Section Hiking the Te Araroa Trail: Visions of a Long White Cloud: May 2018

Resupplying in Arthur's Pass, Arthur's Pass National Park, South Island

Another spot you will need to resupply on the Te Araroa Trail is in Arthur's Pass Township. On a recent visit to the area I went into the only two places that sell grocery items and took some photos to show you what you can expect.

Arthur's Pass Store and Cafe, Arthur's Pass Village

Hopefully this information will assist you with your Te Araroa Trail planning.

The Arthur's Pass township & the Store and Cafe:

Arthurs Pass is a small township perched in the depths of the Southern Alps. The regular population of the township is less than 30 people: mostly railway workers, cafe workers, Police, DOC staff and roading contractors.

The sign at Arthur's Pass Railway Station

The town only exists because it is one of the crossing points over the Southern Alps. Both SH73 and the Trans Alpine rail link between Christchurch and the West Coast of the South Island pass through the township. It is also the nexus for Arthur's Pass National Park.

Map: Arthur's Pass township

Because the town is so small it has very little infrastructure: there are a number of accommodation providers, two cafes, a DOC visitor centre and a railway station. That's it really....because of this one of the cafes also acts as the general store for the area.

Arthurs Pass township: view west towards the Pass and the West Coast of the South Island

Arthur's Pass township: view east towards the DOC centre and Canterbury

The Arthur's Pass Cafe Store

The Arthurs Pass Cafe Store is located right in the centre of the Arthur's Pass township...it is easily the most prominent and easy to spot building in the village. The main part of the building is seating for the cafe section of the store. The store is also the home of the only petrol bower in the village.

The Arthurs Pass Cafe Store...on the main drag, Arthur's Pass village

The Arthur's Pass store carries a small but comprehensive grocery selection to supply both visitors and the locals who live and work in the area. It is located at the rear of the store, back beyond the cafe section of the building and consists of a number of shelves and a couple of coolers with chilled and frozen goods in them.

Arthur's Pass Store: inside the store and cafe: note the menu board

There is a very limited selection of chilled meat, cheese and milk in a cooler next to the food shelves.

Arthur's Pass Store:grocery section at the front of the cafe

I've taken some close up shots of the grocery shelves so you can see exactly what they have in the shop. I was mentally building a multi day menu in my mind as I took these shots...you could easily buy enough food to see you through to either Hanmer Springs (4-7 days) or Tekapo (5-7 days) from the goods they have on offer.

Arthur's Pass Store:grocery section at the front of the cafe

In fact you could resupply to see you through to St Arnaud, you just wouldn't be able to carry all that weight...

Arthur's Pass Store:grocery section at the front of the cafe

Arthur's Pass Store:chilled section at the front of the cafe

The General Store is primarily a cafe and tearooms so they have both menu and cabinet items for sale. There is a wide selection of sandwiches, pies, cookies and cakes as well as fruit and various beverages. You can see the menu on the blackboard in the photo below, the range is limited but they sell cooked breakfasts as well as a number of burgers, hot chips and toasted sandwiches.

Arthur's Pass Cafe Store: the food cabinets

There is also a selection of snack items arranged around the main counter so make sure you have a look at what they have available including jerky, chocolate, meal bars and candies.

Arthurs Pass Cafe Store: jerky products

Arthurs Pass Cafe Store: sweets and chocolate supplies

The store has a limited supply of clothing items including socks, merino tops, t-shirts and fleece and merino hats, scarves and gloves. They also sell lightweight rain jackets and baseball caps.

There is a small off license at the Arthur's Pass store, they sell a limited selection of beers, ciders, wine and large spirit bottles. The prices were comparable to what you would pay in Christchurch so $50-$60 for a large bottle of spirits and $12-$25 for a bottle of wine.

Arthurs Pass Cafe Store: Spirits and wine selection in their off license

As always you must be 18 years of age or older to buy these products and I would imagine they WILL ask for ID to prove this. Apart from the bars at the Wobbly Kea and the Bealey Hotel (10 kms away) this is the only place to buy alcohol in the township.

Arthur's Pass DOC Visitor Centre:

NB: the DOC center is currently being redeveloped so a temporary DOC center can be found next to the Wobbly Kea Cafe in the main part of the village. It is due to return to the site shown below in late 2020-early 2021, they are in the process of finalising a building design.

The temporary DOC Visitor Centre in Arthur's Pass Village

The other place which sells a very limited array of resupply items is the Department of Conservation visitor centre in Arthur's Pass. They mainly have a selection of Backcountry Freeze dried meals but also have jerky products, gas canisters and Em's Snack Bars.

Arthur's Pass DOC Centre: the small selection of resupply items

The store has some clothing items including socks, merino tops, t-shirts and fleece and merino hats, scarves and gloves. They also sell hut tickets, trekking poles, lightweight rain jackets and baseball caps.

Arthur's Pass DOC Centre: the small selection of resupply items

As you are going to visit the centre to check the weather for the next leg of the trail you might as well stop and stock up on a few items. Note that the DOC Visitor centre is the only place selling gas canisters in the township, otherwise you are going to Hokitika or Christchurch as they are the next closest towns that sell these items.

Eating at the Wobbly Kea

The other place to eat in Arthurs Pass is at the Wobbly Kea Cafe and Bar. It is located directly across the road from the Cafe Store in the centre of Arthur's Pass Township.

The Wobbly Kea cafe and bar, Arthur's Pass Village, Arthur's Pass National Park

The cafe is also a bar so if you are looking for a drink this is where you will need to go, hours are 9 am to 5pm over the winter, 8-8pm during the summer season. The Cafe serves cooked breakfasts, and lunch/dinner items in the style of bar food so pizza's, burgers, fries, dressed pies and toasted sandwiches.

Wobbly Kea Cafe and Bar: the inside of the cafe

They do a decent coffee here and I have had one of their pizzas and they are very tasty.

Camping in Arthur's Pass village:

There is only one legal camping site around Arthur's Pass Village and that is the Avalanche Peak campsite. If you try to camp anywhere else you can be fined up to $20 000 under the new freedom camping regulations.

Mountain House, the YHA in Arthur's Pass

There are several accommodation providers in the village including a YHA, Arthurs Pass Alpine Motel and the Bealey Motel approximately five kilometers east of the Village.

Avalanche Creek, camp-site and day shelter.

The main camp-site and the one closest to Arthur's Pass township is the Avalanche Creek shelter and camp-site. There is space here for about 10 small tents as well as lots of space for camper vans to park. The shelter is large and can easily hold a sizable number of people.

Note: you may not sleep inside the shelter and this is regularly policed by the local DOC Rangers.

Avalanche Creek Shelter and camp-site, Arthur's Pass National Park

Located across road from the old Arthur's Pass DOC visitor centre

NO Advance Bookings - first in, first served!

Camper vans permitted (no powered sites)

Cost $8 pp / night. Payable at site, or DOC Visitor Centre next to Wobbly Kea Cafe.

Facilities: Water, toilets, day-use shelter with tables, rubbish disposal.

No pets permitted under any circumstances.

No open fires permitted!

Warning: Do not leave your tent unattended as the Kea will dismantle it for you!

Map: Avalanche Creek Campsite

The shelter is a substantial affair, you could easily get 40 people inside at one time as it has numerous tables and benches. Camping sites are on the lawn to the front, side and rear of the shelter.