Road closed?

Have you ever had one of those days when you wanted to Blip so many shots that it made you want to cry with joy?  I've just had one of those!  What a fabulous day!

It started very early, testing the technology with an Uber taxi into the centre of Christchurch to the bus station.  Let me explain.

Today was meant to be the day of the train journey on the Tranzalpine express through Arthur's Pass to Greymouth.  A week ago, we were told that the train had been cancelled due to a landslide caused by the very heavy rain so we were given the choice of going by coach through the Lewis Pass or driving.  We looked at the map, saw it was a very long way to Franz Josef via the Lewis Pass, so opted for coach and pick up hire car from Greymouth.  

So, this morning, we waited for our coach through the Lewis Pass and a minibus turned up.  We were allowed the front seats, and it emerged that as far as the driver was concerned, Arthur's Pass was now passable by road and that was the way we were going. OK.  Fine.  This turned out to be an amazing trip, and my Blip was taken through the windscreen of the minibus on the road up to Arthur's Pass as it was beginning to rain.  The rainbows were just stunning...  Lots of wires too, I know, but, well, it was on a road, in a moving vehicle, moving fairly quickly...  AndArthur's Pass was open.  They have cleared the landslide in just over a week and trains start again tomorrow.  A great trip.

And then!  This afternoon, we arrived at Franz Josef, checked in to our hotel and then went up to look at the Glacier.  The two extras are of the glacier, taken a few minutes apart.  The Beauty and the Moody!

We head off to Wanaka tomorrow via Haas so are looking forward to some more spectacular scenery and a Blipmeet on Sunday!