Otira Viaduct Lookout

The old road down the western side of Arthur's Pass ran across the Otira Gorge on a slope that was actively slipping - the surface had to be repaired constantly and the route was one of the least reliable on the network. The answer, completed in 1999, was the Otira Viaduct: 440 metres of bridge on piers carrying the highway clear of the unstable ground, with a rock shelter above it to catch debris and a system to divert boulder falls. The lookout gives the whole structure with the gorge below and the peaks behind. It is also one of the more reliable places to meet kea, the alpine parrot, which gather at the car park and will strip rubber trim, wiper blades and anything left out - the signs asking people not to feed them are there because fed kea approach vehicles and get killed on the road. Watching them work on a car is entertaining until it is your car.

What you actually see

• The viaduct - 440 metres carrying the highway clear of slipping ground.
• The gorge - the unstable slope the old road crossed.
• Kea - usually present, and destructive to vehicles.
• The engineering - rock shelters and boulder diversion above the road.

When to go

October to April; the pass carries snow and closures in winter. Any hour - it is a roadside stop of fifteen minutes.

Honest expectations

Do not feed kea; fed birds come to the road and die there. They will damage cars - close windows and remove loose trim if you can. The lookout is exposed and often cold.

Nearby

Arthur's Pass village and Devils Punchbowl are east; Otira and the West Coast are below.