Arthur's Pass 

Arthur’s Pass – climbing to more than 900 metres – is the highest and most spectacular pass across the Southern Alps. If you’re traveling from Canterbury to the West Coast, this is the road to take. It is a piece of extreme engineering involving viaducts, bridges, rock shelters and waterfalls redirected into chutes. Stop at Arthur’s Pass village and you can head off on a number of short walks. The entrance to the historic Otira rail tunnel can be seen here - an epic engineering feat through 8.5 kilometres of rock.

Arthur’s Pass National Park itself is a landscape of two halves. On the eastern side you will see wide shingle-filled riverbeds and vast swathes of beech forest. Descend the western side and you drive through dense rainforest alongside and over deeply gorged rivers. Recreation possibilities abound in the Park. Go hiking on any of the walks off the main road and you will see amazing natural attractions including, most likely, New Zealand’s inquisitive and comical alpine parrot, the kea. Arthur’s Pass is also a renowned for mountaineering while, for the snowboarder, the Temple Basin Ski Area has become a must see destination.