ALBUM - Arthurs Pass in the old days.

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DescriptionThe Arthurs Pass road was opened to wheeled traffic in 1866 and the Otira Viaduct was first driven over in 1999. In 1970, when I was licensed to drive at the age of 15, the highway had to be forded twice over creeks between Arthur’s Pass and Klondyke corner. It was essential to top up the vehicle’s water and oil before motoring to Christchurch via the zig-zag road over the pass.
Dozens of dead possums always littered the road during the journey over the hill as we called it. There were no speed cameras and most of the road was tar sealed. On one occasion I abandoned my white car halfway up the zig zag during a snow storm because a snow chain slipped off the wheel, rupturing the brake oil pipe. Heavy snow covered the car that night. The next morning the road contractors clearing the pass completely demolished the side of my vehicle as they graded down the zig zag. In 2010, the highway with the Otira Viaduct is an excellent road. The only bad stretch between Arthur’s Pass and Klondyke was straightened by the NZ Transport Agency in 2016.Date of Photo1890`s - 1910Map^[1]ContributorTony Kokshoorn

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Location (city or town)Arthurs PassEventArthurs Pass in the old days.

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Category TagRoads

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Date Created31st March 2022CommentsSue Seymour
Now that would have been a scary trip!

Anne Conaghan
Sue Seymour Also very uncomfortable ,,not many bathroom stops on the way either !!!
Reply1d
Caroline Dunlop
Anne Conaghan Plenty of convenient trees way back when, then run to catch up with the coach!

Anne Conaghan
Caroline Dunlop Me ???Run ???

Caroline Dunlop
Anne Conaghan Well Anne, if you were around in 1866 you probably could have!!! I probably could have too!

Roger O'Regan
Sue Seymour
Especially on top!

David Verrall
Westland Industrial Heritage Park, by the Hokitika Airport, has the original stagecoach that made the last journey from AP to Otira on 4th August 1923. The Otira tunnel opened the next day, removing the need for horse-drawn vehicles to take passengers over the hill.

Jill Jones
Noel Pahl is the coach driver.

Janet Simpson
My Husband's Great Aunt traveled on this coach early 1900s and told us of her experience. How different from today.

Rae Wilson
We started traversing the Pass back in the 1950's, when still in our pre-teen years. To help fill in the time as the dust seeped in through the cracks in the Hillman Minx, we would record how much of the road had been sealed. It was exciting to see it progress over years. ' I spy ' was a game we enjoyed as was making lists of the makes of cars travelling in the opposite direction.

Pete Lusk
Lovely clear photo…I heard men were expected to get out and walk on the steep sections

Heather Newby
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Pete Lusk Thats what we had to do then,.. walk alongside the car

Nicola O'Neill
Pete Lusk my great grandmother, Lucy O'Neill, told us about getting out and walking behind the Cob n Co coaches on the steep hills.

R Stuart Nicholson
My dad went over by coach with his dad ca 1900.

Jeff Louwman
I remember hearing about a snow covered car getting destroyed by a grader after being abandoned on the Zig Zag

Theresa Gibson
Wonder what the flower is that the walking man is holding. Mountain daisy perhaps?

Pete Lusk
Theresa Gibson yes, I had t noticed that…it’s a big flower, but there’s some big daisies up there

Jeff Jones
100 years latter the road is not much better

Leanda Moka
What a life they lived I'd say you'd have to be tough to travel back then it's hard enough nowadays I'm iffy to drive that pass I prefer the lewis
Leanda Moka
What a life they lived I'd say you'd have to be tough to travel back then it's hard enough nowadays I'm iffy to drive that pass I prefer the lewis

James Broadbent
My great grandparents lived in Otira and went that way over the pass before the tunnel was built.

Damo Cee Rooks
Neville Crooks is that you driving the front wagon?

Phil Norton
Looks like near Temple Basin ?

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