Train Ride and a Kiwi Roast - Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Mon 27 Apr 2009 03:46
|
43:36.068S 172:31.690E
On March 23rd, we left the sheep farm B&B and
drove from Twizel to Christchurch. Another beautiful day and
another beautiful drive by the blue lakes of what's
called Mackenzie Country. Pictures from the drive are
below:
Pictures 1 and 2 - Glacier formed Lake Tekapo in
the morning mist.
Picture 3 - The Canterbury Plains leading to
the cloud covered Southern Alps foothills in the distance.
We chose to stop in Christchurch on our way back to
Blenheim because we wanted to crisscross the South Island one more time before
we left, but this time by train. The TranzAlpine Scenic Railway runs
from Christchurch in the east, across the Canterbury Plains, over
the foothills, up the Southern Alps, through Arthur's Pass, into a
tunnel and out near the west coast for a stop in Greymouth - all in
time for lunch. That's the South Island for you - east coast
beach, plains, foothills, mountains and west coast beach all before
lunch. After lunch, the train does it again in backward fashion, arriving
in Christchurch just in time for a Kiwi Roast.
On March 24th, the four of us boarded the
train. Don and I opted to get off in Arthur's Pass so we could do a little
mountain walking (forced marching according to Don) before catching
the train on its way back through to Christchurch. Mom and Dad opted for
the full Christchurch-Greymouth-Christchurch ride. We had another perfect
day. Again, highly unusual for the area. Our only complaint was that
the incredibly bright morning sun made photographs out the train window a
hopeless quest - too many reflections and shadows. Coming back, the light
was better, but we found it near impossible to catch the perfect photo at the
perfect time from the moving train in between tunnels, trestle supports and
other passengers. So, sorry folks, no pictures from the
train.
Picture 4 - Except for this slightly overexposed
picture of Dad and Mom (looking pretty in her new New Zealand alpaca wool
sweater) taken on the west-going train in the morning.
As per the usual New Zealand South Island scenario,
the views were incredible as we zoomed across the country and back on the
train. We crossed a couple of scary trestles, one up as high as 70 meters
(if I remember correctly) and the others nearly as high. We couldn't
really look down while we were crossing them. This was
a good thing.
Picture 5 - Don - King of the Mountain.
This was taken during one of our forced marches in and around Arthur's
Pass. No sign of suffering here, much as Don would like us to believe
there was.
We arrived back at the Christchurch train station a
little late, but true to his word, Rex was there waiting to guide us to he and
Raewyn's home for the Kiwi Roast. We had no trouble finding him in the
crowd as he is a fairly distinctive character - standing a very
sturdy 6' 4", with a thick shock of bright white hair and a big
smile. We followed Rex in his turquoise truck the short distance
to his house, which was a newly built, beautifully decorated contemporary home
in a neat subdivision (the first of which we'd really seen in New Zealand -
there's so few big cities that there just aren't that many large suburbs full of
subdivisions). There we joined Raewyn and her 22 year old daughter Jaimie
for dinner. After a little bit of wine, the roast appeared along
with heaps of steamed vegetables, potatoes and gravy with apple crumble for
dessert. Dad was in hog-heaven. It really was excellent. The
conversation never lagged. We laughed and stories were told and it was
like we had known these people for months.
Afterwards, we decided the train ride combined
with the Kiwi Roast was the perfect way to end our South Island land
tour. (Granted, our tour wasn't completely over at that point, but very
nearly so since we had only to drive back to Blenheim the next day and fly out
the day after that.) In one day, we saw and experienced the best of New
Zealand's South Island - marvelous scenery and outgoing, friendly, incredibly
hospitable people.
Anne
|
