Saturday March 7 2026 – Back to normal travelling routine with a bump this morning as the alarm was set for 0530; we only ever get up early when we’re travelling. The reason for this upheaval was that we had to join the TranzAlpine train, which crosses New Zealand from east to west (or vice versa), in our case starting from Christchurch and chuffing its way across the spiny middle of the country to Greymouth on the other coast. Departure time was 0815, for which we had to check in at least 30 minutes early. So we hit the hotel breakfast as soon as it opened, and grabbed a cab to the station soon after 0700. Check-in was crowded but we were in Scenic Plus class, dahling, so there was less of a queue before we got our boarding passes and handed our bags to chaps who put them on a long conveyor belt on the platform to take them down to the luggage car at the rear of the train.

We then stood around on the platform by our allotted carriage, together with our fellow travellers, waiting for someone to tell us what to do, until Jane had the bright idea of pressing the green button on the carriage door which opened it so we could all stream on board.

The carriages are comfortable and have large windows so that passengers are able to see the passing countryside,

though for photography enthusiasts there are a couple of open-sided carriages.

Astonishingly, the couple who were seated across the aisle from us were two of the Americans who had been on our Christchurch tour the previous afternoon. They were nice people, though I found the volume of his joviality a bit overwhelming at times. Fortunately, the open-sided carriage was the next one along so I had an escape route if I needed it. The couple opposite us, being Canadian, were much quieter and more gemütlich. For us posh people in Scenic Plus, meals and drinks were served at our seats, and the food was pretty decent; wine and beer were served at no extra charge.

To start with, the surroundings were quite unremarkable and not worthy of my photographic skills.  Before too long, though, the mountains that we were going to have to cross started to come closer

and the train made its first stop, at Springfield.

After the journey resumed, we were enjoined by the crew to remain seated and the open-sided carriage was closed as the train was due to go through some tunnels. Any photography would have to be done from one’s seat; and all the decent views were on the other side of the train, which was a little frustrating. But soon enough we were through the tunnels and free to use the open-sided car once again, and the scenery started to become more interesting,

and, in one place, slightly bizarre.

The train carried on up towards the mountains

and when the scenery started to get dramatic, the open-side carriage suddenly got really quite popular,

to the point where it was occasionally quite frustrating to be able to aim a camera as one would like. But with a bit of patience it was possible to get some lovely images of the passing countryside.

For a long time, the rail line ran alongside the Waimakariri and Bealey rivers, which, like many rivers at this time of year, were ribbons of water running through gravel.

We caught sight of our first snow-capped mountain

just before the train stopped at Arthur’s Pass, which is pretty much the highest point of the journey;

many passengers disembarked at that point – I think the idea was to spend some time there before catching the return train back to Christchurch in the afternoon.

There was a little more interesting scenery beyond Arthur’s Pass

but the variety in the landscape diminished as we descended towards Greymouth, which left us free to concentrate on the tasty dessert served up as the last course of three along the route. We also lost the sunshine which had marked the first half of the journey.

Shortly after 1pm, we arrived in Greymouth and everyone streamed off the train to get their luggage. I had been expecting to walk up the road from the station to a car hire office, but Jane cottoned on very quickly that there was a Budget desk among those on the platform and she bade me get in the queue whilst she got the luggage.  This was a very wise move. I was first to the Budget desk, and minutes after I got there, this was the scene among the car hire desks,

with the queue even stretching out of the door.

So we got our car very quickly and were able to head out with little bother. We are now driving a nice Kia Sportage, which is posher than the Mitsubishi, but with more knobs, dials and bongs to confuse the uninitiated.

Our ultimate destination was a town called Hokitika, which lies a little south of Greymouth; but first Jane wanted us to go north, to a place called Punakaiki. The road is by the coast, and it was at times difficult to know whether we were driving through spray, low cloud or rain.

Just south of Punakaiki village is a track which leads to a site called the “Pancake Rocks”, which Jane very much wanted to see. There’s a cafe there, which I was quite interested in, too.

Joking aside, the rocks are spectacular. There’s a trail which leads visitors on a loop around various viewpoints

and it’s a popular place.

There’s good reason for this; the rock formations at the cliff edge are really unusual.

You can see why they’re called the Pancake Rocks. (The similarity between the English and the  Māori names is entirely coincidental.) They are made up of sedimentary limestone, which has been compressed into rock by the weight of continuing sedimentation over the ages; the sedimented layers of limestone are interspersed with mudstone, which erodes more easily than the limestone, so action by seawater etches these layered patterns in the rock; it’s a startling sight. I had seen a photo of these rocks so I was pleased to be able to photograph them myself, but what I hadn’t expected was what the seas were up to around there. The track leads visitors cunningly through ever more dramatic landscapes

and what I wasn’t prepared for was the effect of the surging of the waves, which was very dramatic indeed. At one point they drive a blowhole (“The Chimney Pot”) right the way through the cliffs.

Jane got a much better picture from a different angle.

Each stopping point has more dramatic wave action than the last and the final surge pool is occasionally very action-packed.

Still photography can’t really do it justice. Here’s a video of some of what we saw, which I hope gives you a better idea.

Having spent quite some time there, and had that coffee, we headed back south to Hokitika, through more of the oddly misty weather.

We stayed at the Beachfront hotel, which is perfectly comfortable and well-organised without being noteworthy in any other respect, and rested up for the night before continuing our journey south the next day.  To find out how all of that went, please come back to these pages soon.