The drive from Fox Glacier to Christchurch, along the Southern Alps beside the Tasman Sea, was our longest. It was a beautiful drive, but I’m still not entirely convinced we don’t have some places in the US (say…Alaska, Colorado, California) that have drives and passes that are just as spectacular. The aerial also shows how close were were back to Mount Cook / Aoraki, just on the western side.
Heading inland, the mountains started getting bigger & we noticed some pretty spectacular rock landslides.
Whole sections of the mountains appeared to be crumbling and melting away. The landscape was also dotted with these beautiful trees with brilliant red flowers.
Many more streams & rivers, including rocks that looked like they had been sprinkled with paprika.
This waterfall (slash giant gutter) was a new one for us
It was neat passing under Reid Falls & seeing the water pouring into the Otira Gorge.
I was able to capture a few quick snaps of these trees as we zipped by them.
So much rock sliding in this area there was barely any vegetation hanging on.
We stopped to have lunch at the little town of Arther’s Pass. Not much here but a bunch of other tourist & dozens of friendly (HUNGRY) kea.
This guy only had 1 leg, but seemed to be doing OK. The colors on the inside of their wings are just gorgeous and vibrant.
Coming back down the other side of the Alps & driving through more fertile valleys.
Last shot of the glaciers behind us as we headed to the last city on our tour.
GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: It’s my sister’s first day of High School!
(INSERT MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL “BLACK KNIGHT” SCENE JOKE HERE)