Post # 5

St. Arnaud to Coleridge Lake

1989km to 2080km

300km

Nelson Lakes to Hurunui hut

Climbing back into the mountains
after a rest day at St.Arnaud

Nice weather this stretch

True alpine rambling

Complete with dodgy parts......

.....an unavoidable part of the trail

(People have died here!)

'Sunshine' at one of the many river crossings

After awhile you give up on keeping your boots dry!

One of the nicer huts - really nice to have a wood burning stove

Even nicer to soak in a natural hot spring!!

Arthur's Pass National Park

'Cate' on a single cable suspension bridge

Me in a 2 bunk emergency 'bivy'

Tom in 'swampland'

Flying out the 'honey bucket'

Victory close at hand

Final descent to Arthur's pass

And a  reluctant 'wash up'

Last bit to Lake Coleridge

Cyclone 'Gita' coming in

Cyclone 'Gita' has arrived

'Rescued' by 'Pickup and Dropoff' just in time!

Recovering by the fire at Lake Coleridge Lodge

Very nice!!

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Coaches Corner

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Lodging - camping

Occasionally we get a pleasant site like this.....nicely tucked in.

And sometimes not!.....tucked into 'gypsy' town here.

(Usually it's more like our 'KOA' campsites)

Lodging - Motels

On Darrell's rest days we'll often take a motel

And cook our own meals.....

(that way you can get soused while making dinner and not worry about driving!)

They come in all sizes and shapes

Sandy cooks, Darrell does the dishes and I just 'whelp'

(that is: "watch and appear to help"

Roads and infrastructure

Not typical but not unusual

Driver's view - one lane of course - pray you don't meet a lorry!

Creek in the way? - no problem....send it overhead!

Similar to our Kicking Horse bridge east of Golden

..... they don't always get it right.

One lane bridges....a unique NZ feature.... almost all non-motorway bridges are one lane!

(Couldn't they build it just a bit wider in the first place??)

Trains

New Zealand Rail ......a stingy outfit.

Why build your own bridge when you can use a highway bridge?

Why go the long way when you can go through a automotive round-a-bout?

Glow worms

Looks exactly like the night sky...... by design....it's a trap! 

Insects are programed to fly towards the open sky...i.e. towards the stars

A flash picture reveals what's really there.......

......The glow worm (larvae) and his web of sticky blobs.

Once trapped the insects are pulled up and devoured

Eradication

 New Zealand has no problem irradicating anything considered

to be a pest......and they mean business .....total annihilation 

Traps to get rid of possums, stoats and ratts

poisons  for wasps

And viral control for a rabbit explosion!

Just goes to show we're a long way from home!

Cyclone Gita

Water everywhere.....have to drive slow to keep the engine dry

Storm ravaged rivers........impossible to ford so we're bypassing the worst of it.

Heading for Mt Cook for now and will return later!

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