Blip bear crosses the Southern Alps

Today we took to the train to cross the Alps from the west coast to the east. This is known as the Tranz Alpine Express. In this picture we are just passing Lake Brunner as we ascend to Arthur's Pass which is a National Park, the third to get this status in New Zealand.

When we passed through the tunnel at Otira (8km long) we emerged at the station for Arthur's pass and the route from here down to the plains of Canterbury we went through some wonderful scenery, particularly through the gorges created by the broad, braided Waimakriri River.

We spent the morning in Hokitika, which is a bit like something from the Wild West, but has the most wonderful artists shops for paintings, glass blowing, stone painting and above all the carving of Pounamu or green stone which the Maori call Jade and revere. It is found in the,rivers and fjords of the Southern Alps. Liz and I spent too much so,it is a good job we were moving on.

We are now back in Christchurch where we started our New Zealand adventure. Sadly Liz leaves us tomorrow to fly to Wellington but we continue further north.

Blip bear and Kiwi enjoyed their outing on this very special train and we did too especially as it was remarkably clear and sunny and we could enjoy the views from our seated carriages or from the viewing carriages with open sides at the end of each section of the train.