Time for another all day tour. Dave - yes, the same Dave - picked us again, but this time there were several more people on this tour with us. Dave was great once again, and once again, Dave seemed to know people wherever we went. Definitely one of the best tour guides I had on the trip.
This day was for exploring Canterbury by train, foot, and motor vehicle. We joined the train from the station in Christchurch (shepherded by Dave to our carriage) and he promised to meet us at the Arthur's Pass station a couple of hours later.
The TranzAlpine is a long-distance train between Christchurch (on the east coast) and Greymouth (on the west coast). As I said, we were only traveling as far as Arthur's Pass. The train has comfortable seats, big windows, an open-air viewing car at the front, and amazing views!
We roamed through the Canterbury Plains to and through the area around Waimakariri River. At that point, we started an ascent into the Southern Alps to Arthur's Park National Park. Based on the information provided by Great Journeys New Zealand, from the park the train descends through a beech forest to Greymouth.
In terms of pictures, every moment seemed to be a picture better than the last. These are roughly in chronical order, and are a selection of what we saw from the train.
These are on the way up to Arthur's Pass
Arthur's Pass - in a van now and driving
Arthur's Pass Walking Trail and then more of the Southern Alps (oh, and me next to a Moa!)
Some sheep (It's New Zealand after all). On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at this site. At one time, it was actually a sea bed. It is full of hills and boulders and rock formations, mostly smooth and rounded by ocean water. Fascinating. Some remnants of a snowfall from the day/night before.
Thank you, Dave - for two great days!
Tomorrow we leave for Mt. Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand at over 12,200 feet at the top. I can't wait. We have been seeing glimpses of it from various places we have visited, and now we will be there.
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