Lewis Pass
About 12 km (7½ miles) south of Murchison, State Highway 6 takes a sharp turn to the right over O'Sullivans Bridge toward the West Coast. If you've decided to skip the coast and head back to Christchurch from here, follow State Highway 65 straight through toward Lewis Pass. The first part of this road is known as "The Shenandoah," which follows the Maruia River valley as it climbs toward the main divide. This is prime farming country bounded by high mountains clothed in thick bush. Check the Maruia Falls, created by the 1929 Murchison Earthquake. Just 15 km (9 miles) before Springs Junction, Reids Store provides a welcome coffee and lunch stop, superior to the offerings farther on at Springs Junction. There's no fuel here, though, so you will have to get that at Springs Junction. From Springs Junction the road starts to climb to Lewis Pass, one of the lowest crossing points over the Southern Alps. Maruia Springs, just west of the pass, has traditional Japanese bathhouses and hot, outdoor rock pools, a restaurant, and accommodations (these are less salubrious and, accordingly, less-crowded than the waters at Hanmer Springs thermal resort town, farther east). Cross Lewis Pass and you're in Canterbury, where the countryside changes to high arid hills. Hanmer Springs is an hour southeast of the pass.
