Greymouth and back to Christchurch over the mountins

We had a few hours in Greymouth before our train to Christchurch. We checked our bags in at the small station and then walked along the river wall towards the mouth of the river. Greymouth was once a coal mining area and ships called in for the coal, but no longer. 

This is the abandoned quay on the river Grey. There is also a large harbour basin off to the left which hosts an active fishing fleet and coastguard station 

They had a memorial to miners who died - it covers a lot of men over a long period. It's not something I have seen anywhere else. It had NZ's worst mining disaster. 

The area remains industrial and the town is small and utilitarian on a grid system. It clearly isn't a tourist destination, it's the TransAlpine express that brings people here.

Returning to the station for our train, we were told that it was an hour or so late so settled ourselves on a bench with our iDevices where we would see the train as it arrived. There is only one track in and out of Greymouth and one train that uses it, so we were not in too much danger of getting the wrong train. 

At last, there was a loud dinging next to us and red lights started flashing. 

Don't board! We were told. Nevertheless, John located our seats and then started to clean the window from the outside (so that we could take pictures without any external grime) much to the amusement of the crew and our fellow prospective passengers.  The train discharged its passengers and then trundled out of the station into the distance where the engines changed ends and the carriages were cleaned. In due course it trundled back and we were off. We were surprised by the length of the train - it was more than twice that of the Trains on the other two journeys - apparently this is seen as more of a tourist route than the others, which provide more service to locals. 

This is the map from Greymouth to Christchurch via Arthur's Pass. For much of the way the route is the same as highway73 and includes the 8km Otira tunnel through a mountain. 

We started out travelling along the side of the Grey river.  By now the greyness of the early morning had disappeared and we had some blue sky. We passed the former coal mining area.

We travelled along the river until we reached Moana on Lake Brunner.

Otira 

Otira seems to be a ghost station but had active large goods wagons in a sidings 

We were warned that we were about to go through the 8.8km tunnel. While in the tunnel, the outdoor viewing area was closed, as was the bar. We had to remain in our own carriages. 

Here, you can see the train as it goes round a bend.  By now we were travelling along the Taramakau river. 

We stopped briefly at this 'garden'. The owner works for the railways and looks after the track that we had just travelled along. Apparently, he holds a party for others who work on the railway once a year. He is clearly a fan of rusty engines - there was another one on the other side of the track. 

Now we were close to Lake Pearson

From Arthur's Pass, we come down onto the Waimakariri river which brings us down onto the plain and into Springfield. 

We stopped at Springfield and there we waited.  The train could go no further because of a fire on the line. Precisely what happened was all rumour, but we had to wait for buses to come to collect us to take us the hour journey to Christchurch. 

As the buses drove alongside the track, we could see patches of burnt grass all along. It seemed that a train had fanned the fire. 

Eventually we reached the train station and hopped into a taxi. Fortunately the hotel restaurant was still open and so we ate there - many restaurants here close at 9pm.