after the short walk to the small water falls, we decided to do a bit more strenuous of a hike. Devil's Punchbowl falls are visible from the main road. the walk to the falls wasn't long, but climbed steeply, going up many flights of stairs. a nice couple from NZ offered to take our picture with falls in the background:

mom getting a bit winded (we did switch part way up):

here are a few shots from the viewing platform:



finn even walked part of the way down:


we got back to the van and headed down the pass toward the west coast. by then the weather had cleared up and we saw some really pretty terrain. it seemed like a cross between a temperate and tropical rain forest. there were lots of palm tree type trees, lots of ferns and tons of flax plants. we'd see the flax everywhere:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_flax

at one of the pull offs this bird was poking around. we saw several of these on various hikes, and none of them were terribly concerned with us. we later learned that they are called wekas.


here's another pulloff view:


a note about NZ driving, they drive on the left side. i found that adjustment surprisingly easy. the camper had a manual transmission that had reverse where US cars have first gear. that was bit more difficult to get used to. not to mention the years of abuse the transmission seems to have received prior to our rental.

all of the highways were two way, narrow roads. bridges were mostly one way. one direction had the right of way. drivers were pretty courteous, so that was no problem. traffic was fairly minimal anyway. and half the traffic seemed to be other camper vans. it seems that is the preferred vacation method for Kiwis and many other tourists.