Tranz Alpine journey
Trip Start
Sep 01, 2007
1
9
Trip End
Dec 22, 2007
Christchurch,
New Zealand
Saturday, September 8, 2007
I kind of miss the wind in Wellington, sometimes it seems too quiet here - bizarre I know, never thought I would miss the wind!
Because of the cold weather this week, there's been fresh snow dumped on the lower level mountains so we thought it would be a good time to go on the tranz alpine train trip. Alice, one of Paul's school friends, decides to come along as well.
Canterbury Plains
As we were driving in the car towards the train station we could already see the mountains with snow on in the distance. The train trip was amazing - lots of gorges, braided rivers, snowy mountains, sun and blue sky.
The weather was still stunning when we arrive in Arthurs Pass. We went through a tunnel and when we appeared on the other side it was cloudy and rainy. Not a good sign as we were going to be getting off a couple of stops before Greymouth for a walk. The train finally arrived at Moana and it was spitting with rain. We walked up to the cafe (the long way round apparently!) and had lunch and hoped the weather would clear for our walk.
The rain stopped for a while so we headed out to the three walking tracks that were about 20/30mins each. The view over Lake Brunner was lovely when the sun finally came out.
We managed to get muffins and scones before heading back to the train. The cloud was just beginning to break up. When we went through the tunnel and arrived back in Arthurs Pass it was again lovely and sunny.
Paul managed to persuade me to go out onto the viewing deck which was quite cold but exhilerating.
We finally arrived back in Christchurch at about 7pm after a long train ride. Really enjoyed it though - highly recommended!!
