Rich's Birthday Holiday - Greymouth, Tranzalpine & Christchurch

We arrived in Greymouth about 45 minutes after leaving Punakaiki and it felt like we were arriving back into civilisation again.

After checking in our bags we only had about half an hour to look around town - still I can now officially say I have been to Greymouth.

However, it was soon time to leave so we all jumped on board the Tranz Alpine to make the journey towards Christchurch.


We decided that after a while - we should go and check out the view from the trains outdoor viewing platform.








Then it was off to see more of that amazing west coast scenery....




Part way through the journey we made a very brief stop at Arther's Pass which was a chance to get out of the train and get a (cold) fresh breath of air.







After our stop at Arther's pass it was time to return to the train again and soak up some more of that view!








Then it was time to relax with some wine...


...and check out more of the amazing scenery, including the pretty yellow flowers as we got closer to Christchurch.







It's amazing how quickly a 5 hour train trip can go when you're having a great time, because before we knew it we were in Christchurch and checking into our brand new but delightfully tacky hotel - "Hotel SO". If you love kitsch you'll love this place - it has a real 2001:Space Odyssey feel to it.

We spent the final day of our holiday soaking up the sights and sounds of Christchurch on a beautiful spring day.