Crossing the Southern Alps The Easy Way

Kia Ora!

One can fly over the Southern Alp Mountains that run like a backbone up the South Island. Or one can hike the trails from east to west (warning--requires climbing over several steep mountains), or motor through Arthur's Pass, but the easiest and most scenic way is to take the TransAlpine train.  When we left Christchurch early in the morning on the TransAlpine and crossed the Canterbury Plains, the sun was shining.

Crossing the Canterbury Plains

 Soon the train began to climb revealing vistas of mountain fed streams and river gorges carved over eons of time.

 The train crossed a wide valley with snow-peaked mountains in the distance, though the sun had long disappeared in a thick bank of clouds. As the train climbed, we were soon in the clouds.

In the clouds

 










A welcome improvement in this experience (since I took it a few years ago) is the addition of a narrative broadcast intermittently  describing where we are and what we are seeing. Flora, fauna, and history are covered in addition to geology and geography.

Barbara listens to narrative

 The 8-kilometer Otira Tunnel lay ahead of us but the relatively new train (replaced after the earthquake in 2010) was not allowed to take passengers through the tunnel yet. All of the passengers were loaded into buses, which transported us across the apex of the mountain range and back to the train for the rest of the journey. By now rain fell quite briskly, and the bus passed under a vigorous stream cleverly diverted over the road.

Trough diverts stream over the road

Returning to the train

I was not surprised that on the west side of the mountains, wind and rain prevailed. Weather patterns seem to come from the Tasman Sea on the west side of the islands. Rain falls on the west side as the weather system moves over the mountains. That the east coast of the country is drier and warmer seems logical. Jokes are made about the terrible weather experienced on the west coast and in Greymouth where we would de-train.

Sarah: working on a sermon?

Sue: what happened to the view?

We were met at the train by our most helpful host from the Sundowner Lodge, who helped us get organized for a look at the west coast.

Next...the west coast.

Cheers,
Kiwi Traveler