Stunning Scenes from the TranzAlpine Train in New Zealand

Riding the Rails from Christchurch to Greymouth

Where does your imagination take you when you think about NewZealand?

Hobbits, perhaps?

Yes, but we didn’t see any playful Hobbits this trip.

However, we did see crystal clear rivers, deep gorges, emerald green grassy-covered hills, brilliant blue-ish purple lupins and more. We couldn’t resist taking the 4.5 hour TranzAlpine Scenic journey, which travels from Christchurch to the small town of Greymouth, located on the western coast. Hubby loves trains, so we decided to pick up a rental car on the other side to continue our road trip.

The KiwiRail website describes this trek as “one of the world’s most famous train journeys”, and we certainly cannot disagree! Hopefully, my photos will be enough to showcase all the natural beauty we saw along the way.

At 8:15 a.m., we departed Christchurch. Even the though the station was crowded, the KiwiRail staff were quite efficient and quickly directed passengers to their reserved cars. First, our journey took across the Canterbury Plains, which covers 750,000 hectacres, making it NZ’s largest area of flat land. That’s where we saw lots of sheep!

Wildflowers

Then, we passed numerous fields of the beautiful Russel Lupins, which I just learned are considered a noxious weed by the NZ Department of Conservation. Unfortunately, these pretty wildflowers can clog up the rivers, thus altering the land where wading birds usually feed. But if you want to see them in bloom, the peak season is generally from November to December on the South Island.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was hanging out in the open-air train car. Luckily, our seats were quite close to one of these cars as they can get quite crowded. Since we traveled in mid-December, the weather was a little chilly (highs in low teens C/about 50F) and people tended not to hang out in the car for too long. However, I tried to brave the blustery winds, set my camera to sports mode and took as many photos as I could as you can see here.

Waimakariri River

Throughout the ride, the ice-fed Waimakariri River, which is the largest of the North Canterbury rivers, flowing for 151km from the Southern Alps to the Pacific Ocean, was our constant companion. I’ve never seen water so pure as this from a distance! We passed over several viaducts and through tunnels as we went through these mountain ranges.

Southern Alps

West Coast

Around the 3-hour mark, we briefly stopped at Arthur’s Pass, which at 920 meters is the highest of only three roads crossing the Southern Alps. The Maori people first passed through here in search of the precious West Coast pounamu (greenstone). The pass is named after Sir Arthur Dudley Dobson who led the first Europeans across here in 1864.

As soon as we descended from Arthur’s Pass through the 5.3-mile-long Otira Tunnel, the weather changed dramatically – from pale blue skies to overcast and rainy. We had reached New Zealand’s West Coast, which is classified as a cool-climate rain forest and known for this type of weather.

We could barely see Lake Brenner, the island’s largest lake in the northwestern part, through the London-like fog.

I happily spent the last leg of the trip in our comfy seats, nibbling on a locally-made ice cream bar. We also finished a bottle of NZ sparkling wine we bought earlier on the train. (NOTE: the café car sells reasonably-priced food and drink, which you can reserve in advance.)

Riding the TranzAlpine made me want to do more train trips! I think this is a fantastic and low-key way to see the countryside.

New Zealand simply seemed filled with picture-perfect landscapes everywhere we looked. I’m already hoping we can return and explore some more!

Do you like travelling by train?

TranzApline train facts:

*The 4.5 hour train ride costs 189NZ (about $126USD). I think there may be cheaper tickets if you can book further in advance.

*I reserved a breakfast wrap and gluten-free berry smoothie in advance. Cost: 14NZ (about $9USD).

*The train also departs from Greymouth every day at 1:45 p.m., heading to Christchurch.

*We reserved a rental car in advance through the local Apex Car Rentals and easily picked it up at the Greymouth train station. Cost: $234NZ (about $150USD) for 3 days. I liked that they did not charge a one-way drop-off fee like some companies do.

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Christchurch: 5 Years After Deadly 2011 Earthquakes

How to Spend 24 Hours in Christchurch

At 6:30 a.m., the lifeless, gray skies only seemed to add to the feeling that Christchurch was a ghost town.

After strolling through the lovely Botanic Gardens, where we saw two other people, we wandered into the city center to find a coffeeshop. After living in Melbourne for the past nine months, we just assumed we would find something open by 7. Maybe 7:30 a.m.

We were wrong.

Christchurch, with a population of 366,000, appeared not to be inhabited until almost 8 a.m. We wandered down main streets lined with silent construction cranes and stone rubble and past vast empty gravel lots where buildings once stood in the city center. We could have been standing in a post-war zone.

Not a soul in sight!

Cathedral Square

We stopped by the historic ChristChurchCathedral, a Gothic Anglican church built between 1864 and 1904, which stands in crumbling ruins behind construction fencing in Cathedral Square. The deadly February 2011 earthquake destroyed the 63 meter-high spire, and subsequent earthquakes in June and December 2011 damaged the church’s stained-glass rose window.

I felt downright miserable that this beautiful church has been left in ruins for 5 WHOLE YEARS while the church, locals and city government argue about what should be done about it. Finally, it looks like the parties (maybe) have agreed to repairs and reconstruction to be completed by 2022 if the building is reinstated by the diocese.

The 2011 earthquake killed 185 people, injured thousands, caused widespread destruction and was felt across the South Island and parts of the North Island. Our taxi driver from the airport told us he had just dropped off a customer and watched a building fall down and the road ripple right in front of him five years ago.

Following the earthquake, a temporary church was built, called the “Cardboard Cathedral,” due to the cardboard tubes used in the building’s ceiling. The Anglican church is still holding worship services and concerts here.

Although the city center still looks like a gigantic construction zone, Christchurch is rebuilding – slowly by slowly. We found several things to enjoy during the 24 hours we had to spend here.

Botanic Gardens

The gardens are located just west of the city center and cover a large area in Hagley Park. We strolled through the beautiful rose gardens and enjoyed seeing the New Zealand silver ferns up-close for the first time.

Popups and Street Art

As we wandered around, we discovered the city’s artistic community has jazzed up the concrete landscape with streetart in the CBD (in a previous blog post) as well as popup stores and art installations.

We found a funky shopping plaza called Re:START City Mall that has been built out of shipping containers and features cafés, locally made goods, clothing and food trucks. This is where we finally found a fun, lively vibe! I bought an Andy Warhol-inspired sheep apron and couple of NZ Christmas ornaments.

Kiwis have such a good sense of humour.

Tree Housesfor Swamp Dwellers, consisting of 10 modular objects identified both as trees and houses, was created by local artist Julia Morison.

Located nearby is a solar-powered table that acts as a power station to charge your electronics such as your mobile phone or Ipod.

Chairs, corner of Cashel and Madras streets, serves as a memorial for the 185 people killed by the earthquake in February 2011.

Art Museum

In December, the Christchurch Art Gallery, home to the country’s largest public art collection, reopened its doors to the public for the first time in nearly five years. I think the gallery’s outdoor neon sign describes the city’s motto well: Everything’s Going to Be Alright.

New Regent Street

If you want to pretend you’re in a live version of Candyland, head on over to the charming New Regent Street, a historic shopping street originally built in 1932. This Spanish Mission-style designed street, known then as New Zealand’s most beautiful street, was built during the Depression years to help boost local shopping. 

We found several restaurants, bars, a bakery that sold amazing cookies and shops selling locally-made tourist goods. We settled in for a thirst-quenching NZ beer at the speakeasy-looking Institution.

 

Local Craft Beers

Near our hotel in the Riccarton neighborhood, we had read about a place called the Volstead Trading Company. (in 1919, the U.S. enacted the Volstead Act to establish Prohibition.) Since we loved watching the American series Boardwalk, which takes place during the Prohibition era, we thought this would be an appropriate place to grab an afternoon beverage. This bar featured local craft beers, comfy chairs and a laidback environment – a perfect place to rest our weary feet. I loved my pink cider beer made from Red Gala apples!

Creative Food

Unsure of where to pop in for dinner, we checked our reliable Foursquare app to see what looked good nearby. That’s how we ended up at the popular Fiddlesticks Restaurant and Bar. Well two of the dishes I have photos of are the seared scallops and locally-cured NZ salmon with pickled ginger – both were delicious! The restaurant also had a nice selection of NZ wines by the glass.

Today, as the residents of Christchurch remember the five-year anniversary of the 2011 earthquakes and those who died, let’s not forget to support this city. I believe the city, like the Phoenix, will continue to rise from the ashes and soar again!

If you are traveling to New Zealand, be sure to spend some time in Christchurch and help this friendly community rebuild.

Playing in an old-fashioned telephone booth in Christchuch.

The rose garden in the lovely Chateau on the Park, where we stayed for one night. The hotel offered a free shuttle bus ride to the train station, one of the reasons why I chose it; however, for convenience sake I wished I had selected one of the hotels in the city center. We ended up walking more than 10km since it was about 2 km from the hotel to the CBD.

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Colorful Street Art in Christchurch’s CBD

A New Zealand city that has been devastated by earthquakes is making a colorful comeback.

Just this past Sunday on February 14^th, Christchurch, the country’s third largest city, witnessed another earthquakeat 5.7 magnitude, which fortunately caused little damage. February 22^nd will mark the 5^th anniversary of the city’s deadly earthquake of 2011. On our visit right before Christmas 2015, we were shocked to see how much of the city center still sits amid crumbling ruins.

Entire blocks remain vacant.

Lifeless construction cranes fill the skyline.

However, as we wandered around, we saw that Christchurch is making a colorful comeback – in the form of large murals. Street art pieces are taking over the central business district where vast empty sections and bare, brick walls dominate the landscape. We picked up a mini-map of Christchurch marking where we could find street art and other pop up art pieces.

Since 2014, more than 25 huge murals have been produced as a part of Oi YOU! shows, and at least 10 are planned for this year. In addition, the SpectrumStreet Art Festival is currently happening now through April 17^th. Basically, you can actually see the street art coming alive right before your own eyes! 

We arrived to what we thought was a gray and depressing city, but later were impressed with the city’s vibrant street art scene.

The positive local vibe in Christchurch just goes to show that the city will go on.

In addition to street art, the city council has approved numerous other pop up art projects such as Re:START (a small shopping area made from shipping containers), oversized armchairs made from astro turf on Gloucester Street and living art such as the “Kaitiaki– The Keeper” in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens.

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