see both entrances to the cave.

Then back down from Arthur’s Pass with an occasional glimpse of some tall peaks. Drove briefly along a lovely lake. The mountains on the eastern side of the Southern Alps are not as lush as those on the western side – presumably due to less rain, although we did have light rain on and off for a couple of hours during our drive..

One odd thing we saw on the drive today.  We are used to seeing rows of trees planted as windbreaks.  Some of the ones we saw today were pruned regularly to form quite tidy hedges – but they are perhaps 15’ high and 5’ thick running the length of a field.  I wonder why???

Our hotel is right on Lake Tekapo, with the balcony on our room overlooking the lake.

Cloudy tonight, so we didn’t go to the Mt. John observatory.  (The fact that it is $85 per person had a bit to do with it!)  Perhaps tomorrow.