From East to West on the Tranzalpine
On boarding the train at Christchurch we discovered that the Overlander (see earlier entry) was not a one-off; this second rattly locomotive was also a throwback to the 80s, with really disgusting coffee to boot. However once again it was worth it as we were quite comfortable and experienced scenery we would never otherwise have seen.
The TranzAlpine train from Christchurch to Greymouth does what it says on the tin. We slowly climbed 900m until we were in the mountains, crossing viaducts and taking in spectacular mountain views. The train driver kept us up to date with interesting information as we went, often having to pause mid-sentence to concentrate on the driving which confused many of the older passengers and was quite amusing. Chris spent much of his time on the outdoor viewing deck, where he was periodically crushed by pushy tourists every time the driver announced that some good scenery was coming up - apparently most people can't think for themselves, as really it was all stunning.
We arrived in Greymouth by lunchtime. Unlike many of the passengers we were treating the journey as a mode of transport rather than merely a tourist attraction, and so we not taking the train straight back to Christchurch (extraordinary idea!). We had heard that Greymouth was not worth seeing, and so it appeared. Instead we jumped straight onto a bus that took us down the coast to Franz Joseph.
Emily
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