Arthur's Pass and Greymouth

The Transalpine railway journey from Christchurch, on the east coast to Greymouth on the west coast of South Island is one of the railway classics and we were lucky enough to travel the first half in glorious sunshine. On reflection though, we actually thought the Taieri Gorge trip, on a smaller scale, had more impressive scenery.

We stopped halfway at Arthur's Pass to meet up again with Robert and Liz with a plan to walk the Avalanche Peak Track. Sadly, the tops were obscured by cloud to say nothing of the rain so we had to think again. We were told that even by travelling about 10 km down the valley we would find better weather and we were sceptical but in fact found another excellent track, the Bealey Spur, for an alternative full day walk with great views.

The next day we rejoined the train in the pouring rain to a aptly named (not sure it was just the weather!) Greymouth to pick up a car for the drive to Nelson. Had almost listened to all of our Desert Island and other podcasts by the end of that drive!

Kea interested in our lunch!