Onwards

We woke up after a small lie in and went about our usual morning routine of getting the camper and ourselves ready for the day. The best part of the campsite we learned that morning were the showers, hot and powerful it felt like heaven after so many days of luke warm dribbles or no shower at all. Stuart and I both felt like new people that morning as we set off to drive Arthurs Pass. The pass really was as spectacular as the guidebooks stated with winding roads, towering mountains, wild scenery and huge bridges.
 
We stopped at the information site in Arthurs Pass Village to read about the discovery of the pass and the making of the road and railway through the mountains. It was an interesting display and we learnt that the fault, which runs through Arthurs pass, the Alpine Fault, is predicted to create a magnitude 9 earthquake every 300 years, with the last major earthquake occurring in 1717. If the sums are done correctly this means that western New Zealand is in for a big shock in the near future. Hopefully we will be well out of range before this happens.
 

After the pass we drove down the eastern side of the alps to the Canterbury plains on the far side of the mountain range. Here we stopped and had a walk around Castle Hill, a limestone outcropped hill with loads of karst weathered limestone which is popular for bouldering. We spent the night freedom camping at lake Pearson.