Day 21 TranzAlpine Train to Christchurch

On this day we departed Greymouth, on the west coast, and took the TranzAlpine Kiwi Rail train excursion across the south island to Christchurch, on the east coast. This train route is cited as one of the great train journeys in the world. It is about 5 hours long with stunning scenery throughout. It starts at the coast at Greymouth, crosses some plains initially with hills to the sides and then enters the mountains known as the southern alps, going through Arthurs Pass, with an 8km tunnel and slowly leaving the mountains for the Canterbury plains, full of sheep farms and agriculture and finishing at about sunset in Christchurch. The journey starts and ends at about sea level and Arthur’s Pass is at about elevation 737m or (2,418 feet) while the surrounding peaks reach about 6,000 feet. The train stops briefly at Arthur’s Pass, long enough to take on or drop off passengers and for occupants to jump out and snap a few quick pictures.

The weather was cloudy and had a somewhat low cloud ceiling at the start but got sunny at the end and still made for good viewing of the scenery along the way. There are more pictures below from along the route.

The train has airplane seating with more legroom than on a plane to make for comfortable travel. It has a dining car, where you can eat an array of food sold or bring or have that food delivered back to your own seat to consume. It also had what I would call a “cattle car” for viewing. This consisted of open sides with bars preventing the occupants from jumping off the train. So it was open to the wind and weather but it did allow nice photo taking! We went to this car when going through the mountains after Arthur’s Pass. During the journey we ordered some food for supper knowing we would arrive in Christchurch at about 7pm, then having an Uber ride to the cbd to our hotel. We ordered a meal of Lamb Shank each, not really knowing what to expect of quality or content. We were pleasantly surprised by how delicious the meal was. It was a very large lamb shank, with some vegetables and mash potatoes and tasty gravy. It was as good as a restaurant meal. We had this delivered to our seats and enjoyed it with a beverage!

This part of New Zealand is the earthquake prone region. It lies above the edge of the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates. Arthur’s Pass was subjected to a 7.1 Richter scale earthquake in 1929 and Christchurch has experienced many earthquakes, the most recent notable ones being a 7.1 in 2010 and a devastating 6.3 in 2011, which caused loss of lives and massive infrastructure damage.