The Bealey Valley Track starts with a rough climb up through tree roots and boulders.
The track then crosses the Bealey Chasm, a narrow chute of huge white boulders with turquoise water cascading through them.
The steep path continues through a thick beech forest before suddenly opening up onto a boggy snow grass meadow surrounded by mountains.
Those are snow grass tussocks in the foreground
The alpine meadow has many unusual plants and is quite beautiful.
This bright red sundew, a carnivorous plant is tiny, about the size of a pencil eraser
White Gentian
On our way back down the track I was able to get a shot of a tiny bird, 13 cm (5 inches) tall.
Ngirungiru - South Island Tomtit
A relatively flat part of the track
In the last blog, Arthurs Pass - Part 1, I wrote about the challenges of building the Otira Railway Tunnel. We discovered that there also is a massive 440 meter (1440 feet) long vehicle overpass called the Otira Viaduct in the pass, spanning a deep and seismically unstable canyon. It was opened in 1999 to replace a narrow winding road, called the Zig-Zag.
In 1929 an earthquake caused a section of the Zig-Zag to slip into the canyon and in 1943 there was further erosion of the road, all of which convinced the government that the viaduct must be built. Rock falls and water damage continue to be risks, even today, so protection was included when the viaduct was built.
Rock avalanche protection – You can see the rock fall protection structure
on the left and a giant “downspout” carrying water over the road on the right
the carnivorus plant looks a bit like a venus fly trap, don't you think? Also, the alvalance protection and the downspout look a bit precarious. You mentioned that the area is seismically unstable. Yikes!
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