Day 23 & 24: Christchurch and Southern Alps!

After my lovely wine tour I was a little tired, so I nipped out for a quick bite to eat. It’s very strange that in a City the fast food places are closing at 8pm on a Saturday Night! Odd. I then had a relatively early night.

After a good nights sleep, the bed in this YHA is huge, very comfy and warm! I woke quite late 9.15ish 😳 I decided that I needed to find a 24hr doctors, as I’ve been fighting a throat infection for the last 5 days. I have been gargling with strong anti bacterial mouthwash and necking vit C like smarties but unfortunately it hasn’t worked. The nearest open 24hr place was a 40min walk away, so off I trotted, the weather was ok, cloudy but dry and not to cold. The wait to be seen was nearly 2hrs, but hey ho, I’d bought my kindle so I sat, drank water and read my book. As suspected and self diagnosed I have a throat infection so I was given a prescription for penicillin and off I went £50 poorer ( I actually think this isn’t that bad!) I walked back into the city centre. Again it is so weird to be in a city with so little traffic, people, things happening! I know it’s a Su day but still the whole population can’t all be at Church?! I had a little mooch around the shops, some of which were closed and nearly bought a pair of fabulous zebra print ankle boots…..but somehow I resisted! Then had an early dinner/late lunch back in the Irish pub, and had the same again a yummy Shepherds Pie! I think my throat and I needed something warm, homely and delicious. After this I went back to the hostel, climbed into bed and had a very indulgent evening reading and watching TV.  I Set my alarm for 6.15 as tomorrow I’m taking the Tranz Alpine Train through the Southern Alps to Greymouth…..very excited!

I woke with my alarm, jumped out of bed and got my self ready for my Shuttle pick up at 7.25. I head to reception at 7.15 to find another traveller waiting for the shuttle which she says is due at 7.15, I say no, it’s due at 7.25…7.25 comes and goes, 7.35 comes and goes, the staff start trying to call the shuttle company, finally at 7.45 a taxi appears sent by the shuttle company, who had clearly forgotten our bookings! I was relatively calm, the other lady however, a small Chinese woman was positively manic! By the time we arrived at the train station, in plenty of time to board she was very agitated, she then discovered she had booked only a single ticket but wanted to return later today….at this point I smiled and waved goodbye! 😬

The Train is fabulous! I have a window seat with no one next to me, large seats, lots of leg room, sky lights, it’s gorgeous. I have been so excited about this part of my trip, as this is supposed to be one on New Zealand’s epic Journeys.

Well what can I say!? The most stunning and breathtaking scenery! The train has an outside viewing carriage, which I ventured out onto a few times and the views and the opportunity to take good photos is amazing,  however it it is really cold! even for me!

The Train takes you through the Southern Alps, past glacial rivers, lakes, snow capped mountains and it is just magnificent! Truly amazing. It was the most wonderful 5hrs on a train ever! The pictures won’t do it justice as they are taken through windows or whilst moving, and the beauty is in the moments, like the moments you emerge from a dark tunnel to see a stunning vista laid out before you!

The Joy did not end with my arrival at Greymouth and the end of the Tranz Alpine journey. I then boarded a coach to travel another 3.5hrs across the other side of the Southern Alps to Franz Jospeh Glacier.

The coach driver, Marc, was brilliant, very informative, obviously a local and knew so much history and trivia it made the journey even more wonderful. We stopped in a little town called Hokitika, which used to be, and indeed still is a gold Mining  town, back in the 1800s  it was incredibly affluent, with huge gold finds and was a huge economic success, it was going to be the New Zealand Capital! It is now a small, odd little town which still has a pretty successful gold finding industry. I actually held a gold nugget worth approx £30,000 which was found here not that long again! The towns other claim to fame is a book “The Luminaries” by a New Zealand Author Elenor Catton, Which won the Man Booker Prize and has been made into a BBC series! It is based on the Gold rush and set in Hokitika! Watch out for it on BBC!

The whole area around the Southern Alps on the Tasman Sea side is Gold Rich! With some huge gold mining companies cashing in.

The drive also took us through Pukekura New Zealand’s smallest town, with a population of 2! Bushman Pete and his wife Justine! As we drove through Marc the driver honked his horn and lobbed Petes Paper out of the window! Classic.

The drive takes you closer to Mount Cook, New Zealand’s tallest mountain, and we were lucky enough to get some fantastic views, as the clouds lifted from the top! As we approached Franz Josef the views were amazing, clear and sunny!

I arrived at my hotel, this is the part of my trip that I did as an organised tour. The hotel looked really lovely,  but when I got to my room! OMG! The views! Stunning 😍😍

Having had a chat to the Marc the coach driver about things, as soon as I arrived I walked into town (2 mins!) and I have booked a Helicopter Flight for tomorrow! 😬😬😳 The Flight will take me up to the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers ( you can’t actually visit the Fox Glacier at the moment as the road got washed away during storms earlier in the year) then it flys around Mount Cook and Mount Tasman! It looks and sounds unbelievable! I’ve never been in a Helicopter! So that in itself is going to be an experience! Fingers crossed that the weather holds! 🤞🤞

I have been writing this whilst sitting on the balcony and then in my room watching the sunset colour the clouds sitting over the mountains! Stunning.

It read been a truly spectacular day.

Kia Ora from an extremely happy Me! 😘😘❤️

Author: hereandthereclaire

Hi, my name is Claire and I am 60 years young, welcome to my blog. I am new to the whole travel and blog writing world, so no judging! I recently made some big life changes, leaving my job in education and moving myself and my younger children to Newquay in Cornwall, I then started a business with some fantastic friends #coffeeonthecornernewquay. And now I am about to embark on my first big travel adventure...I would love to share this with you. Since starting this blog in 2018 I have made more changes, and now in 2024 I will be traveling full time for the next year! Please join me in sharing my Big Adventure! ❤️ View all posts by hereandthereclaire