The Lewis Pass

There are three passes through the Southern Alps – north to south they are the Lewis Pass, Arthur’s Pass, and the Haast Pass. When I went from Christchurch to Fox Glacier, I went through Arthur’s Pass. Coming back from Westport, you take the Lewis Pass.

The two nights I stayed in Westport, I set up camp on a little shingle beach inside the river mouth:

Camping here is permitted as long as your van is fully self-contained. There’s something nice about waking up in a nice warm van and having a hot shower and a cup of tea in the middle of nowhere.

A couple of (not especially exciting) shots of Westport – you know why it means more to me than you.

Looking up-river from the south tiphead:

You can see the Shingle Beach on the left. The tall white structures are something to do with the concrete manufacturer just outside town.

Yes, a proper airport – with real flights to real places. Well, Wellington.

Heading out of town, the road follows the Buller River upstream:

The Buller Gorge Road is a spectacular drive, and a little scary in places. One lane bridges are common in the area but this road has areas where you go round a blind bend on a single lane:

You can see the road, carved into the rock face. To be fair, at the point where the road went round two blind corners, there were traffic lights to control access.

The road then branches off the Buller to follow the Inangahua River, which flows through the town of Reefton – named after the reefs of gold which were discovered there.

It has the feel of a “wild west” town about it.

Apart from gold, Reefton’s main claim to fame is that it provided the first public electricity supply in the southern hemisphere – in 1888. With all the engineers in the area, it’s perhaps not surprising that they came up with the idea here.

To generate the power, a hydroelectric scheme was built, diverting river water through a turbine. There is nothing left of that original power station, but there are still traces of a later one, from 1935. There are plans to do the site up and make something of a tourist attraction of it, but there isn’t any money at the moment. They have their work cut out. This is all that’s left of the tail race:

Access to the powerhouse is across the river on this bridge:

Looking down on the town from above:

A little further upstream is the Inangahua Swingbridge:

As I returned to the van, this little chap came wandering out to see what was about. He was really well camouflaged against the forest floor, so the camera had a hard job focussing, but I’m pretty sure it’s a Weka – an indigenous bird to New Zealand.

Heading further east, you get to the Lewis Pass:

The road bends round into the gap between the mountains.

Looking back a little further on:

My destination for the day was Hanmer Springs - a natural hot springs resort:

You know those charity collection boxes where you roll a coin into a sort of bowl and then it spirals round and round until it eventually falls through the hole in the bottom? Well, now I know how the coin feels. That yellow and blue stripy bowl is exactly such a thing which you are fired into perched in a sort of inner tube thing. Perhaps such things are common in water parks.

There are also two more normal flumes as well as fresh and natural water pools at various temperatures. It’s very pleasant to lie in what feels like a lovely hot bath and look up at the moon.

By night, it takes on a Dantean appearance: