An entry in the TFS Travel Journal
Enjoyed a lovely breakfast en suite (bluenose hash w/poached eggs, fruit) then taxied over to the train station and boarded the TransAlpine for Greymouth.
The ride was 4 1/2 hours, with one short stop in the middle at Arthur’s Pass to get off and stretch our legs and get some fresh air. Though it was mostly overcast and occasionally drizzling, we saw some wonderful scenery that justified the reputation as one of the great railway journeys of the world. We went from coast to coast, 231 km, through 16 tunnels (including the 5-mile Otira tunnel), and got up to 2200 feet at the highest point.
We saw towering mountains, roaring rivers (including the Waimakariri, fed by mountain-ice and so was a bright, opaque aqua color), green fields, and of course, innumerable sheep and cows. We had headphones for the periodic commentary that was provided. We’d cruise along, soaking in the scenery through the panoramic windows, then there would be an audible chime (the signal to put on the headphones as a snippet of local history or natural color would soon be coming on) and we’d all dutifully whisk on the headphones in a mass Pavlovian response.
We arrived at Greymouth, picked up our Commodore rental car (clearly several years older than the Falcon Futuras we’d had) and set off. As this was the only major city (and we use that term generously!) that we’d be seeing today, we stopped at a local place for a light lunch. We had a good beef/potato pie slice and an ok mushroom pizza, with our order taken and delivered by yet another waitress who’d clearly reached her Peter Principal station.
The 4 hour drive was, as usual, through some wonderful scenery. At times alongside the rocky beaches of the Tasman Sea, other times through tropical rainforest. We arrived here at the Lodge, which takes the Wilderness part of its title quite seriously. The rooms are (really) nothing special, but the setting is lovely - completely isolated, in the woods on the banks of the good-sized lake. We settled in, then joined everyone else in the main building for dinner.
Dinner was communial style, and we chatted with a great couple from Perth, a strange woman from St. John’s who’s involved with the Virgin Islands America’s Cup team, an older couple (he’s a senior engineer for Bechtel and has no detectable personality, she’s quite vivacious, and they’ve been living in different places abroad since 1989) and their 33-year old son, and an older NZ couple who’re quite nice but quite hard of hearing. We dined on grilled lamb (wonderful), local whitefish (tasty) with (very) spicy pumpkin puree, and steamed vegetables. Dessert was a cheescake and fresh fruit w/ice cream.
We were happy to retire early and attempted to read in bed, but that didn’t last too long. (though we were a bit irked to be able to hear the entire conversation of whoever was in the next-door room; we’ll have to discuss that with the manager tomorrow)