Following on from our amazing helicopter ride, we headed off a little late on the last part of of this part of of our journey. We were heading to the town of Hokitika where we would stay one night before driving to Greymouth, drop off our hire car and take the Trans Alpine train across the middle of the island and back to Christchurch where our journey started from. From there our friends would return to their home in Australia and we would spend another 5 days exploring the north side of the South Island.
The trip wasn’t too long and we enjoyed the dramatic scenery of mountains and glaciers on one side and sea on the other. Arriving in Hokitika we quickly found our little home for the night before heading off to explore the town. We parked up in the town and then headed to the beach which is famous for the sculptures people make from the lots of driftwood that wash up here. We spent a good hour or two wandering along the beach, posing for photos and generally enjoying the sun and sea before heading into town for a bit to eat at a local pub.
As soon as it got dark we were back in the car for a drive to Glowworm Dell just outside often, this is just a short walk into some woods but there you find thousands of glow worms ! These again were very hard to photograph but I did try , regardless it was wonderful to see thousands of these creatures, and the longer you spent there, the more you eyes got used to the dark and the more became visible .
We took a quick drive around the town to enjoy the night lit architecture before back to our house for a well earned sleep.
The next day we were in no rush as our train didn’t leave till midday from Greymouth a few miles away, so it was back into town to collect a picnic lunch to eat on the train from an amazing deli shop that did sandwiches the size of house bricks ! We had a potter around the town and it jewellery shops before heading to Greymouth, dropping the faithful hire car off, and heading for the train station.
The Transalpine train goes from West to East over the island, cutting through the mountains and at one time would have been the only way to do this quickly, today you can drive but the train still remains the quickest route. We had all our luggage so we checked that in and bordered the train to our pre-booked table.
The journey takes 4 to 5 hours with a stop briefly at the highest point, so we enjoyed our packed lunch and watched the changing scenery go by. At the back of the train is an open carriage so we took a walk to that to look out and try and take a few photos, its not easy on a moving train but much fun was had trying to!
As you approach the East coast the scenery changes and once again becomes flat farmland, and it was nice to see this unfolding as we approached.
Once at Christchurch it was a taxi to the airport hotel for a farewell meal with our friends and a nights sleep, in the morning Lee and Marie left us and headed back home to Australia, while we picked up another hire car, and started our own little adventure heading towards Kaikoura
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