South Island Holiday Part 1

 My South Island holiday got off to a bad start.  On Sunday severe weather was lashing the country, with high winds and flooding, and several areas had declared a state of emergency.  Flights and ferries were cancelled, roads were flooded, would I get away on Monday, I wondered?  The weather slowly cleared and the sun came out in my area on Monday morning and I was notified that the taxi sent to take me to the airport was on the way.    Great, it arrived on time, my luggage was loaded and off we went.  But....... we hadn't even made it out of the village when the taxi phone rang, to say the flight was cancelled and to take me home!  That was a very quick trip, wonder what the neighbours thought.  

Flight cancelled,  just a 5 minute taxi ride on Monday

The tour company was very good, I had numerous phone-calls to update me, on both Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning.  The flights were back on, and the taxi had been booked to drop me at the airport.  One day late, but really, I understand that safety comes first, and the planes were not able to fly in such terrible  conditions.  So on Tuesday I finally boarded the flight.  It had been about 10 years since I had flown, so I was a little nervous.  "I'm not going to think I'm high up here in the sky, hurtling along in a tin can", I told myself.  The flight was fine, I landed in Christchurch, where my ride was waiting to deliver me to the hotel, phew!

That's my plane

As I settled into my room, then joined my new travel companions for dinner, I realized that I had got off very lightly indeed.  There were two other couples that should had flown out from Palmerston North Airport with me, but there was no room on the flight.  The tour company decided to drive them in a taxi van to Hamilton, a rushed 6 hour drive, without a single stop, and hope that they met the Hamilton to Christchurch flight in time.  They did, by the skin of their teeth, with the plane held up and waiting for them!

After an early breakfast the next day, our South Island adventure began - our coach took us to Christchurch station where we were heading for Greymouth on the Tranz Alpine train.  The 223km/139 mile journey took about 5 hours or so, and travels through 16 tunnels and across 4 viaducts.  Robin and I had done this trip several times before and certainly enjoyed it.  The scenery was magnificent, I was lucky to have a window seat and took some shots of the  Southern Alps with just a touch of snow.

The Eastern side of the Alps is much drier

The train made a stop at Arthur's Pass, a historic mountain pass and village, and we were all pleased to get off and stretch our legs.  I asked one of the train staff to take my picture against the train.

At Arthur's Pass

Once through the pass the scenery changed as we headed towards the West Coast, an area well known for it's high rainfall.  Pretty Lake Brunner came into view, a small place indeed with quite a lot of holiday homes, we were told.

Lake Brunner

Our coach was waiting for us at  Greymouth Station, having driven over SH73, also known as the Great Alpine Highway.  Our adventure wasn't over as we were taken to "Shantytown" a reconstruction of a gold mining town, made up of old buildings moved on site.

Shantytown

And look, a steam train, all fired up and ready to go.  I couldn't pass that by, could I?  So I climbed aboard, squeezed onto a hard wooden seat, and puff, puff, we were on our way.  That was fun.

Steam train at Shantytown

After all that excitement, we  boarded the coach again, and drove down to Hokitika, our stop for the night.  After a nice meal in the hotel restaurant, it was time for me to go back to my room, and spend a little time relaxing with Heathcliffe - I had bought my copy of Wuthering Heights to read on my trip.