Tranzalpine express

We were up quite early to catch the once daily train trip across from Christchurch to Greymouth. There's an open sided viewing car for photography, and some spectacular views to take pictures of. But the views were somewhat restricted by the low lying cloud, from which was falling some unseasonally early snow. Some of the tourists on the train were from Australia, and were quite chuffed to see the snow, but we felt that we had seen quite enough snow for this year, in the UK, and did not expect to be seeing more whilst in NZ.

There was a recorded commentary available on headphones, and one thing the woman narrating this kept stressing was that due to the mountains down the centre, the east of South Island is much wetter than the west. However, it was noticeable that the rain we had enjoyed in Christchurch (turning to snow as we climbed into the mountains) stayed on the east, and on arriving in the coastal regions on the west, the sun came out, and it was much warmer.

The extra was taken at Arthur's Pass, when we were able to get out briefly and stretch our legs. I rather liked the way that the snow sat on the tree tops.

We picked up a hire car in Greymouth, and drove north. We're spending 3 nights up near Montueka, in a yurt. Very cosy, but rather interestingly basic - trips to the loo involve going outside and up some steps to a separate toilet shack. And the cooking and bathing facilities are down some steps and exposed to the elements - hope the weather stays this good.

Not sure about our plans for tomorrow, but I think we need a relatively easy day, we are both quite tired this evening.