Tranzscenic Railway

Yesterday felt like a great day to get out of town. The skies were blue and there was snow in them thar hills. So my friend Jude and I booked two tickets on the Tranzscenic Railway, a train that travels from the east coast of the South Island (Christchurch) to the West Coast (Greymouth) straight through the Southern Alps via Arthurs Pass.

Here is a view across the Canterbury Plains farmland to the majestic Southern Alps.


A bit closer now...

Along the way, a deep river gorge with the Waimakariri (say 'Why-macka-rearie) River far below.On the way we passed small settlements such as Cass. This once used to be a thriving community of about 600, but now one lone soul lives here. He is called by his nickname "Rambo" by the locals and is reputed to be a pretty rugged individual. His job is to maintain the tracks in this area.

The Waimakariri river again. It is called a 'braided river' for it's shallow depth and the way the river seems to braid along the vast silt bed of the valley. Apparently this type of river is common in New Zealand and rare in the rest of the world.



A photo of Snowflake at Arthur's Pass. This morning, he looked at me with longingly, with hope in his little beady eyes as I was getting ready to leave the house. How could I not bring little Snowflake along? He loves the snow, having spent many winters in Antarctica. If not for that bright little vest of his, he might disappear entirely into the background.


I don't have any photos of Greymouth (bad photographer!) as we had only one hour to grab a coffee, lunch and partake of a whirlwind shopping blitz through a shop that had caught our eye. With moments to spare, we dashed down the street to the train station with our loot and got on board with about a minute to spare.

Then it was back the way we came with the sun sinking lower in the sky and our eyelids falling heavy from the hypnotic motion of the train.