As per usual, we check out and find coffee – The Lonely Stag Cafe & Store provides us a couple of flat whites for our drive

We have a brief stop in Hokitika again to grab some needed roadtrip supplies and then continue on

After about three hours of driving, we make it to the Otira Viaduct Lookout which you have to access via a road called Deaths Corner

At this point, we’ve entered Arthur’s Pass National Park and we’re aiming to have lunch in Arthur’s Pass Village at the Alpine Parrot Cafe and Bar

We have a beef burger meal each and get to see the chaos that is at least four different mischievous wild keas

Known also as the clowns of the mountain, these birds are different to others in that they actively seek out humans as they’re quite the thieves, with records of sandwiches, shoes and photography equipment being nicked by them!

Once we finish, we wander down Punchbowl Road to start the tramping route to the Devils Punchbowl Waterfall

The walk takes us approximately 40 minutes and then we continue with our drive

Further eastward is Castle Hill and we stop at the local Conservation Area here in place to protect the limestone geological features

Dave also finds out that this is a filming location from LotR, known as Edoras

From here, it’s a short drive to where we’ll be staying this evening – Springfield has embraced its famous namesake and has its very own Homers Donut

Finally, we check into Smylies Motel – the owner has a few farm animals so we go and check them out (see the featured image)

After, we head to a nearby town for some dinner supplies from various places in Darfield, including Four Square, Satkaar Indian Takeaway and Darfield Kebab & Souvlaki

Back to our motel, we cook CTM and have it with the other purchased components

Another cloudy night so we can’t see the stars again tonight!