After breakfast, we boarded our coach and traveled north along the coast on one side and the Southern Alps on the other to Greymouth. We stopped at a few scenic places. Just south of Harihari in a town called Whataroa we stopped at a photographer’s studio. Peter Hlavacek takes local photos and develops them in large pieces. His work is very nice. There is also a white heron sanctuary here. In Harihari, we learned that the first flight from Australia to New Zealand landed there in 1934. The picture is of a landing in 1931.
Next came Ross, a small gold rush town that we stopped to explore. There were restored buildings and a small Catholic Church that opened in 1866 and is still in use. New Zealand’s largest gold nugget (the 3.1kg “Roddy Nugget”) was found in Ross Then, it was on to Hokitiki for lunch and jade shopping. Jade is supposed to “find you.” Then we went on to Greymouth.
There we boarded the Tranzalpine train to Christchurch. The train travelled through dense alpine forests, across the snow-capped Southern Alps, via the Otira tunnel, over Arthur’s Pass and through the Canterbury Plains along the Waimakariri River. Arthur’s Pass road is the highest highway across the Southern Alps and the train parallels it. This is also the narrowest part of the south island., crossing through part of Arthur’s Pass National Park. This is one of the most scenic railway journeys in the world. Arthur’s Pass is named after Sir Arthur Dudley Dobson who was tasked with finding a pass through the mountains. With the help of Maori chief Tarapuhi, he found and mapped the way the Maori people used. The long Otiri tunnel through the pass was begun in 1908. We arrived in Christchurch .
Our hotel was the Chateau on the Park-Christchurch where we had our farewell dinner. All we were able to see of Christchurch were the Botanic Gardens, but they were well worth it. We all wished we had had time to explore Christchurch. Christchurch was nearly destroyed by the three major earthquakes in 2010, 2011, and 2012. Much of the city has been rebuilt but there is still damage to be seen.
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