Up at 6 this morning!
Judith had coffee and toast ready for me, as well as a small packed lunch! We said our goodbyes and Ross drove me to the station in his BMW.
Red sky in the morning….
The ticket man has my name and doesn’t need any of the printout info I’m carrying around with me. He can’t give me a window seat despite me arriving an hour and a half early for the train but says a group will be getting off at Arthur’s Pass and I can move to one then.
The train is long with plenty of big scenic windows and the weather is looking reasonable if a little overcast as we wait to pull out of the station.
A young New Yorker has taken the window seat beside me and we have an interesting conversation about travels. It seems everywhere is booked up in NZ at the moment, so I may have problems when I get to Nelson this evening.
Notes again as I’m taking masses of photos from the observation carriage….
I was blown to bits in the observation car!
The commentary on the train was excellent. Through Canterbury Plains…. Wheat, hay making etc. Kirwee named after person who introduced irrigation to the area. Castle Hill Peak, highest peak in range in Springfield. Climbing all the time. The views from the train are absolutely stunning… can’t really do it justice here.
Line from Sheffield to Oxford, named after English cities
CASS red hut inspired artist to paint famous New Zealand painting… must look it up.
Sugar loaf mountain…sprinkled with snow – America?
Went past Mount Horrible and Mount Worry
Arthur’s Pass – a little rain but then the sun came out again
Many people got off at Arthur’s pass
We now pass through a very long tunnel.
Moana station by largest alpine lake. More pungas this side of the range and warmer.
Train running 45 minutes late because of rail works but told Nelson bus will wait.
Stillwater mining area, many killed in tragedies caused by mining gases in this area
It’s raining now…. Grey River to Greymouth on a grey day…but I have my Brancott Sav.
Finally pulled into Greymouth station and sure enough, the Nelson bus was waiting for us – so late leaving. Not the Kiwi bus, the InterCity.
I can’t believe we have to stop at Pancake Rocks in the pouring rain! Yuk, have been here before in beautiful spring sunshine. I do need the exercise however. A quick zip round and back in the bus. 
It is now absolutely chucking it down as we head off on our final leg to Nelson. I have at least managed to book into a hostel there – last room and twice the usual price! Ah well I’ve been extremely well looked after so far.
Got chatting to a guy on the bus who’d been fishing down in Stewart Island. He travels around cutting down pines…. says he’s a bit of a whizz with a chain saw – yikes! Nice interesting guy though… likes the simple life and hitched a ride with the intercity bus. Driver saw him standing in the rain in Franz Josef and took pity… now he’s staying on the bus all the way to Abel Tasman… the Kiwis are like that!
Stopped briefly for pickup at Westport.
Lower Buller Gorge over bridge to Upper Buller Gorge – best wild river in New Zealand – pity we can’t see anything!
Uranium Point. Considered using nuclear power, then discovered natural gas. Hawkes Crag can flood across the road. Inangahua River
Stopped to pick up then some hairy bends with deep ravines.
Stop at Murchison food and toilet
So good to see the sunshine again…. it has coloured up the countryside after an afternoon of monochrome
Welcome to Tasman and it’s looking just a little brighter. The cloud is creeping low around the hills almost like steam. The water in the rivers is that gorgeous turquoise again.
Red sky at night…..
Alannah met me from the bus and we had dinner together.