TRANZ ALPINE

Yesterday, Tuesday 13th, Robyn and I flew to Christchurch in order to do the famous Tranz Alpine train ride across the South Island. We had been planning to do this trip for a long time. So to speed the process up, Robyn gave me a ticket voucher for my last birthday, but with the proviso that she came on the trip as well.

 

So we made the arrangements and flew down to Christchurch and our accomodation at the Windsor Hotel. I have stayed there a couple times before and so qualify for the returners' discount. But it was Robyn's first stay there. Now it would be true to say that she had built up an impression of the hotel has being somewhere she would rather not stay at.

 

However, once she got there she realised that it was quite different to what she had imagained. In fact she loved it and would be happy to return - which we will do after the train trip.

 

We used the afternoon to wander the shops, have a free tram ride (thanks to the hotel), buy a trolly bag fro Robyn to use on her coming overseas trip. Then we went to see the kiwi movie BOY at the Metro Cinema, a quirky art house. And what a delightfull cinema to go to. They gave us an extra seat for the trolly bag even though there were only about 40 seats in that particular auditorium.

 

We woke early, so that we would have time for the free breakfast, cereal, fruit, juice and a hot course of bacon eggs etc. Promptly at 7:30am the shuttle arrived to take us to the station.

 

It seemed crowded when it left at 8:15am, but we did pick up extra passengers along the way - including several bus loads of Japanese who rode through from Darfield to Arthur's Pass.

 

Generally, the best views were on the right side of the train -that's the north side. We were on the left, but hopefully will get the good seats for the return trip.

 

Despite the lack of snow on the mountains, the trip was very interesting and we did manage to get some good views of rivers gorges and mountains. Most photos we took through the window were spoilt by reflections, but hey! that's how we saw the views anyway.

 

We had elected to stay overnight in Greymouth so when we arrived at 12:30pm, made our way to the Noah's Ark Backpackers. This hostel is close to the station and was once a Cathloic prespertory for the numerous priests serving in the ajoining church. Well we assume 'numerous' because of the size of the hostel building. It is now a designated historic place. The church was demolished as in was badly damaged in an earthquake 20 years or so back.

 

The hostel had personalised each room with an animal theme. We are staying in the Zebra Room, which is next to the Elephant Room and down the hallway from the Husky dorm.

 

While we did wander the streets a bit, the wind was cold and when we came back from a non-descript meal at a local hotel, were very pleased to find a space heater at work warming the hostel.