Christchurch to Greymouth on the Tranzalpine train

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This morning was a bit of a rush due tothe fact that my shuttle was picking me up @ 7.30am which isn't too bad except for the fact that not only did I have to be up and showered and dressed, but all of my belongings also have to be packed up etc. etc. But I am getting better at it.
I arrived at the train station in plenty of time and found that they had given me a table of 4 all to myself. Yay. I overheard some of the people on the train talking about the erathquakes in Christchurch. It seems to be on everyone's mind. And funny, but it felt lilke a bit of a relief pulling out of Christchurch. I don't think I was the only one on the train who felt that.
Within 15 minutes of leaving Christchurch the scenery was amazing. The Canterbury Plains were lovely....lots of sheep & cows (dad - I tried to get a pic of the cows but the train was going too fast!) It wasn't long before we started go up, and up and up.
After having some brekky and a coffee I ma my way out into the viewing carriage. Chaos ensued! The higher we went the more spectacular the scenery became and the more aggressive the 'tourists' become in trying to get to the front to get e perfect shot! It seems that there is a class system in vying for the shot - the better the camera & the bigger the lens, the more 'worthy' you were in getting to the front. Well, at least that's how it felt. I kind of sat in the middle class ranks, not quite a little canon point and shoot, but certainly a long way from the big professional cameras that some of the tourists were carrying. Some of them even had their own suitcase just for the camera! Haha. I tried to get the best possie and must admit to feeling quite surly about the people pushing in front of me with their little crappy cameras knowing that they are not going to get a good photo anyway so why bother! Anyway, I did the best I could got whatever shots were there for the taking. It is very difficult to take good photos on a moving train anyway, especially when you are squashed up to the rail by 50 people behind you wanting to kick you out of your possie!
Anyway, the train trip was brilliant. It is so nice to be able to sit back and watch the world go by - literally! I was a bit disappointed that I didn't see much snow, but the rest of the scenery certainly made up for it. We went through tunnel after tunnel, one of which was more than 8kms long! It's certainly something that is great to experience although next time I would like to drive it so that I can stop and take proper photos whenever I want.
After we left Arthur's Pass we started our descent into Greymouth. The scenery was different now - more lakes and less cliffs! I saw so many shades of green that it would take a life time just to count them - amazingly beautiful, especially coming from Australia, the driest continent in the world. The lushness of New Zealand is beautiful and just as I imagined and hoped it would be. Stunning.
We arrived in Greymouth on time at 12.45pm to a lovely little quaint railway station. I was so tired I just wanted to get to my accommodation and rest. So, I set off on foot with a map and eventually found it and booked in and collapsed! I could have gone off and done some tours in the arvo, but I just wanted to have a quiet one so I hung around the hostel, chatted with some other guys from the US and generally had a quiet afternoon.
In Greymouth I stayed at a Backpackers called Noah's Ark where they have themed rooms - I was in the zebra room. It's a great little place and it was clean! It used to be an old catholic monastery and had loads of character! The Catholic Church used to be right next to it but was damaged and subsequently demolished in an earthquake in 1996. So, after McDonalds dinner (and some free WiFi) I had an early night and slept like a log. It was the best sleep I'd had in a while. I think that being away from Christchurch certainly helped calm the nerves.

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