Fish Out of Water

Musings and observations about life from an East Coast native now living on the Left Coast in the California State Capitol since 2004. This fish has made her home in Madison, WI (7 years); Portland, OR (2 years); Las Vegas, NV (7 months); Middlebury, VT (3 summers); Marne-la-Vallee, a small town east of Paris, France (6 months); Middletown, CT (3 years); and Marshfield, MA, the fish's coastal hometown 40 miles south of Boston (17 years).

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Location: Sacramento, California, United States

1.11.2019

Southern Traverse Tour Day 1: Christchurch > Franz Joseph

Monday 1/7: TranzAlpine Train + Coach + Callery Gorge
We had a 7:15am pick-up at our hotel for transport to the Christchurch Train Station, where we boarded the TranzAlpine train for the journey across the Southern Alps from Christchurch to Greymouth. This crossing is considered one of the "Great Journeys" offered by KiwiRail, which also operates the Coastal Pacific rail from Picton to Christchurch, the Interislander Ferry from Wellington to Picton, and the Northern Explorer from Auckland to Wellington. During our previous NZ trip in 2013, we experience both the Interislander and the Coastal Pacific, so now we just need to come back for the Northern Explorer and we'll be able to complete the entire set!

The crossing was indeed amazing, with panoramic views of valleys, rivers, and mountains. The food offered for purchase on board was pretty good as well. If only we could have sat a wee bit farther from the family with the bratty young boy... Luckily, a recorded commentary was available to narrate the majority of our journey, so that helped to drown out some of the less appealing other passengers nearby! Once we reached Greymouth, we collected our bags and joined up with the InterCity Great Sights coach for the drive to Franz Joseph, pausing in Hokitika for 30 minutes along the way and making a few other stops in small towns for the coach driver to deliver newspapers and parcels to some of the small shops.

We arrived at the Scenic Hotel Franz Joseph just after 5pm. After check-in, we walked the short distance to Franz Joseph Glacier Guides to confirm our heli-hike reservation for the next morning. Then we set off to hike the Callery Gorge trail, which took just over 80 minutes round-trip and provided some impressive views of the "bush" (aka forest) as well as the roaring river, which is so full of run-off from the glacier that it looks more like liquid cement than water.




Once we finished our hike, we checked out the nearby Wildlife Center to verify hours for a potential visit tomorrow. We also enjoyed the local kiwi scenery. I think I need to get one of these light-up kiwis to add to our holiday decorations next year!



We found dinner at King Tiger, an Asian restaurant just across from the Glacier Guides office, and then finished the evening with wine and TV in the room.

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