Today we drove to Greymouth, leaving Twizel on a foggy, chilly morning. Our route for the day would take us through Arthurs pass National park and then on towards the west coast. The area is very popular with hikers since many of the mountain peaks are over 2000m. Also, the tiny Arthurs pass village is a stop off for the famous and scenic TranzAlpine train journey that travels daily between Greymouth and Christchurch.

As we headed out of Twizel the fog started to lift. The roads soon became very interesting as we neared Arthurs pass. In the campervan we had to squeeze over some of the one way bridges and the twists and turns in the road in addition to the steep incline required some careful driving. We have noticed on many of the NZ roads, as in Australia roadside crosses are a common sight, reminding people of earlier fatalities, very sad.

We entered Arthurs pass in pretty poor weather which was a real shame as we couldn't get the full effect as many of the mountains were obscured by low cloud. However, we did stop at a place called deaths corner (interesting name!) where we were rewarded with an impressive view into the canyon below. We were also greeted by lots of Kea, a native parrot. They were very curious and not at all nervous of us.

We then got back in the van and headed to Greymouth. Sadly the weather had turned for the worse by this point, a shame as the holiday park was literally next to the beach. To warm up and relax for a bit we decided to use the spa, 30 minute jacuzzi, good therapy after a long drive.