Day 12 - Punakaiki Pancake Rock and Blowholes

We checked out from our Greymouth motel and drove along the west coast

Nice beaches along the way.. :D


Blue blue sky :D A lot of people chose to travel in campervan. The idea is cool and save on accomdation cost. But I can't figure how people clear their.. erm.. output.. haha..

Finally we reached Pancake Rock. Quite a lot of tourist in the area.

Kids running around :P

The place has nice, well built walking path. And amazingly.. entrance is totally free..

Tourist admiringly the view

The pancake rock... it's a pity we came too early. The blowholes only 'spray' out water on high tide.. we didn't have the luxury to wait another 1,2 hours. Plus weather is really warm!

Lunch break

After the Pancake Rock visit, we went to a cafe nearby for lunch and rest.. :P

My regular dose of hot chocolate.. :D

Williams Creek

Driving along the route, we passed by a nice place called Williams Creeks.

People are relaxing here.. I can see some people flying kites, walking their dogs, strolling with kids... sea gulls flying around.. sounds like a good dream.. lol. :D

This tree trunk looks like a complicated art piece.. lol.. and it looks like an alien lying on the beach.. lol..


I like the smooth sand formation

Enjoying the walk

There's a nice little stream/river here.. feels cooler.. lol..

Tree branch by the beach

Another Y shaped trunk :P

What a nice place and i'm glad we dropped by.. :D

Day 12 - Arthur's Pass

We checked out from Greymouth's motel and headed towards Arthur's Pass which is about 2 hours drive away

On the way there, we passed by a train track. This is the Alpine Train route. Most of the time, we are driving along side the Alpine train track.. :D

Arthur's Pass Motel Backyard

This is the backyard of the motel where we stayed. This is the bathroom's window view.. :D Looks somewhat fairy tale like.. doesn't it?

Day 13 - Exploring beyond Arthur's Pass

As Arthur's Pass village is quite a small place (no kidding, you can walk the entire village in about 10,15 minutes.. :D)

We decided to drive toward the Cave Stream Scenic Reserve today. It's about 1.5 hours drive away. We didn't check beforehand whether Arthur's Pass Village has any petrol station. We were quite worried about the petrol 1/2 way into the drive as we couldn't see any petrol station anywhere... :P (And yes, it has one at the village in case you r curiuos)

We stopped at Edwards Rivers. So many lupins here.. :P

We drove passed the bridge and stop at this place with lots of rocks..

Finally we reached the Cave.. But we weren't well equipped to walk inside so we had to turn back.. you'll get a little wet as in some of the parts, your leg will be in water.. :P (the deepest level might be waist high -__-)

If that doesn't sound scary and you are interested to go inside, things to bring includes:
- torch with spare batteries

- warm clothing and hat

- good footwear

Arthur's Pass National Park.. Wow wow!

See the clouds.. so interesting and dramatic!

Punchbowl Falls Track

We went to visit Punchbowl Falls Track at Arthur's Pass Village. It's a 131 m waterfall and takes about 1 hour to complete.

We passed by a river at the beginning of the track.


So many steps to climb to the top. tiring.. haha..

Finally we reached the fall! The bottom of the fall has a rainbow.. :D You can feel the water spraying in your face.. haha..

Another portion at the lower part of the fall

Day 14 - Heading towards Christchurch

It's time to pack up and checkout Arthur's Pass. So sad.. last stop which means nearing the end of the trip.. :P



Driving away from our motel.. in the rain.. hehe..



Passing by Arthur's Pass National Park

At one of the stopover. The weather today is simply awesome!

See what we found here.. in this very remote place.. we were caught by surprise to see a dalmatian here.... btw, it's looking for a nice poo place.. lol.

Our car with the nice backdrop.. hehe

I love this part of the journey.. i couldn't resist clicking away.. hehe..

See that UFO cloud..? hehe..

Very nice visual treat along the way

the lighting on the mountain are soft and nice.. :D

Another short stopover to click click click away..

And I'd say again.. The Kiwis are one lucky bunch of people living in heaven on earth.. !

Springfield train station

We stopped at this train station to use the bathroom.. hehe.. kinda nice place to take a break and take pix.. lol

A parked train carridge

Sheffield Pie Shop

Somewhere after the Springfield town, we stopped at Sheffield to hunt for the famouse Sheffield Pie!!

I must say.. IT'S REALLY YUMMY....

Sitting outside the pie shop to munch our pie..


here's what our pie looks like.. I had beef pie

This is my fren's pie.. They are piping hot and yummy ~~~~~~

Back to Christchurch

We are back to Christchurch.. kinda sad cos it means it's the end of our NZ trip soon..

Checking into our nice motel


The motel owner recommended us to walk to the nearby park

Punting along the Avon River

Cathedral Square ~ the Landmark of Christchurch

We passed by the Bridge of Remembrance. I like the lighting on the monument.

Approaching sunset.. i like the glow and the contrast of the shadow and light in this scene..

At the botanic garden, we heard the sound of guitar slowly approaching.. i peeked out and saw 2 person approaching... so I composed them with the flowers.. haha.. the music fits the mood.. they didn't even notice me..

It's a pity some of the flowers at the botanic garden weren't maintain nicely.. some were dried up.. and left there.. I thought Sydney Botanic Garden was better

Day 15 - It's time to go home

After a much fruitful trip, it's time to go home again.

NZ is really a memorable place showcasing the best of mother earth... I do hope some day I can come again.. :D (airline, reduce your ticket price please ~~~~~)