Early start as we had the Traz Scenic Apline train journey today. The train goes from Christchurch right across the south island to Greymouth on the west coast, taking in the Southern Alps and Aurthur's Pass along the way.
The train leaves at 8:05am and the station is about 3km from the hostel and as no buses go to the station we decided to walk to save taxi fares.
We knew where to go as we'd checked the map and set off walking just after 7.10am.
The first part of the journey went well, the problem hit when the station wasn't where we had expected it to be!!
Luckily a guy in a van parked up next to us so we asked for direction and he informed us at 7.45 that we still had quite a walk ahead of us.
We broke into a jog and eventually found the train station hidden in a retail park with no signs directing the way! Seems like an odd place for a station, but what the hey!
The train trip was great and the views were amazing, We soon realised that trying to take pictures through the windows wasn't going to work as in every shot of a snow capped mountain there was a reflection of my ugly mug in the window!
Luckily the train had an outdoor viewing carriage - how exciting!
I trundelled down first to the platform only to be met with a wall of people hogging the best views of the gorges and rivers. I tried to elbow my way in with little effect as the wall stood firm and pushed back!
Michelle caught me up and I thought great now I've got some muscle behind me, lets see them mess with 6ft Michelle! Unfortunately the wall was stronger than we had anticipated and despite Michelle's best efforts the buggers didn't move!! I could see some cracking views via other people's digital cameras, they got some lovely pictures. I started having fantasies about having a gun and firing a couple of warning shots and shouting "Put the camera down and step away from the views".
We gave up and headed back to our seats to just take in the views rather than take pictures.
Our disappointment on the viewing platform bonded us with Irish couple Mary and Jack who like us hadn't been able to penetrate the wall!
We had a good chat with them about NZ, OZ, Thailand, Jack's brother who just dropped dead recently and their almost olymipc swimming daughter! Now that we had Jack and Mary's life story we arrived in Greymouth - it was raining!
It was gorgeous weather in Christchurch when we set off and I'd only packed a jumper and hadn't brought my waterproof so I got soaked!
It could have just been the weather, but Greymouth didn't seem to have much to offer so we grabbed lunch before heading back on the train.
Viewing Platform Take 2!
Tried again with the platform this time it was quieter and the people seemed friendlier, moving aside to let you get pictures of the views, it was all very civilised. We got ourselves a spot on the side and stayed there for most of the homeward journey. It was great being outside on the train, although the tunnels were a little dusty and when we stepped back in the train and caught a glimpse of our reflections it was quite funny to see how filthly we were.
Got some good pics, but they really don't do it justice, I think you really need to come see this for yourselves!
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