Chasing the Snow up in the Pass

Monday 13 July

Seeing as we could see the snow on the mountains from our lovely park up at the Mountain Views POP, it seemed only right that we should head up into Arthur’s Pass to check out the wintery scenes up there.

So we packed a picnic and set off late morning, driving up to Kura Tawhiti, Castle Hill via Porter’s Pass.

There was not much snow left here, just a small icy patch here and there, but we spent a wonderful couple of hours climbing up to the top of the rocks on the left hand side of the pathway in, getting epic views across the tors from a new direction.

There was just enough blue sky and watery wintery sunlight to make the scenery into a soft backdrop for the strong grey rocks - especially with the snow capped mountains behind.

We looped around the back of the main rocks, taking in all the extraordinary beauty of the place. The markings on the rocks are fascinating - there are corrugations where water has flowed and carved out channels, there are pitted holes from water drips and there are a few ammonite fossil spirals too 🌀. Louis and I posed against one of the larger rock formations - humans added for scale - some of these boulders are enormous! And the pompom ears on my hat kind of reflected some of the fancier rock shapes!

This golden inverted teardrop of limestone (pic below), perched precariously way above the ground is probably my favourite thing here - it is so incongruous in its shape & placement. And the nearby dip in the rocks always reminds me of a love heart… my attempt to mimic it wasn’t that great! 🩶

Much of the patterning on the stones is caused by millennia of water and wind damage… this stone above however has been brushed clean in a windscreen wiper pattern by the wind and this wee bush! Louis tested out the tarn… it was full of mini-icebergs but the full ice covering had either melted or been shattered by tourists

We had fun in amongst the boulders… Louis almost blended in with his greeny-grey chunky cardigan and grey hat - I had to make him stand by a golden cave in the rocks to make him visible! At one point we heard the annoying buzz of a drone overhead - Louis did his civic duty, heading over to remind a tourist flying a drone that there is an $800 fine for doing this without permission. It's frustrating that we bought a drone for this odyssey but can rarely fly it as there are so many restrictions down here so it makes us a bit grumpy seeing people fly them illegally despite multiple warning signs.

We headed back to the Pajero, grabbed our lunch & picnicked at the carved shelter by the carpark; you are requested not to eat over by the stones as they are considered wahi tapu.

Then we hopped back into ELLAMY and headed back towards Porter’s Pass. As we came to the turning for the Porters Alpine Resort we saw people heading in there so decided to follow them and see what was up at the end of the road.

Turned out the Lodge was open so we ordered a latte and a hot chocolate. The lodge was decorated with all manner of fun signage and memorabilia - I was chuffed to see that I had my own ski run here! Louis took his latte out onto the terrace, walked round the corner and a howling gale whipped all the foam off his coffee!!! We chose to sit on the sheltered side of the deck instead! 😮. I can report that my hot chocolate was delicious, but disappeared far too quickly!

We weren't much higher than we had been at Kura Tawhiti, Castle Hill but there was way more snow over here. We stomped about in the snow which was quite deep in places, and watched the kids hooning down the “play slopes” on toboggans… so much fun! The play slopes were $15 per person plus $15 if you needed to rent a sledge or toboggan. It looked heaps of fun - the kids were having a blast!

Heading back out of the pass, we stopped in Springfield (obligatory Simpsons Donut photos) then detoured to Darfield Post Office as we were almost out of RUCs. At the moment when I took a shot of the map, we only had 20kms worth left so we were just in time!

Back via Sheffield (obligatory pie shop stop) but I have to ask, why have they painted it navy & yellow now? It looks more like real estate agent branding than the traditional pie shop colours 🥧

We took a brief stop and drove down to the river bed at the Waimakariri Gorge on the way back from Sheffield - the bridge overhead is amazing - built in 1877 out of steel girders and still going strong… though it makes an absolute racket as big lorries trundle over! The rock of the gorge is fascinating - with layers of hard rock pushed up vertically and softly rounded grey river stones filling the riverbed at the base. The waters flowing past and under the bridge had a hint of that beautiful glacial flour aquamarine colour - much diluted now as they are quite away from the glacial mountains down here.

OK - so left and right of the triptych against the graffitied post are July 2026, centre shot was from June 2023! Same sweater and I almost wore the same jeans too!!! 😄 Same with the shots of the big FILTHE strut in the water - the top is from 2026 and the bottom was taken by Ella in 2023!

What a wonderful day out! We were welcomed back by the speckled cows, then settled into Banjo for the evening; Sheffield pie for Louis for dinner, cheese & crackers for me and then more Downton Abbey… finale is looming!