New Zealand II: Arthur's Pass

By Fernando Rodriguez Villegas

New Zealand is a wild place.

As far as we know humans only settled in New Zealand in the 13th century AD. They were Polynesians who came in canoes from small Pacific islands far away to the East. There were no land mammals except for some small bats. The Polynesians brought with them rats and dogs and various crops, some of which grew in New Zealand and became staple foods (including, famously, kūmara, the sweet potato, a major historical puzzle). The first Europeans to set foot in New Zealand came in the 1700’s. While humans around the world were up to their usual stuff, New Zealand’s almost 270 thousand square kilometers of land remained a kind of Garden of Eden, a wild place.

Of the many strange animals of New Zealand, I got to see and grew fond of the keas, large parrots that live in the alpine regions of the South Island. In my limited zoological imagination they seem to be a living contradiction: parrots this high up in the mountains? Nesting in burrows on the ground under large trees? How do they get to New Zealand in the first place? They are very clever and known to steal your food or gear before you know it.

This is in Arthur’s pass were I went last weekend. There are signs everywhere like the one in the picture. Feeding the keas is really bad for them. But if you are sitting outside the cafe it’s not easy to keep them off your food. They are endangered and efforts are made to ensure their survival. They are often killed by cars as this sign tries to prevent.

They also die of lead poisoning from messing with fixtures inside old buildings.

Arthur’s pass is a small town you can reach on the TranzAlpine train. The train goes through some amazing landscape on its way to the west coast.

Right after Arthur’s pass the train goes through the Otira tunnel. a 8.5 km inclined tunnel that took 15 years to build.

The town existence owns a lot to the building of this tunnel and the running of the trains. One thing I learned about trains is that in the age of steam locomotives they had to be turned around as they couldn’t really push a train backwards. How did they do this? With a turntable. You can still see the one in Arthur’s pass.

My only regret from my visit is not to have sent a letter from Arthur’s pass.