Otira valley, Arthur's Pass national park, New Zealand

[HamishBrown]

Woke up on Sunday morning at 9am to a sunny day and decided to over breakfast that a spot of alpine botinising was in order.  Set out from home in Christchurch city to Otira valley carpark at 9.40am and set out walking at 11.40am.  Some highlights from the day.

11:42 am.  Stegostyla lyalli growing in bog beside the track

12:10 pm Anaphallioides bellidioides growing on top of a boulder in the stream

12:50 pm (after lunch) Celmisia bellidioides growing in a wet seep on the hillside

1:10 pm Leonohebe cililolata growing on boulders near the river

1:50 pm Rauolia grandiflora growing on a rock outcrop.

[HamishBrown]

2:30 Viola cunninghamii growing near the stream.  Many other awesome plants in flower and a beautiful day in the mountains

3:00pm  Time to go home.  View looking up Otira vally with Ranunculas lyallii in the foreground


Back to the Car by 4pm and home for dinner at 6pm.  Not a bad day all in all.

[Lesley Cox]

A very nice day indeed Hamish. More pictures if you have them, please.

Maggi, can you change the title of the topic to Arthur's Pass, a typing error in place, I expect.

[Maggi Young]

done

[Hoy]

Hamish, seems to have been a nice day out with beautiful plants!

[HamishBrown]

Thanks Lesley. 

Seeing you asked so nicely.

Ourisia caespitosa growing on a vertical rock face beside a waterfall

Oxalis megellanica growing on a bolder beside a stream

A field strewn with Ranunculus lyallii

A stream scene with Ourisia caespitosa with the prominent white flowers in the front and leptinella pyrethrifolia with the cream buttons in the centre

A patch of Drosera arcturi growing among a cushion plant (sorry I haven't tired to id this one yet) in a near vertical bog.

[Lesley Cox]

Thank you Maggi.

I haven't been to Arthur's Pass for years but remember it as magnificent for both scenery and plants and for the keas who ate my shoes which I'd left outside our hut. Or rather one was chewed to ribbons, the other gone altogether, never to be seen again. Just as well I had other shoes with me.
We all love these wonderful birds the world's only alpine parrot (except Jiri of course for they are beautiful and have such strong characters. I suppose that's why we love them but boy, they can do damage to shoes, backpacks, cars or anything else which takes their fancy and intrigues them.

[Lesley Cox]

How stunning is that? A field strewn with Ranunculus lyallii. Wonderful.