Day 17 ~ Dec 6th: Christchurch to Greymouth on the TranzAlpine, & on to Hokitika
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| My room was on the left corner, just off shot |
I was woken at 0630, so got up, dressed & wandered down the stairs to see if I could get a brew.
There seemed to be free coffee, so I had 2, & then had another wander to get some pics of the jail (The building really had been a former Jailhouse).
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| I forgot to rotate it before I uploaded it. Oops ;-p |
The rooms were mostly big dorms, but by the example cells, there may have been smaller ones as well?
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| An example of an old jail cell |
It was all very clean & tidy, if a little quirky.
I'd even been given a Welcome to Jail certificate the night before!
I left at 0720 & walked to the station, which was quite a way from the city centre ~ the Jailhouse being the closest hostel to it.
Check-in done & seat allocated, my ruckie & wheelie were put in the luggage van.
I had a seat near the front, & there was an English couple in front & an English couple behind me.
There was also a magazine about the trips done by KiwiRail, so I took a pic about the TranzAlpine, noting we were to stop at Springfield. I'd stayed there in 2011 before skiing Porters.
After that, tho, it all opened up a bit, & The Man In Seat 61 says:
The TranzAlpine leaves Christchurch at 08:15, and within ten minutes the Addington cement works and freight yards give way to small wooden suburban bungalows. Minutes later the train is crossing flat open farmland, doing 60mph across the Canterbury plain heading relentlessly towards the snow-capped Southern Alps on the horizon.
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| Peeps on the viewing platform while we went through a tunnel |
The train passes fields of sheep, cattle, and red deer, passes the small commuter town of Darfield, and the first tentative foothills appear. At around 9am the train calls at Springfield, where fresh muffins are loaded aboard for the cafe-bar...
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| The Waimakiriri Gorge |
After Springfield it was up into the hills, alongside rivers & through a short tunnel.
Headsets had been provided for every seat, so you could listen to a commentary if you wanted to, but once we started to climb, I spent most of the time on the viewing platform.
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| A change of personnel in the middle of nowhere! |
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| No sign of snow, & a similar shot to one I took in 2009 on the Taieri Gorge Railway |
Here's what The Man In Seat 61 says about the section between Springfield & Arthur's Pass:
As it climbs, the train crosses a series of steel girder bridges over deep gorges and through a series of short tunnels. The highest viaduct is the famous 'Staircase', 73 metres above the river. The scenery here is spectacular.
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| I think that's Craigieburn Rd with a glimpse of a small (un-named) lake near the Cass Settlement |
He also writes of a plateau, & mountains covered in mist, but it was clear today.
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| This may be the plateau written of by The Man In Seat 61? |
He continues with:
At 10:15 the TranzAlpine stops at Arthurs Pass station, surrounded by yet more mist-laden mountains, and there's time to get out, stretch your legs and take photographs.
Which I did!
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| Looking back the way we had come ~ ~ ~ |
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| And the way we were going |
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| The mural inside the waiting room |
We weren't there long before it was "all aboard", & off towards Otira.
As we descended, the mountains got mistier & the clouds lower.
According to The Man In Seat 61:
Almost immediately after leaving Arthurs Pass the train enters the the Otira Tunnel. At 8.6 kilometres (5.3 miles) long, it's one of the longest tunnels in New Zealand. It was only completed in 1923, allowing direct train travel from east to west across the South Island. This section of line was once electrified, but now a door closes behind each train, allowing the train to act as a huge piston, forcing the diesel fumes out.
Just the other side of the tunnel is Otira itself, where the TranzAlpine makes a very brief call. Otira was a railway town, running the railway that kept the coal flowing from the west coast coalfields to Christchurch and the rest of New Zealand.
Even with the rain, the little houses & farm buildings at Otira were bright & jolly in their alpine valley.It was at this point that the Stewardess came round with Kapiti Ice Creams.
I didn't write down what flavour I had, but it was yummy :-q
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| My yummy Kapiti lolly |
Borrowing again from The Man In Seat 61 - you could check out his blog, he writes of the train: following a deep valley containing a broad shallow river, which it crosses several times.
He also says:
At around 12:00 the TranzAlpine passes the site of the Old Brunner Mine, just across the valley on the other side of the Grey River. This was the site of New Zealand's worst mining disaster in 1896. An ancient suspension bridge links the railway side of the river with the mine.
The train passes Dobson, an old coal-mining town though all the mines are now closed.
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| Lake Brunner & Mt Te Kinga |
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| Moana Sailing Club? & Mt Te Kinga |
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| Bush! |
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| & more bush. So lush! |
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| I think this was the Arnold River? |
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| I didn't know this was the remains of the Brunner Mine when I took this! |
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| Mawheranui or the Grey River (I think?) |
The train continued west-ish, & there was increasingly less bush & more farmland.
Eventually, we arrived in Greymouth to a parade of peeps in Stewart kilts, playing Flower of Scotland on pipes & drums!
It was almost like getting off in Haymarket on a day when Scotland were playing at Murrayfield :-)
I was met by a chap from Ace who drove me to a holiday camp south of town, & I got my car.
It was an old, big, car, so no CD player, & likely to be thirsty. Bum :-/
Paperwork done, I had a quick look at the loud sea over the dune, & picked up a very white stone as my memento of Greymouth. Then it was south to Hokitika.
All the way through my planning, I had been pronouncing this HockeytEEka, but the Ace guy called it Hoe Ki Tikka.
I stand corrected ;-p
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| A wonky clock |
I was there in short order & checked at Mountain Jade, a BBH hostel. It was metres away from the Hokitika clock, so having dumped my bags & decided to drive to the Tree Top Walk, I grabbed a quick, slightly cockeyed, pic.
I also checked out the local Saturday market, & found a Pakeha (ie not a Maori, but of European descent) with a stall of Pounamu. He had a beautiful light green Mere.
As I had been lusting after one since I first saw them in Dec'9, I was sorely tempted.
However, Pounamu ~ which is also known as greenstone, is denser (& thus heavier) than normal stone, & I was close to my limit. Plus, I had presents still to get. So, as it was $650, I put my eyes back in my sockets, & kept my card locked up!
Mere look like this:
They are weapons, & aren't necessarily green.
Māori weapons: a Tewhatewha, Taiaha, Mere & Toki.
Having had my lust roused, I decided to look for my own pounamu on the beach later ~ having been told what to look for by a lady in a curry shop when I went to get chips for a late lunch!
The Tree Top Walk was 17k south, & a better plan to do now, rather than wait until morning, when I would have a very long drive ahead of me. As it turned out, the change of plan was fortuitous, as it took nearly an hour to do it.
On the way there I noticed the petrol gauge was dropping alarmingly. The car was either greedy or it had a very small tank :-/
Turning off the SH6 to the left, I found the site on the side of a hill, & having paid my fee, I walked up the hillside a bit to access the metal walkway quite a way above the ground.
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| Lake Mahinapua beyond the trees |
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| The Tower ~ the top is 40m above the forest floor |
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| Looking down a Rimu (I think?) |
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| Spring flowers |
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| Tall trees! |
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| The driftwood Hokitika sign. That's the Tasman Sea behind. |
Then I went to the beach looking for pounamu.
It was drizzling, but I spent 40-odd minutes getting wet while I wandered along Hokitika beach, picking up a number of interesting looking stones.
I put them in the boot, & found a pounamu workshop where carvers were still at work ~ making pounamu trinkets for the tourists!
I knocked on the window, & persuaded one (an East European!) to have a look at the stones in my boot. He probably thought 'mad dogs & English women go out in the pouring rain', to coin a phrase ;-pSadly, he said none of them were the real McCoy, but did explain what to look for on the beaches & river beds south of Hokitika. Then he went back into the dry.
However, because the stones were all beautiful, I decided to take them home anyway.
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| This one is light jade green with cream & buff striations. |
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| This stone is darker grey than it looks here. I picked it up because it reminded me of sealskin. |
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| This one's about the length of my forefinger, & the smallest. It's a shimmery greeny-grey & the black bits are proud of the lighter part. |
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| Believe it or not, this one is also green ~ well, I was searching for my own bit of pounamu. It has lovely dark green veins running through it. |
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| It's a shame the green of the stone isn't apparent from the photo. |
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| This is the largest of the Hokitika stones, & is light grey with dark grey striations. It's also the heaviest by quite a bit. |
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| My Hokitika Treasures |
Back at the hostel it was time for tea, so I had a quick shower, & heated up the chips I hadn't finished at lunchtime.
With Ake Ake wine, of course ;-)
Sitting in the hostel lounge, I got talking to other travellers, including Alexis (from France), & Vanessa (from Stuttgart). Alex wanted to take me up on the lift down to Franz Josef, & Vanessa ~ like many Germans, had very good English. Certainly heaps & heaps better than my German! I told Vanessa about Grabaseat, Intercity, NakedBus, & Ace Rentals (which do 1-way car hire without stupid 1-way fees).
I also tried the cryptic crossword in the NZ paper the chips had been wrapped in. Unfortunately, my brain didn't work like a Kiwi's, & I only managed 5 answers :-/
After failing at the crossword, & after arranging with Alex to set off at around 0830 the next morning, I could see it was still raining, &, despite it being nearly the longest day down there, it was more or less dark by half 9, so shortly after that I went to bed, hitting the sack at 2150.
So ended my day which began on the east coast of South Island, & finished on the famous west coast.
Day 18 ~ Dec 7th: Hokitika to Makarora via Haast
It blowed another hoolie overnight, and kept on raining, but I could hear the sound of the sea from my bunk next to the open window, so all was fine by me :-)
I was up at 8, &, after a porridge breakfast, Alexis & I Ieft the hostel just after 9. The tank needed a top up, & the mileage on the old, thirsty, car began at 232,736. She'd been around a bit ;-)
We stopped several times on our way to Franz Josef, including one just south of Hokitika when the morning mist gave the bush to the west of the road an eerie look. |
| At this point in time (18 months after I took this photo), I have no idea what the black thing is! |
Apart from the odd bend, the SH6 was pretty much headed SW for miles, but eventually we came to a large lake ~ it was still misty at this point, & stopped for some pics.
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| Lake Ianthe in the mist |
Having consulted good old Gmaps, it was Lake Ianthe
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| Alexis taking a panoramic |
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| Lake Ianthe & a Cabbage Tree ~ Cordyline australis |
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| Alexis looking for a spot for a good photo at Lake Wahapo |
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| The sun had come out |
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| A view from the bridge on the Forks-Okarito Rd |
Ōkārito Lagoon is a coastal lagoon on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is located 130 kilometres (81 mi) south of Hokitika, and covers an area of about 12 square kilometres (4.6 sq mi), making it the largest unmodified wetland in New Zealand. Several small rivers drain into the lagoon, and it is the outflow of Lake Mapourika. The lagoon is home of many species of wading birds, notably the extremely rare (in New Zealand) kōtuku (Eastern great egret). Ōkārito is the kōtuku's only New Zealand breeding place.[1][2] At the southern end of the lagoon is the small settlement of Ōkārito. Originally a gold mining township, the population reached of over 1,500 in 1866.[3] It is now permanent home to only about 30 residents; among them Booker Prize-winning writer Keri Hulme and landscape photographer Andris Apse.
The sea was magnificent, & very nearly high, so there wasn't much room on the beach to avoid wet feet.
Pics of the surf taken, we had a brew at the cafe, & sat outside in the sun :-)
When he got back from the loo, Alexis told me to take a look!
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| Another loo. This time at the cafe at Okarito |
Back onto the SH6, we passed the aforementioned Lake Mapourika, before arriving at Franz Josef.
The full name of the village is Franz Josef Glacier, but I've seldom heard peeps say the last bit unless they mean the glacier itself.
Alexis was hoping to hike up there, & I hope he managed it OK as, Googling it in March '16, I discovered this report by a UK paper.
New Zealand's renowned glaciers which are among the country's top tourist attraction saw hundred of hikers trek to the top of the mountains before it was deemed too dangerous and closed due to the rapidly melting ice.
The Fox and Franz Josef glaciers in the South Island have been melting so quickly over the past few years making it practically impossible for people to walk up the mountains towards the glaciers. The glaciers which were previously known to snake down from the mountains to a temperate rainforest below have slowly been disappearing, ending the tradition trek that dated back a century. The glaciers were easily accessible from the trek which began at the bottom of the mountains. our operators stopped taking guided hikes onto the Franz Josef in 2012 and the nearby Fox in 2014. With continuing warm weather this year there are no signs of a turnaround, and scientists say it is another example of how global warming is impacting the environment. Tourism in New Zealand is booming and nearly 1 million people last year flocked to get a glimpse of the glaciers and the spectacular valleys they've carved. But the only way to set foot on them now is to get flown onto them by helicopter.
Tour operators offer flights and guided glacier walks, although logistics limit this to 80,000 tourists per year, half the number that once hiked up from the valley floor. Up to another 150,000 people each year take scenic flights that land briefly at the top of the glaciers. Flying in the UNESCO World Heritage area comes with its own risks, highlighted in November when a sightseeing helicopter crashed onto the Fox Glacier, killing all seven aboard.
Sitting near the base of the Franz Josef Glacier, Wayne Costello, a district operations manager for the Department of Conservation, said that when he arrived eight years ago, the rock he was perched on would have been buried under tons of ice. Instead, the glacier now comes to an end a half-mile (800 meters) further up the valley.
'Like a loaf of bread shrinking in its tin, it's gone down a lot as well,' Costello said. 'So it's wasted away in terms of its thickness, and that's led to quite a rapid melt.' As the glaciers are no longer covered by the ice like they previously were, the ice melts down the mountain at a rate of four meters (13 feet) each day, picking up rocks and debris along the way. With no expectations of improving weather conditions scientists have noted this as another example of global warming. Because of that melt, the valley walls that were once braced by the glaciers have been left exposed and vulnerable to rock falls, making hiking up too dangerous. Tour operators stopped taking guided hikes onto the Franz Josef in 2012 and the nearby Fox in 2014. A 2014 paper published in the journal Global and Planetary Change concluded the two glaciers have each melted by 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) in length since the 1800s, making them about 20 percent shorter. The glaciers have recently been melting at a faster pace than ever previously recorded, the authors said.
Heather Purdie, a scientist at the University of Canterbury and lead author of the paper, said climate change is the driving factor. 'We know that glaciers around the world, including the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers, are responding to that warmer temperature and they're retreating,' she said. Small changes in temperature and snowfall tend to be magnified in the two glaciers and their retreat has been interrupted by advances that can last years, she said. Costello and tour operators are hoping to see another advance soon. But there's no sign of that: February was the second-hottest month ever recorded in New Zealand. The hot weather has even created a new type of tourist attraction over the other side of the mountains. Purdie said the glaciers there are also rapidly retreating, resulting in tourists taking boat rides on the lakes to see some of the massive icebergs that have begun to shear away. The two glaciers have each melted by 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) in length since the 1800s, making them about 20 percent shorter and they are melting at an even faster rate. A helicopter trip onto the Fox Glacier reveals deep crevasses in the translucent blue ice and stunning ice caves through which guides take crampon-wearing tourists. A guide retells the indigenous Maori legend which would have it that the Franz Josef Glacier began as a stream of tears left by a young woman whose lover was killed by an avalanche.
The glaciers are formed by prevailing westerly winds dumping snow in a high-altitude basin. It compacts into ice and is pushed down the valleys much like toothpaste being squeezed from a tube. The glaciers slide and roll down the mountain at a rate of 4 meters (13 feet) each day, picking up rocks and debris along the way. 'It's the uniqueness, the rawness of the environment,' that draws tourists from Australia, North America, Europe, and, increasingly, China, said Rob Jewell, chairman of the Glacier Country Tourism Group.
It's also a region which is subject to rapid changes in the weather. At the time of November's helicopter crash - which killed four tourists from Britain and two from Australia, as well as the New Zealand pilot - some observers said the weather and visibility were marginal for safe flying. Jewell said he didn't want to comment until an investigation by authorities was complete. He said the crash hasn't affected tourist numbers, which have been stronger than ever this year.
At the base of the Franz Josef, Dutch tourist Dieuwke Derkse said she was overwhelmed by the beauty of the glacier and the purity of the environment. She said she believed global warming was responsible for its retreat and felt a little guilty even visiting New Zealand because of the fossil fuels burned by the plane ride there. But she said the glacier also helped inspire her to live in a more environmentally conscious way. 'It makes me a little bit sad because you see how fast everything is going,' she said. 'The river is going very fast but the snow and glacier is going backward.'
From the sound of it, Alexis may have been unlucky? Unless he flew in?
Anyway, we arrived at about half past 12 ~ having done 161k, & I grabbed a quick pic just before Alexis got out of the car :-) |
| Alexis - Frenchman with a cause? |
Later I discovered he'd left his jacket in the car. Oops!
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| Leaving FJ |
I was aware the photo stops seriously ate into travelling time, so whenever there was a straight bit, I put my foot down. I passed quite a few slower vehicles that way, but they invariably passed me again when I was taking a pic!
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| The car & a last view of Knights Point rocks |
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| A view from the Haast River bridge |
The bridge over the Haast River was very long & crossed several little branches of the river & a fairly wide sand bank in the centre. There were interesting views either side, so I pulled in once across & walked back for some visual mementos, happily timing it as a kayaker paddled past.
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| The kayaker was headed seawards |
It turned out they were a Dutch couple who had run out of petrol, so I gave the bloke a lift to Haast for a can of fuel.
As there was fuel on offer I figured it may be prudent to top up a little, so I put $20 in mine: It was $2.68 per litre! ! ! They could get away with that price as they were the only petrol station for hundreds of K. It had been only $1.99 in Hokitika, & that was a bit more expensive compared to fuel prices on the east coast & on NI.
The Dutch bloke must've managed a lift back to his car, as they beeped & waved when they passed me standing on a bridge taking (yet another) photo ~ see below.
At Haast, the road turned more or less 90 degrees left & went SE along the Haast River.
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| The Haast River near the confluence with the Landsborough River |
As the road turned back towards the south, the Haast was joined by the Landsborough, & I managed a photo at a layby.
Not wanting to keep stopping, I took the next pic through the side window as the SH6 crossed over to the east of the Haast.
Shame about the railings!
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| No time to stop! |
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| Thunder Creek Falls |
It's a shame the pics don't show how high the falls were.
Or the noise!
Back in the car, having crossed another bridge (I think at the Gates of Haast?) where the Haast was much narrower, I could see some nice rapids, so I pulled over again & walked back to the old iron bridge for another photo.
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| The Gates of Haast rapids photo |
The Haast Pass Rd. stayed above the river to the west, & before long (about 4 K) I came to the Fantail Falls.
Having been told that pounamu could be found on river beds all along the west coast of NZ, I pulled over for a quick hunt.
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| The river where I found my green rock |
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| Fantail Falls |
Back home ~ while visiting Edinburgh for a rugby game, I went to a lapidary workshop in Leith where they used a machine which flattened an edge, so it evidently wasn't the real thing. Shame.
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| The rock I'd hoped was pounamu |
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| After the guy in Edinburgh had tested the hardness. Clearly not pounamu. :-( |
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| The Makarora River from the bridge |
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| This is the photo I was taking when the Dutch couple caught me up |
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| The car on School Rd |
It sounded great, but it was tea-time, & Bridget was expecting me, so I didn't stop again until I turned down School Rd.
I would definitely like to make a visit to the Blue Pools at some time in the future though.
I pulled over to call Bridget & tell her my arrival was imminent, but there was no signal, so after taking a couple of pics, I carried on to her gate.
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| Green, yellow & blue from School Rd., Makarora |
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| Nikki, Ralph & Bridget with labrador pup |
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| The dining patio & labrador tail! |
Having got my bags out of the car, I had a wander round Bridget's lovely property while the sun was still out.
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| My room, green wheelie & ruckie |
I noticed the car boot was smelling a bit fishy, so I got the Paraparumu shells out, gave them a quick wash in the sink to get rid of the last of the sand, & put them on the table for some fresh air.
It turned out there was still a beastie in one of them, & the dogs were Very interested in the smell.
Following my wander I noticed the shell had disappeared off the little table, & after a wander around the garden, I saw it in bits having been chewed & enjoyed by one of the dogs!
Shame, it was a lovely shaped shell, but as the beastie would've continued to decompose, it was better out of my luggage!
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| Playing puppies. Cute :-) |
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| A star of feeding puppies |
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| Still hungry puppies |
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| Amber lets them all get on with it! |
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| The view from my room as the sun went down |
There are no pictures of the lovely meal Bridget had kindly offered to provide me with, & which she served on the patio just before the sun set.
The tasty lamb chops came with boiled spuds w mint & salad w avocado, all washed down with a lovely red & some very interesting conversation.
Thanks Bridget x
If you want to share my experience at Bridget's B&B, Google Hawkshead at Makarora.
Due to all the detours, I had driven nearly 400k, & I'd been on the road over 8 hours, so I wasn't late to bed.
The next day would involve a 350K drive to the Waitaki Valley, an afternoon ride with Pete (see 2011 NZ blog), & a couple of nights at Glenmac with Kaye, so there was not much sudoku done before my light went out.
OAO
