Day 7 Monday (8/08/2011)

Up at 7am for a cuppa and head off to Greymouth.  THAT was our plan.  We drove for a while and saw an alternate route to Arthurs Pass where we didn't have to go through Greymouth.  From what I remember from our last NZ trip, Greymouth was not a place I desperately wanted to see again anyway.  So we took the Tourist Route.  Not long into this drive Ian spotted another young guy hitching a lift.  THIS time we pulled over and gave him a ride.  I wasn't going to miss my opportunity to show God I'd learned my lesson and be obedient.  (for the rest of our holidays we never saw another hitchhiker)  He was only going 25 minutes to Jackson's, which was on our way.  His name is Jamie Mackay.  We had a great chat with him and dropped him off to his farm just outside Jackson's, but not before we gave him our details and said 'If you're ever in Oz...'  When we came to Jackson's Tavern, I realised it was one of the places I'd had a chicken pie last trip; one of the better pies too!  But alas, it was closed.  Closed Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday in Winter!!!  What the???   Time check Ian?  9:58am.  Oh well, press on to Arthurs Pass.  We arrived around lunchtime but not before we gave all our water to a guy who was overheated at the top of the range.  He was so grateful he offered Ian some weed!  Haha.  Ian knocked back his kind offer.

At the Pass we bought a chicken, cranberry and brie pie for me and a mince pie for Ian.  Our lunch.  Scores on the pie?  Pastry; getting there, nice and flaky, but not brill, 6/10.  Filling; not enough of it for a start, the chicken was nice, and I could taste a hint of brie in places, but where was the cranberry?, 6/10.  Overall?  The pie looked like and under-stuffed overstuffed couch.  It looked okay and tasted okay, but that's all.  No 'wow' factor for me there, 6/10.

We checked out the little reserve where we stayed last time, and practised putting on snow chains.  A bit tricky, but a bloke who was taking his kids to see the snow gave us a demo.  Thanks man!  We drove a few km's down the road and found a nice place to park near the river and with a beautiful view of snow-capped peaks.  I painted a 'not-too-shabby' watercolour for a beginner, and Ian did some exercise.  He followed that with a quick rinse in the icy stream (captured on video of course!)

Chicken, leek and white wine sauce to go with pasta again tonight for dinner.  Then the usual relax, reading before sleep.

I forgot to mention that a native NZ bird (parrot), the Kea lives in these high altitudes.  There were plenty of them so tame and looking for food from all the tourists.  We had an encounter with a very friendly Kea who was waiting for us at a lookout and posed nicely for me on the side-view mirror.  When we parked our van for the night, one of them waited right outside the door, calling out every now and then.  When we didn't respond, he found a spot so he could watch us through the campers rear window.  They are very clever and very CUTE!

Arthurs Pass tunnelly thing

Ian practising snow chains

The Kea who came to visit us