Sunday 15th February. The Trans-Alpine Train to Greymouth.

This was a very early start as we had to be up at 06.15 to have breakfast and shower and be ready for pick up at 07.15. We really should not be up this time of the day at our age.

We arrived at the station and boarded our train which left at 08.15 for the four hour trip across the Mountains via Arthurs Pass to the town of Greymouth which is not really the ‘pearl of the orient’ in this country.

The journey at first took us across the flat Canterbury Plains where we stopped a couple of time to pick up additional passengers. The air conditioning was good and the chairs reasonably comfortable but the Tour guides description of our itinerary was appalling and we felt sorry for any non English speakers who would not be able to understand what was being said. It was though he had read this stuff so many times that all he wanted to do was get through it as quickly as possible and not caring if the passengers understood.

We purchased some tea, they called it tea but we are really not sure what it was for the very high price of NZ 8.00. The trip by this time had reached the mountainous section where travelled over viaducts of ever increasing heights and some of which had been prefabricated in England and shipped to the middle of New Zealand and assembled on site. Unfortunately taking photos was not easy as the sun was shining on the windows and giving a strong reflection whilst the so called outdoor photo shoot area was extremely small and more suitable for sheep.

We arrived in Greymouth and the sun was beaming down. We have been here several times before but without good weather and so it was really nice to see even though it was mostly closed due to it being a Sunday.

By this time the train was running about one hour late. I cannot understand why they had decided to repair all or most of the bridges at one time which caused major slowdowns for the train.

We left Greymouth after a brief walk around the town and a much needed decent cup of coffee and this time we were in a different carriage and right at the back of the train.

The seats did not relax back and when the train started going faster the carriage shook from side to side all of the way home and it was most uncomfortable. However all said and done it was a nice trip whilst Noel will right a friendly letter, perhaps, to the train operators.

The shuttle bus was waiting for us when we got back and on the way back to the Holiday Village we had a diversion and went past an area which had been decked out to reflect a Chinese Spring Lantern holiday. We thought about getting off the bus and joining the event but we were both tired and ready for a shower and some dinner. No pizza tonight though as we cooked up some chicken and mushrooms in Soya which we then had with a salad.

Its time for the evening Blog to be prepared and then off to bed and this time not with an early start.

Tomorrow we leave here and go to Akaroa on the Banks Peninsular, about ninety minutes outside Christchurch, for the next five days or so..