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ALL ABOARD! This is one train journey you must not miss if you are in South Island of New Zealand.
The view as the iconic TranzAlpine train makes its way across the Southern Alps is simply breathtaking. Starting from Christchurch, the train first crosses the Canterbury Plains, the largest piece of flat land in the country.
Slowly, it makes its ascent until it reaches Arthur's Pass station at 737 metres above sea level. Here, the train picks up two extra locomotives for the climb up to 920 metres at Arthur's Pass and going across the 8.5km Otira Tunnel.The extra engine power is also to control the descent until it reaches the picturesque Lake Brunner.The journey from Christchurch in the east to Greymouth in the west takes about four hours. Normally, most people would buy a one-way ticket and continue the journey back by rented car, bus or plane.But we are not like most people. By we, I meant the three of us -- my wife and I, and my brother James.We were attracted by the "Lake Brunner Day Out" promotion offer of NZ$285 for a return ticket compared to the normal Christchurch-Greymouth return fare of NZ$438. That's a savings of NZ$153 each but it means our journey ends at Moana, and we miss out on the last two stops.
But what we lost in the two stops, we gained at Lake Brunner located at the Moana station. We had lunch at a cafe opposite the station. Guess what, it's free! It's part of the special offer.The food was all right but the view was fantastic. The cafe has a great view of the lake and the surrounding mountains.
After lunch, we had about two hours to enjoy the place before the train came around to take us back to Christchurch.
In your holidays, sometimes you just want to laze around, take a leisurely walk and smell the roses. I did not see any roses but the hydrangeas here were just as beautiful. Good enough.
Taking up this offer also means we will be spending 8 hours on the train. And seeing and hearing everything twice. "Bring along a packet of playing cards," said a Malaysian friend when I told him about the trip. "What are you going to do for 8 hours on a train?" he asked. I know I was going to enjoy the trip despite what my friend said.
I love train rides and I have always been fascinated by mountains and rivers.
So no pack of playing cards for me.
The journey started early, at 8.15am.
The train was very comfortable. There were 4 cars for passengers and a buffet car. My little regret was that there was no freè wifi on board, not like the train we took from London to Edinburgh.
The staff were very friendly but more important, we can see the mountain range and all its splendour from the warm comfort of our seats.
There was a commentary throughout most of the journey, via headphones and sometimes through the public address system.
The first part of the journey was through 777,000 hectares of flat land. This is dairy country and small towns were found all along the way.
At the second station, for example, the town of Darfield has a population of only 1,500 but has a dairy factory which can process 6 million litres of milk a day. It generates NZ$2 billion of revenue annually.
At this stage, we had climbed to 260 metres above sea level and slowly reached 390 metres at the next station of Springfield.
For the more adventurous among us, we made our way to the open car just before Arthur's Pass. The view of the mountains and rivers is spectacular and if you are a photo enthusiast, you would brave the cold for a good shot.
There was a sizeable group with professional cameras but I notice a few using their smartphones, a sign of the times.
And, of course, me with my video camera. I had to dart in and out because it was very cold. My videos must be very shaky because I could not hold my camera steady.
One interesting feature of this stretch was that there were 15 small tunnels before we reached Arthur's Pass.
So besides the natural beauty of this place, I am also thoroughly impressed by the sheer grit, determination and sacrifice of the early settlers to carve a path through this rough terrain.
In the past, people were lured to the west coast by the gold found there. The most popular form of transport for freight and people then was by the sea route but Canterbury authorities wanted a share of the transport business, hence the push for a land route across the mountain range.
For that to happen, they had to build the 8.5km Otira Tunnel which took 15 years to complete.
When the Otira opened in Aug 4, 1923, it was the 7th longest tunnel in the world. It has now dropped to 45th position, with the No 1 spot going to the tunnel between Honshu and Hokkaido, followed by the Chunnel, the link across the English Channel.
It takes about 25 minutes to cross the Otira tunnel. In the past, stage coaches pulled by 6 horses took 3 days to cross this stretch of territory.
Of course, there were colourful characters during those early days who saw an opportunity to make money.
Take Fred Cochrane for example. He charged $1 to ferry cars across one of the rivers. Like any shrewd businessman, he did not leave anything to chance.
He was reputed to have dredged the river and charged $5 to those motorists whose vehicles were stuck trying to evade his"toll."
I guess many people must be glad when this train service became operational. However over time, many other modes of transport were developed.
The inevitable happened. In November 1987, the TranzAlpine service became solely a tourist attraction.
As we neared the end of my journey, I was nagged by this curiosity of what I had missed in Kokiri and Greymouth, the two stops we had skipped.
That's a good reason to come back here. Maybe, this time I will make the trip in winter when snow will blanket the entire mountain range. What a sight that will be!
Overall, I enjoyed the 8-hour train ride. I smiled to myself as I looked across the aisle and saw these two Aussie couples entertaining themselves with a card game.