Through Arthur's Pass into Hokitika

A gloomy sky greeted us in Christchurch; we cooked our breakfast on the barbecue-meet-stove outdoors, and then packed our bags. Our hostess had suggested we visit the top of the hill for a view of the city, and we stopped by for a quick, rainy visit before hitting the road again.



We stopped at Arthur's Pass, where we ate our first meat pies of the trip, I successfully mailed some postcards, and debated on buying some warmer layers - ultimately decided against, something my future self would regret.



After eating, we went for a rain-filled hike to the Devils Punchbowl Waterfalls.

We made another stop at the Kokatahi Valley, where the gorgeous turquoise water of Hokitika Gorge peeked through the greenery of the surrounded forest.









We finally arrived in Hokitika, and raided one of the two tiny convenience-grocery stores in the area for our dinner. There were beautiful fallen petals outside our place, which brightened up the gloomy day.




Where else would you go to see the sunset if not at Sunset Point?





I got a little restless waiting for the sunset, and took a walk along the rocky beach. Being near water made me feel giddy and brought me back to the times I would entertain myself with small joys, such as the colourful, shiny rocks that would have definitely made it into the rock collection of my eight year-old self.






After the sun dipped below the horizon, we waited until nighttime to head to the glow-worm dell. As evidenced by the blurry photo below, it was extremely hard to capture the delight of the cave, but glow-worms looked like greenish-blue stars in the darkness, and I was in awe, spinning around to look at them until I got dizzy.




With that, we walked back under the brilliantly starlit night sky. The night air was chilly, and the place damp, and I shivered myself to sleep with a playlist warming my ears.