From Christchurch to Greymouth on the Tranz Scenic Railway over Arthur's Pass, then a quick 80kms (50 miles) cycling up the valley to Reefton where we are at the Reefton Domain Motor Camp ($10 each to camp). The train left Christchurch at 8.15am, so we got going at a pretty early hour - the train station is a bit out of the centre (did the privatisation of the railways lead to a sell off of city centre station sites?) and we allowed extra time to find it.The journey was pretty impressive - across the flat plain to get out of Christcgurch but then a rapid entry into a series of tunnels and viaducts that wound us up into the hills. There were ony fairly brief stops but hanging around on the outside observation car was exhilarating - looking down at the river far below when crossing the viaducts. Some people just video-ed for long periods of time - do they really ever watch them? Do they bore their poor relatives with them? Seems to capture a shredded remnant of the experience... The high mountains around Arthur's Pass were probably the scenic highpoint - after which we were plunged into the 8km tunnel. Took, of course, many years to build.At Greymouth by1pm. We shopped and headed out on the road to Blackball. Before we arrived there we saw the scene of NZ's worst mining disaster at a place called Brunner - in 1896 a gas explosion killed 65 people. The scene is very tranquil now - tho' we are not so far from the Pike River Mine where 29 people died back in November last year (2010) - which is about 30 miles up and a bit inland from Greymouth. And at the time of writing no bodies have been recovered and the mine there is still unsafe to enter. So Brunner is a sobering place to visit.Next we took a 4km detour (there and back) to visit Blackball - once a mining town and central to the development of mining unions in NZ. It is now most noted for the historic buildings F why they are over a hundred years old... The Formerly Blackball Hilton is a nice looking old building - and changed its name because of a clash with a more litigious hotel chain.We were a bit behind schedule by now so we sped along the road to Ikamatua (nice looking holiday park but we had more miles to go), then along the speedy valley road to Reefton where the only real climb was just a few kms before Reefton itself. This is all a valley ride, going slightly uphill but we had a modest tailwind so we mostly flew along.Reefton's domain motor camp is excellent value at $10 per person (lovely big kitchen). And the town is full of old (for NZ) buildings. There's a decent couple of food shops and also a bakers (with wonderful apple shortbread slices, we discovered tomorrow).
From Christchurch to Greymouth on the Tranz Scenic Railway over Arthur's Pass, then a quick 80kms (50 miles) cycling up the valley to Reefton where we are at the Reefton Domain Motor Camp ($10 each to camp). The train left Christchurch at 8.15am, so we got going at a pretty early hour - the train station is a bit out of the centre (did the privatisation of the railways lead to a sell off of city centre station sites?) and we allowed extra time to find it.The journey was pretty impressive - across the flat plain to get out of Christcgurch but then a rapid entry into a series of tunnels and viaducts that wound us up into the hills. There were ony fairly brief stops but hanging around on the outside observation car was exhilarating - looking down at the river far below when crossing the viaducts. Some people just video-ed for long periods of time - do they really ever watch them? Do they bore their poor relatives with them? Seems to capture a shredded remnant of the experience... The high mountains around Arthur's Pass were probably the scenic highpoint - after which we were plunged into the 8km tunnel. Took, of course, many years to build.At Greymouth by1pm. We shopped and headed out on the road to Blackball. Before we arrived there we saw the scene of NZ's worst mining disaster at a place called Brunner - in 1896 a gas explosion killed 65 people. The scene is very tranquil now - tho' we are not so far from the Pike River Mine where 29 people died back in November last year (2010) - which is about 30 miles up and a bit inland from Greymouth. And at the time of writing no bodies have been recovered and the mine there is still unsafe to enter. So Brunner is a sobering place to visit.Next we took a 4km detour (there and back) to visit Blackball - once a mining town and central to the development of mining unions in NZ. It is now most noted for the historic buildings F why they are over a hundred years old... The Formerly Blackball Hilton is a nice looking old building - and changed its name because of a clash with a more litigious hotel chain.We were a bit behind schedule by now so we sped along the road to Ikamatua (nice looking holiday park but we had more miles to go), then along the speedy valley road to Reefton where the only real climb was just a few kms before Reefton itself. This is all a valley ride, going slightly uphill but we had a modest tailwind so we mostly flew along.Reefton's domain motor camp is excellent value at $10 per person (lovely big kitchen). And the town is full of old (for NZ) buildings. There's a decent couple of food shops and also a bakers (with wonderful apple shortbread slices, we discovered tomorrow).