We had an early start having booked on the 8.15 am Transalpine train from Christchurch to Greymouth, one of the world's most scenic rail journeys. After crossing the flat Canterbury plains for around an hour the train reaches the southern alps and begins its climb to the high country sheep station of Craigieburn. There's dramatic scenery as the train clings and climbs, crossing four viaducts and passing through several tunnels before reaching Arthur's Pass station where there's a brief stop.
The next part of the journey brought another change of scenery as we travelled through lush rainforest then followed the River Grey into Greymouth where everyone disembarks after the 5 hour ride.
Next we got on a coach which took us
along the west coast heading south. We made a stop at the gold mining town of Hokitika and had ice-cream by the Tasmin sea. Apparently fame is around the corner for this town as it's about to feature in a BBC dramatisation of the prize winning book 'The Luminaries' by Eleanor Catton, a drama set Hokitika in the 1860s goldrush.
Onwards we passed through several small towns - one so small it has a population of just 2, a bushman called Peter and his wife who famously sell possum pie! The road got narrower and then became one lane due to slips caused by rain storms which are common in this wet rainforest region. By contrast the sun was out today so coming towards our destination of Franz Joseph we got great views of Mount Cook which is NZ highest mountain and also the glacier mountains where we are staying for a couple of nights.
Jet lag was a bit of an issue for me last night so hoping the mountain air will do the trick!
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