Happy New Year!
I had a restless night waking at slightest noises, feeling hot, while Ian seemed undisturbed by me.
The super shuttle I had arranged yesterday to collect us from Dorset House Backpackers and transport us to the station was not so super and failed to show. So we walked in the morning sun to the ever elusive station which took the best part of an hour.
The TranzScenic train left Christchurch bang on time. All passengers had been allocated seats and had boarded by the time we arrived at the station. Christchurch station is teeny weeny considering it's the biggest city in the South Island. It had half a dozen ticket booths and a small seating area leading to the one platform. There was a high proportion of British tourists on board, sadly.
The TranzScenic guy gave us ample commentary throughout the journey to Greymouth, sadly it was all repeated on the return journey for the benefit of one way passengers travelling to Christchurch. He informed us that the railway track distance from Christchurch to Greymouth was 231 kilometres and that we would travel through nineteen tunnels en route!
The tallest viaduct, Staircase Viaduct, was 149 metres in length and 72 metres high! From the railway you could see the crystal clear waters running beneath.
Apparently all of the beautiful alpine lupins you see throughout the Southern Alps are considered by Kiwis to be weeds.
Just beyond Arthurs Pass we passed through Otira railway tunnel which was 8.55 kilometres in length. The gradient was such that for every 30 metres we travelled horizontally we descended 1 metre vertically. It took us 10 minutes to emerge the other side having travelled through the Alps. As we moved westerly across the South Island, and the clear blue skies continued to allow the sun to shine right through to the ground, the steel railway track had been heated to 42 degrees. This is considered, by the transport safety regulators in New Zealand, to be the temperature at which steel may buckle. In view of this they have enforced a speed restriction to 40 km/h when the track temperature reaches 42 degrees. Therefore the final leg of our outbound journey was somewhat slower than expected and we arrived in Greymouth 40 minutes late.
In between tunnels and loss of signal I miraculously managed to contact my Aunt's house in Wales where my family were spending New Years Eve and wished them a Happy New Year as it had just turned midnight in the United Kingdom when I called. In return I got a performed, almost synchronised, 'Happy New Year' shout from everyone present at my Aunt's, which was the majority of my family. As soon as I ended the telephone call we entered another tunnel and I was thankful that I had ended the call and had not been unavoidedly cut off by the loss of signal.
We scoffed a quick lunch in Greymouth in the short 50 minutes we had and stood on the platform awaiting our return train to Christchurch. By this time Ian had begun to suffer from hayfever which was not good.
As I enjoyed the scenery all the way from inside the train on the outbound journey I decided to capture some photographs on the inbound journey from the outside viewing platform. This entailed me standing in an open sided carriage for 3.5 hours rationing my fifteen exposures beacuse I didn't want to start a new film before arriving in Sydney on Friday. I only left the viewing platform once between 15:00 and 18:30 when it was closed due to the overpowering fumes we would encounter through the Otira railway tunnel. I was also keen to stay out of Ian's way for fear of enhancing his acute hayfever. He suffers very badly from it and there's nothing I can do to help or relieve his symptoms. I knew that the only thing he needed was antihistamine pills and rest, neither of which I could offer.
The TranzAlpine journey was spectacular. It was great to see scenery which differs to what you see as a passenger in a car. One of the most beautiful scenes I could record would be the view of the Waimakariri river running in to the distance, meandering through the valley, from the height of a viaduct.
Our speed was restricted for the majority of the inbound journey and so we didn't arrive in Christchurch until after 20:00.
Ian was suffering immensely from his hayfever and couldn't face an hours walk back to the hostel exposed to more pollen so we leaped in to a taxi and administered antihistamine pills to the poor thing immediately on return to our hostel.
Ian rested while I wrote my journal then the chores beckoned to be attended to.
With his sinuses recovering from the histamine reaction he had suffered the whole day Ian accompanied me to a petrol station where we filled up the hire car for the last time and gave it a brutal clean in the automatic washer. It emerged somewhat cleaner but hardly 'VIP' as the petrol station claimed it to be!
Back at the ranch we laundered our clothes and I cooked a hot dinner of soup followed by pasta.
Our journey today covered 462 kilometres, 'though not by car this time!