Days 66 to 68 5-8-2007 to 7-8-2007 - Christchurch

Christchurch is a very English looking place and although there isn't a great deal to do here, it is worth a couple of days here to chill out. There some great artwork scattered around the city centre. In paticular there was an array of photos down the street linking the cathedral to the botanical gardens (all the towns and citys each have botanical gardens, although wellington has probably the best one) The Cathedral dominates the city centre, creating a large public daimond where the 2 main roads cross. Theres another street car/ tram which circles this area, picking up at the gardens and local galleries. However these are quite local to the centre and is not really necessary. I used this time to relax. After all the Mayhem that awaits at Queenstown was not far away.

I decided to lose the pimp wagon here (the depot was around the corner). Mainly because i'd been told that the train to Greymouth was one of the best rail rides in the world. Also its hard to take photos and steer a car at the same time.
(It had nothing to do with the scrape i made down the side on the first day trying to get out of an underground carpark, where did that collumn come from?)

The train to Greymouth is spectacular, taking me from the east coast to the west coast and passing some of the highest mountains on the island. Although the train journey was cut short, due to repairs being made in the tunnel at Arthurs Pass. However, the coach from Arthurs pass almost took the same route (except going through the mountain), so nothing was missed. Once at Greymouth i hopped on to another bus and headed for Franz Joseph, (nothing in Greymounth worth stopping over for) where there's an impressive glacier trek i'd been told was worth doing.

The coaches here act as excursions buses, stopping at any points of interest and with the drivers giving a running commentry about the history of the area meant that nothing was missed. How they keep track of every river, mountain and bridge name ( in English and Maori) i'll never know