Coast to Coast; One World to Another

Our Train and Road Route for the Day

This was perhaps the day to which I had most been looking forward for the entire trip.  We were to take "one of the great rail trips of the world" -- the TranzAlpine from Christchurch on the eastern coast, to Greymouth on the western.  Breakfast at the hotel was especially nice, especially as we had been doing a lot of cold breakfasts in our rentals until now.  The weather was perfect, with crystal-clear skies.  The hotel secured us a sufficiently large taxi to transport the three of us and our luggage to the train station, about 20 minutes away.  We had secured the train tickets the day they went on sail, back in June, but still didn't know what to expect.  We were among the first to arrive at the small station, which was purpose-built to serve Rail New Zealand's "Scenic Travel Network," which comprises a series of rail and ferry trips linking both islands, pretty much from tip to tip.  The TranzAlpine is described as the most worthwhile; hence my excitement.  We checked in and had our luggage tagged right before everyone else on the train seemed to arrive at once.  We calmly sat and waited while the line to check-in snaked out of the door.  It was less than 30 minutes to departure, yet the train had not arrived, nor did the line seem to be getting any shorter.  No worries, though, as the beautiful carriages pulled into the station.  Our bags were taken onto the luggage car, and we went to our assigned seats -- we were at a table for four, facing one another, with one seat empty among us.  We were on board early and departed right on time, so I can only assume that everyone got checked-in who had a reservation.

The Compact Train Station

The train was designed for scenic travel, with extra-large windows and skylights running the length of the carriages.  There were also two open-air viewing carriages, on either end of the train.  They had monitors throughout, showing our progress, and there was running commentary through earphones at each seat, describing what we were seeing, providing history and insights along the way.  We climbed steadily through farm land and dairy farms, before ascending further through increasingly long tunnels carved into the mountains.  As we reached the continental divide, there was a extended plateau, which was close to a desert in classification, which led to famed Arthur's Pass.  There were sheep and cows scattered throughout this area, on huge tracts (tens of thousands of acres in size) owned by the government.  They are rented out to ranchers on 99-year leases.  The vegetation is so sparse and the weather so extreme that it each animal requires multiple acres of grazing land.  The first round of 99-year leases were currently being reviewed and renewed, when applicable.  It was barren but eerily beautiful.  As we traveled further west, we hit another ridge of mountains.  We went through several tunnels on the way down, and eventually emerged in a very temperate zone, classified as rain forest.  The mountains serve as a natural buffer for the clouds, which build up along the ridge and soak the coastal areas with several hundred inches of rain a year.  On the plateau, they averaged less than 20 inches of rain.  The skies were now gray, and we fully understood how the town of Greymouth (our terminus for the train) got and earned it's name.  The town was founded during the New Zealand gold rush of the 19th century, but now is home to only about 10,000 people.  We were told that represents half the total population for everyone living on the western coast of the south island.  That was sobering, and made us feel very small, especially considering how much land about which we were talking.

Tracking Our Progress

We Stopped at the Continental Divide, To Let Off Day Trippers (Trampers)

We had a car reserved in town, with a rental agency located directly inside the tiny train terminal, which was very convenient, especially as it had just started to rain.  Our car, unfortunately, had seen better days.  It was a Toyota Rav-4, and only a few years old, but it had significant mileage, and it was obvious that the rugged terrain was not conducive to cars' longevity in the area.  It met our needs, though, and fit all of our stuff.

As I noted, it was raining, and the rain grew worse as we drove southwards, toward the town of Franz Josef, where we were to spend the night.  This was, luckily, our only extended period of poor weather during the entire trip, and considering that we were in a rain forest, I cannot complain.  It was clear, as we left Greymouth, that there were very few concentrations of people along the coast.  The road was two-laned, and we would go long stretches without seeing any cars from either direction.  There were signs, too, telling people to fill their gas tanks whenever possible, as stations were few and very far between.  The route, too, for the next two days, involved us crossing dozens of rivers, all running into the ocean.  With only a couple of exceptions, all of these bridges were one-lane, with signs on the approach indicating which direction of traffic had primacy.  Traffic was light enough that we rarely had to worry about encountering oncoming traffic on the bridge, but some of the turns leading the bridges were tight, and we never knew what might be around the corner as we approached a bridge.

We stopped in the town of Hokitika, which is known as the center for the mining of native greenstone, which is made into jewelry.  It was also the site of an infamous multiple murder in 1941, which was the basis for the Booker-prize winning novel The Luminaries, which K had recently read.  It was not until we were about to leave the town that she remembered the connection.

Anna on a Cold Beach in Hokitika

As I wrote, we were headed to the small town of Franz Josef -- located at the base of the glacier with the same name -- south of here.  It is located inland, which required that we traverse some very steep hillsides and ravines.  As we got closer, the number and severity of the switchbacks increased.  It was pouring rain, and you could tell the area is regularly soaked.  There were literally walls of ferns on either side of the road, some with leaves 10- to 12-feet across.  All of sudden, around one turn, we encountered a line of stopped cars.  We hadn't seen anyone in a while, so those people had obviously been waiting some time. There was a temporary stop light in the road, which was allowing traffic to go through, but only in one direction.  Oddly enough, we were stopped, but there were no cars coming in the other direction.  We just sat, waited, and wondered.  Finally a few cars came the other direction, and then -- again -- nothing.  It had to be about 15 minutes before the light turned green and we moved ahead slowly.   It soon became apparent what was going on.  We passed at least half a dozen areas where there had been huge mud and landslides.  You could see where the road had been washed away in multiple places and recently repaired, and other large areas of forest which were laid flat under what looked like rivers of boulders.  We made it through the worst area of devastation, but for the next 30 minutes or so, as we made our way up and down the mountain, we passed at least another dozen areas where the road had been blocked and/or recently repaired.  Only later in the night did I read that there had been a "once-in-a-century" storm in September 2019 which had washed out the roads and left the towns of Franz Josef and Fox Glacier isolated and cut off for weeks, with helicopters the only way to get supplies in and out, when weather permitted.  The road on which we were traveling had only reopened on 15 December, just over 10 days before we got there.  I still wonder how I missed that bit of news during all my prep work for the trip, especially as I'm not sure what we would have done if the road had not been reopened, as there is no other route southward from where we had started.

Some of the Very Dense Fern "Walls" Along the Road

A Portion of Recently Repaired Road

Postulation aside as to what could have been, it seemed as though as soon as we reached the valley floor, and the land leveled out, then we saw a sign welcoming us to Franz Josef.  We were staying on the edge of town, and had a wonderful two-story chalet-like villa.  The rain was pouring down now, but our unit had a covered car port adjacent to the door, so we were able to unload and stay dry.  As soon as we got inside, however, we turned on the heat, as it was cool and damp.

Waiting for the Heat To Kick On

None of us wanted to go out in the rain to eat, and our unit had a DVD player.  We saw they had the Lord of the Rings movies to borrow at the front desk, so we elected to get takeout food, eat in our kitchen, and begin watching the three movies again.  K set up for dinner while Anna and I went into the very small town.  We went to a small and very overpriced grocery store to get breakfast staples.  The food was understandably expensive, especially considering what is involved in trucking anything into town.  We then got Indian takeout, which was very good and served as comfort food on such a cold and rainy evening.

As we settled into LotR - Fellowship of the Ring, I could see the clouds parting through the huge second-story picture windows.  Sure enough, I went outside and the storm clouds were racing away, leaving a beautiful late evening sky.  It also revealed that we were surrounded by mountains.  Before, with the rain, fog, and clouds, we had no idea.  We could also, for the first time, see the Franz Josef glacier across the fields.  We even managed to finish the first film, even though it was late.  We all had not seen it in years, and were quickly hooked anew.

Our Villa in Franz Josef

Outside our Villa, After the Rain Cleared