Arthur’s Pass & Hokitika

Got up early this morning to watch the All Blacks game on TV and were stunned (but quite pleased) to see them lose to France. Michael was trying to check the football scores on his mobile and discovered that England actually beat the Aussies! We didn’t even bother trying to find out as we thought it was a foregone conclusion! Couldn’t watch the game as it was on at 2am or 3am over here. Good news all round. The few Kiwis we’ve spoken to are obviously not happy but are now fully behind England, as I think they hate the Aussies more than we do!

After brekkie we hit the road and did a 150km drive over to Arthur’s Pass, through the mountains. As always, the most amazing backdrop for a road trip and we got some great photos (check out the ones on Flickr that we took from Death’s Corner – great name!). We visited a couple of lodges, one of which had the best view you could ask for (it’s also the cottage, we learned, that Billy Crystal was staying in a few months back). I’ve also taken a bit of video of the view from the patio of the cottage – will post a link when I’ve upped it onto YouTube.

No need for lunch as we had a full cooked one (again! oh dear) so we kept moving and did the next 120km on to Hokitika, which is a small, seaside town on the West Coast. It’s a bit run down but is having something of a renaissance as a tourist stop, after being left to fall apart for the last 100 years. Back then it was New Zealand’s major port during the gold rush times. Tonight, we’re heading into Hokitika for a bite to eat. We can’t stomach another sit down restaurant (I never thought I’d say that, but the eating has just been endless!) so we’re going off a recommendation and hitting a casual place called Stumpers.

Thankfully, I’ve found that there’s a sports channel over here that is carrying the Chinese Grand Prix, so I’m heading back to watch that and hopefully see Lewis make history!! Fingers crossed! Fairly quiet day planned for tomorrow after all the driving and hotel inspections today … a drive down the West Coast (apparently voted one of the top 10 drives in the world) to the glaciers!