New Zealand Trip (Day 3)

Day 3 [Christchurch - West Coast]

Today, we went to the Christchurch train station for the TranzAlpine train up to Arthur Pass. 

The Train

The TranzAlpine Train journey was about 2 hours and 30 minutes. The train went through a lot scenery and had a live commentary on board in English and Mandarin. There are 2 cafes and 2 open air carriages on the train. 

 

View from the open-air carriage

After sitting in the carriage, I decided to head to the open-air carriage. It was very windy in the carriage, but it was worth it, the views were amazing from the carriage. 

But after a while, I got tired and went back to the normal train carriages. After a while, I kinda slept in the carriage, but woke up soon before our station. 

We alighted at Arthur Pass which is 737 metres above sea level.

The sign at the station

Then, we headed to Hokitika Town, famous for their Jade and Glass blowing.

At Hokitika, we ate our lunch, Subway. I decided to eat the steak and cheese as we cannot find it in Singapore. 

Then we went for a bit of shopping before heading to the Hokitika Glass-blowing & Greenstone Factory. 

After Hokitika, we headed to Franz Josef en route to Fox Glacier for a pit-stop and shopping.

Then we took it to Fox glacier. When we reached, we had to climb up some areas just to reach the glacier. There were many nice views, but there are areas with warnings as there may be avalanches. If the signs ask you to not stop, you have to listen to the instructions, for your safety.

The Glacier

 It was a rewarding climb, there were many magnificent views up there.

Magnificent rocks

The Glacier

Mountains

More rocks

More Mountains with a warning sign

It was cloudy, but it created a nice effect with the mountains, it gave a mysterious but cool look to the pictures. 

Then, we went to our hotel, Heartland Fox Glacier, and have our dinner.

It was a 3-course dinner, which was delicious. Then, we headed back to our rooms to rest for the next day.