Christchurch - Arthurs Pass

Here's the newest page. Christchurch and the journey to Franz Josef Glacier! Christchurch is a lovely city just south of Kaikoura. It's the center for things on the South Island. It has an international airport and most government offices. The city itself is very much like an English city. Probably a little like Oxford. The gardens there are super. One of the YHA's, there are two, was across the road from the gardens. So I spend some time walking around them. The variety of plants/trees was a amazing! They have really spent a lot of time collecting all the different species. Oh yeah, did I mention the gardens were HUGE! Several days might allow a person to walk the entire place, maybe. I next traveled to Greymouth and Franz Josef Glacier. The journey to Franz is beautiful. I took the train, the buses go as well - but an avalanche had closed the roads. Apparently the road is even more spectacular then the rail line. I find that hard to believe, but that's what I was told. The rail line was incredible. The mid-way stop was Arthur's Pass. Wow, was it cold up there. The views of the Southern Alps was something. I should mention that this journey takes you from the eastern coast to the western coast of the South Island - crossing the Alps. Enough! Photos.

This is the Avon that runs through Christchurch. This photo is dark and not too good, but you can get the idea. You can punt along the Avon and feel like an English student. It was too cold when I was there. Sorry to say I didn't get any really good photos of Christchurch. I walked around the entire city too. Oh well, it is only a city. Everyone's seen one of those!

This is Arthur's Pass. A quick photo from the train station. The stop here lasts around 5 minutes. Just enough time to jump off and get a couple photos. The train had a photo-platform car. Yeah, what's that? Well, it's a flatbed car with some wire to keep people from falling off. It's open and freezing cold. I couldn't stop my eyes from tearing up! Forget getting a picture. The train's moving anyway.

In case you weren't listening, this is Arthur's Pass!(924m) It was named for Arthur Dobson. Who 'discovered' it in 1864. If I had to do it again, I would stay here for a day or two. Yes, there are places to stay here. Why, there's even a YHA here! They are everywhere. Except the US.:-( Something should be done about that.

Wow. Look at those mountains. This is the first view from the west coast of the South Island. This the town of Hokitika. I only stayed here long enough to eat lunch. The buses stop for lunch and whatnot. I traveled from Greymouth to Franz Josef on this day. Greymouth has some nifty canyon and cave rafting, but I thought it was too cold for those activities. I met two Scottish girrls who did stop and do these things, well, they did the cave rafting. They caught up with me at Franz. The verdict...too cold for that sort of thing! Phew, I guessed right. They said it was a lot of fun though. The 'toilet bowl' is apparently something to see. You also get to float through a glow-worm cave. I did that later in Te Anau. Wow. It's something to see, but that's later.... I meet up the grrls later on the boat back to the North Island! We hung out a lot on this trip. I also met a Canadian couple in Christchurch. We ran into each other for 3 months!! Off and on, I'd turn a corner and there'd they be. A great couple. We had some funny shared experiences.

My first view of Mt.Cook! The highest point in the Southern Alps. Spectacular. What can I say? It was dusk. The driver stopped so we could get this shot. The bus only had me and two girls on it, one from Japan and one from Thailand. They had hooked up in Auckland and were traveling together. We all stayed at the YHA in Franz, and did a glacier climb together. Super time had by all.:-)