March 1 - Christchurch to Franz Josef Glacier

CHRISTCHURCH TO FRANZ JOSEF GLACIER

This morning a young, bubbly woman whose name is Becca, a kindgergarten teacher with a family of her own, who moonlights as an early morning driver, picked us up about daybreak and drove us to the train station at Christchurch for our trip across the South Island of NZ on the TranzAlpine.  The train was very modern and comfortable with plenty of glass for viewing.   

We traveled through pretty, arid country with mountains that were similar to those in Utah and Colorado. The train crosses the Southern Alps, NZ's South Island range, at Arthur's Pass at about 3000' above sea level.  (There are 3 passes that have been built across the Alps.  This one is named for Arthur Dobson and is built in a place where, according to our guide, the early European settlers described the weather as "vigorous.") 

We also passed through the Otira tunnel, which is approx. 8 miles long at an elevation rise of 1000' and has a grade of 1:33.  Clearly it took some serious work to dig it through solid rock.  We passed the little town of Dobson, which was named for the aforementioned Arthur and his brother George, and where after WWI they used 3 U-boat engines that were taken as war reparations from the Germans to power the generators for electricity.  After roughly 4 hours of travel we arrived in the west coast city of Greymouth, which has a population of 10,000 (which represents about 1/4 of the population of the entire NZ West Coast of the South Island).  And after a sunny morning, we caught up with the infamous NZ clouds in Greymouth.

At Greymouth we boarded the first of our tour buses for the trip south to Franz Josef Glacier.  (The Kiwis pronounce glacier as if it's glassier.  No long A sound ... but they pronounce lots of words using long vowel sounds, e.g., cheer for chair, meethane for methane, etc.)  Highway 6, which runs along the W Coast of the S. Island is called the Great Coast Road, which seems quite hyperbolic since it is narrow, very winding, constantly up and down, and has a number of 1 lane bridges!  (I guess the name "Adequate Coast Road," which would be more apt, doesn't have quite the same ring to it.)  NZ reminds me quite a lot of the Southern US of my youth (the 50's and early 60's).  It's quite rural and to most Americans would feel dated.  In the old gold mining town of Ross, for example, I saw an antique fire truck in what I assumed at first was a museum; then I realized it was housed in the Ross Volunteer Fire Dept. building, and was probably fully functional.  But it looked like a relic.  We arrived in the small town of Franz Josef Glacier -- quite obvious what it's name for -- in the rain after a 4-5 hr. bus ride that, like the Peppermint Twist, went "up and down, round and round."  Susan almost tossed her cookies from the thrill of the roller coaster-like ride. 

Upon checking in our nice hotel, the Scenic FJ Glacier, Susan retired to bed, and I went with a small group for a short trip out to view the glacier.  Met a woman who is a veterinarian from Chicago who had been doing a 90 day "sabbatical" just above Sydney in NSW and was on a trip before going home.  We walked in the rain about 1 km to a viewing area for the glacier, which was still a few miles away.  Although it was misty and overcast, it was easy to be awed by the glacier.  (NZ has at least 3 glaciers, and it's easy to see how they have carved/gouged out this rugged but beautiful country.)

Upon our return to the hotel, I checked to see that Susan still had a pulse (affirmative), then went in search of tucker (NZ and Aussie for food) and grog.  The beer at the hotel bar was either watery or flat, so I put on my raincoat and went to a pub called the Snakebite, which had been recommended by our girl Erynn.  I had a nice red wine and ate lamb shank massaman, which was quite good ... ironic too since I had had a roast lamb sandwich for lunch on the train.  Noteworthy because these were the first 2 times in my life I've ever eaten lamb willfully and purposefully.  (My folks would be proud that I've become such a big boy and tried new foods without having been threatened!)

It was muggy in the room -- NZ doesn't have much A/C -- so we slept with the windows open.  There was a bar with covered outside tables right across the street from our room.  I was reminded that obnoxious drunks the world over apparently have beer ears as well as beer goggles, i.e., lose their hearing, assume everyone else has too, and yell to ensure that others hear and notice them.  Fortunately it cooled down enough to allow us to close the windows, plus I have a white noise app on my iPhone.