TranzAlpine Train to Moana

I debated whether or not to take the TranzAlpine train, but it is a really good way to see the different terrain of the South Island and it was a good day trip. [The best views are on the right-hand side of the train leaving Christchurch, and you can request this as well as a table seat in the comments section when you book online.] The rain held off during our stopover in Moana / Lake Brunner, so we were able to walk around and have lunch by the lakeside in muggy weather. Granted, the tourism website was faking it in touting it as the next big thing because there seemed to be only one cafe in the tiny town -- at least within walking distance from the train station -- and nothing else to do except fishing or boating, but we still had a nice time. The cafe was playing 50s music and we spotted a couple wood pigeons and lots of flowers on our walk. The one boat with inner-tubers had the whole lake to themselves, which you can't do much anymore in the U.S. Seeing animals along the train ride was a fun thing to do, and we saw several belted Galloway cows which look like an Oreo cookie!

beekeeping containers

New Zealand wood pigeon

New Zealand brown duck

Belted Galloway cows

Clydesdale horses

Waimakariri River

TranzAlpine Train and Fox Glacier

Our first real "taste" of New Zealand outside the city came last week when we took the famous TranzAlpine train ride from the east side of New Zealand to the west coast. The train ride was around 4 1/2 hours there and had beautiful scenery, from idyllic pastureland (sheep, goats, cows, and even deer) to river gorges and then the snow-topped Southern Alps. There is an "open" train car where you get great views without the glass, although the wind was fairly extreme. It started raining when we got into Arthur's Pass -- a mountain-top town -- so the windows had rain spots on them for the rest of the trip. It was a bit scary going under the 5.3-mile Otira Tunnel, mainly because of the possibility of an earthquake causing havoc.

We then took a bus from Greymouth to Fox Glacier which was awesome! I booked a guided tour which turned out to be good because very recent slides in the area had meant they closed down some of the paths that led closer to the glacier unless you were with a group. They provided overpants, heavy-duty boots, socks, and rain coats so you didn't have to get any of your own stuff dirty. It sprinkled a little on the hike over, but then the sun came out and it was a beautiful day. Fresh air and sunshine -- good for the body and soul.

Later, we took a very long walk from the little town to see the Mirror Lake which was supposed to be a 1.5-hour walk return trip, but ended up being about that long each way. It was a lot of walking. And because of the heavy rain in the morning, the water was murky and the wind was making a lot of ripples. The short walk from the lake's parking lot to the lake was enjoyable as it was through rainforest and totally reminded us of Central America, minus the bugs.