Heading Back Over the Lewis Pass

Tuesday 13 January

We woke early in our peaceful POP, packed up in a leisurely fashion and late morning we left Mt Arthur view and the little lonely Elddis caravan by the fence and set off for the Lewis Pass, via Murchison. Pausing in Tapawera while Louis emptied the grey & black water, i purchased some gorgeous fresh berries and wondered what the bizarre bush was in front of the Four Square - the "leaves" were like giant pine needles, slightly jointed, with the occasional crusty white outburst of flowers - very odd.

It was a glorious day and the landscapes we drove through were simply stunning. When we came the other way back in Spring it was grey & rainy but this time the sunshine highlighted the glorious greens of summer and the torrents of filthy brown water were now pleasant rivers of aquamarine tumbling through the valleys.

Pics below show the difference between today and back on 21 October!

Stopped at Murchison to stretch legs, use their funky facilities, buy a Tutaki pie (closed on Tuesday we discovered 🙄) and a real fruit ice cream from Calamity Jane (open on a Tuesday). Heading out of Murchison alongside the Buller, there was still evidence of the spring, and more recent, summer storms - with workers on cranes and abseiling down cliffs to try and secure recent landslips.

Back on the road for an hour then we pulled into Marble Hill (singular) DOC camp to park up for lunch. Happy memories of staying here back in October.

We could have stayed here again, but decided to try out Deer Valley DOC camp in the other side of the Lewis Pass so bounced our way up and over the top (very dodgy road repairs after the October flooding & wash outs!) and joined a gazillion sandflies in Deer Valley! The montage below shows the many faces of Deer Valley DOC Camp - a crashed car hiding in the bushes, a family memorial, the stream flowing though, a lovely spot for a picnic (if not for the sandflies!) and a cool rooftop camper - but hard to convey just how many sandflies there were!

Set up in a nice wee spot and then drive back to the summit carpark to walk a km or two of the St James Walkway - though Southern Alpine forests of beech and Totara, hung with lichens and carpeted with moss and ancient wood chips.

It was very beautiful but the path was scattered with fallen trees and just after the wee waterfall we turned back as the next obstacle was quite a muddy challenge to circumnavigate!

Dinner in Banjo - no chance of BBQing or eating by the lovely stream or we would have been eaten alive! The weather was changing as we fell asleep - gentle pitter patter of rain as the night wore on.