TransAlpine
Jackamy
Paul & Derry Harper
Sat 21 Aug 2010 00:20
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----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2010 4:57 PMbject: TransAlpine
Saturday 21 st August We caught the 8.15 am
train from Christchurch, a journey 223.8 Kilometers long taking four
and a half hours.
The TranzAlpine scenic train travels
between Christchurch and Greymouth, from one coast to the other, and from
the Pacific Ocean to the Tasman Sea.The train speeds across the Canterbury
Plains, at 750,000 hectares, they are New Zealand's largest area of flat
land, followed by spectacular gorges and hills, a climb made possible by
three large viaducts the highest being the staircase at 73 meters
and through 16 tunnels.
  The train emerges into the broad Waimakariri
Valley, the ice-fed Waimakariri River is the longest of the North
Canterbury Rivers, flowing for 151 kilometers from the Southern Alps to the
Pacific Ocean.
Darfield is the main town between
Christchurch and the West Coast. It has a particular weather phenomenon where it
often has an arch of cloud above it caused by the condensation of water
particles channeled upwards over the Southern Alps.
  We sat opposite Rosemary and her daughter
Sarah; Rosemary had emigrated to New Zealand from Britain in 1958 at the age of
22, Sarah had won the train tickets and they chose the day after Rosemary's
birthday to take the trip.
The train stopped briefly at Arthurs Pass
for us to get off for a while, it then enters the longest tunnel, the 8.5
kilometer 'Otira', burrowing under the mountains to the west coast. The
pass was named after Arthur Dudley Dobson who led the first party of
Europeans across it in 1864.
    The western side is just as stunning, with
the Otira,Taramakau and Grey River Valleys.
 We arrived at Greymouth at 12.45 pm and picked
up a hire car
We got into Greymouth at 12.45 pm
and picked up a hire car, we then drove along the west coast stopping for lunch
at Ross a town that time has forgotten arriving at Franz Josef Village late
afternoon.
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