Thursday morning was cloudy as we left Christchurch about 9 am for a drive across the island. Our route would take us through some mountain ranges so we were hopeful not to have rain.
The Otira Viaduct is a four span cantilever bridge with a length of 1,440 ft and average grade of 12% on its deck. Each pier is about 130 ft high, supported on excavated cylinders 13 ft in diameter and 98 ft deep.
Our final section went through a little town called Moana that sits on the edge of Lake Brunner where we saw a lady enjoying a swim, even though it was only about 19 degrees C and we were in long sleeves!
We checked in to our hotel for the night – the Sundowner Motel and had a quiet evening to read and get caught up.
Tomorrow will be a long day as we head down the west coast and past some glaciers.
Following Joyce & Paul's Travels in Retirement 