Arthur's Pass

Located on the border of Canterbury and the West Coast, Arthur's Pass is known as the 'backbone' of the South Island. Home to a resident population of just 54, the town is host to almost 250,000 visitors a year.

The nearby national park (4km away) is one of contrasts, with dry beech forest in the east, lush rainforest on the western slopes, and a historic highway and railway running through the middle. Arthur's Pass (1929) was New Zealand's third national park and the first one in the South Island.

A thousand men with axes, picks, shovels, crowbars and wheelbarrows, rock drills and explosives worked in the rugged terrain during a freezing winter to build the road across Arthur's Pass in 1865. They worked fast - the gold rush was in full swing and the link was needed for traffic between Canterbury and the West Coast - and their job was done within a year.