After several walks along the hills and beaches of the east coast of New Zealand, it was time to head inland. Packs on backs, we schlepped our stuff through the construction site known as Christchurch and boarded a small van to Arthur’s Pass.

Located about halfway between the east and west coasts of the southern island, Arthur’s Pass is one of five passes through the Southern Alps that run the length of the island. It's named after some guy (Sir Arthur Dudley Dobson) who had to have the Maori show him it’s location then hold his hand to guide him through. There is a small hamlet of the same name a few kilometers from the highest point of the pass, which is where we hunkered down for a few nights at the YHA Mountain House.

Tiny hamlet of Arthur's Pass. It has about 7 buildings and, terribly enough, only one bar.

We were lucky to have our choice of accommodations when we arrived and jumped into one of the small cabins up the road (and a hill) from the main hostel building. This was a cozy space with three bedrooms, kitchen, common area, and, most importantly, a fireplace. We had the first night to ourselves, which was quite nice.

The first day in the Pass, it was raining. The second day, it was pouring. As I mentioned, we were lucky to have a fireplace, so we spent these two days relaxing and warming up. The second night, we were joined by a few other guests - two young Chinese ladies, who hid in their room the whole time, and two lovely Aussie women with whom we quickly became friends. Mel and Kate were taking holiday together to celebrate being friends for 25 years!

The only cafe in town. And grocery store. And bottle shop. And convenient store. And breakfast place. And it closes early.

They were both very funny and nice and told us a lot about Australia. Mel shared a particularly insightful tidbit about the way Aussies talk (and Kiwi’s as well), basically describing themselves as lazy. They shorten any words they can. Mel is short for Melissa for starters. Melbs instead of Melbourne, vege instead of vegetable, Mac’ers instead of MacDonalds, mossies instead of mosquitoes, and so on. They also add an “o” to some names as well. Kate was Kat-o, Mike is Mike-o, etc; I'm sure I'd eventually be Ry-o, so as to shorten it and add an “o.” Anyway, they were good times.

The weather finally broke on the third day so we decided to head up towards Avalanche Peak via Scott’s Track. Evidently, Avalanche Peak is a place where people go to do dumb things and get injured and/or killed because there are signs all over the hostel about How to Get Killed on Avalanche Peak. Can anyone guess how the peak gets its name?

Here I am hiking like a totally normal person up a steep trail.

After proving our inability to follow a map by taking a good while to find the entrance to the track, we began our ascent. It became immediately apparent that this track would be unlike the any other tracks we had previously ventured on. Within a few minutes, we were having to scramble up rocks with hands and feet, more climbing than walking really. I also immediately knew I would enjoy this a lot. I love to climb things. Always have. I have often fell off the things I climbed. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea?

Just enjoying nature with all of my senses.

Spoiler alert! I didn't fall off the mountain. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to the summit either. I think we could have but neither of us has climbing or scrambling experience and there was no one to help us along, so we got to the end of Scott's Track just above the bushline (about 1,200 meters) and then turned back.

After Scott’s Track, we spent the next day and a half exploring the rest of the area. Arthur's Pass is full of sharp peaked mountains and deep ravines, so there are plenty of places to walk and see some spectacular sights. Waterfalls grace the sides of many of the mountains and flow swiftly into the braided Deception River. New Zealand is one of the few places on Earth that has braided rivers. They are wide, flat areas filled with large stones. The river constantly changes course as the rocks shift around the riverbed.

And there's a waterfall. And there's a waterfall. Really, they were just everywhere.

The Devil’s Punchbowl is a large waterfall with a dedicated track. You can see it from many locations if you don't feel the need to go up there and get sprayed in the face. The Bealey Valley Track ends in quite a spectacular spot and the walk was quite nice. The Misery Lake and Otira Valley Track was interesting even though it was raining most of the day though it was a bit muddy. This track takes you over the highest point of the Pass at 910 meters.

The end of the Bealey Valley Track was awesome. Kiwi's use that word A LOT. Everything is awesome here according to them.

The Pass is also filled with the world’s only alpine parrot known as keas. We were told they are the smartest parrots in the world. They will try to make off with anything not tied down including but not limited to - bits of cars, boots, bags, food, cameras, and phones. We saw one hop into the store, grab a candy bar, and fly off. They just really love to take things apart. And screech, “keeeeeyaaaaaaa” when they fly around.

This guy will definitely take your shit. He won't even use your iPhone after he grabs it, he's got like 12 anyway.

Here is one in it's natural habitat. In a tree above your car, ready to steal your wiper blades.

Although it rained quite a bit while we were there and was a bit colder than our first few walks, the fantasy-like alpine forests and beautiful mountainsides were well worth a few days of exploration. Having a fireplace was nice too.

An enchanted forest of mythical proportions. This is Treebeard's 2nd cousin twice removed on his mother's side.

Melissa spying on me in the enchanted forest.