Day 3: TranzAlpine and Lake Matheson

I'm embarrassed to admit I fell asleep on what is reputed to be one of the world's great scenic train journeys. That feat probably ranks right up there with eating a full dinner before visiting a restaurant with three Michelin stars, or taking an Antarctic cruise and spending the entire duration confined to your cabin with the measles. That’s what I get for staying up too late the night before!


I woke up in time to catch these spectacular mountain views. The TranzAlpine runs from Christchurch to Greymouth and vice-versa, over New Zealand’s Southern Alps. Passenger cars are outfitted with large scenic viewing windows, and there’s an open-air viewing car in the middle of the train for those who’d like to take pictures or get some fresh air.

Well, sometimes it’s fresh air. We were blanketed in train smoke during each of the tunnels – the route has 16 in all. There’s not a trace of pollution anywhere else in New Zealand, as far as we can tell, but they’ve got the equivalent of Sumatra’s multi-country haze concentrated in these tunnels.

And sometimes there’s too much fresh air. When we took our trip in late October, chilly spring winds and grey skies meant we were numb with cold a few seconds after stepping out on the platform. Still, it was a great view. And besides, by our third day in New Zealand we were used to being bone cold!

At Greymouth we paused to watch the Greymouth Motorcycle Street Race and nearly got left behind by the Intercity bus to Fox Glacier. Breathless after running with all our luggage, we discovered we weren’t allowed to eat lunch on the bus. Luckily, the bus stopped at nearby Hokitika for an hour’s break.

Arriving at Fox Glacier, we checked into cozy Ropatini’s B&B and had afternoon tea with our hosts, Trish and Collin. Trish drove us over to Lake Matheson to see the famous lake reflections of Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman. She generously offered to come back for us in an hour, which we thought was plenty of time – until we saw the signboard saying the lake circuit takes one and a half hours. Time to sprint again... this was turning out to be a distinct trend in our New Zealand vacation.


TranzAlpine Information

• Web site: www.tranzscenic.co.nz, providing online booking, fares, and schedule information
  
• Daily trips from Christchurch to Greymouth and vice-versa, 4.5 hours each way
  
• Timetables

What other people are blogging about the TranzAlpine...

• Nice photos - Chrispie33
  
• "Never to be forgotten" – Tales from Tawa

What other people are blogging about Lake Matheson...

• An early morning view - Helen and Phil
  
• "The solitude is inviting and the silence magical" - Smart Traveler

Read the previous entry or check out the rest of this New Zealand trip series.

post this to del.icio.us

Day 2: Whale Watching in Kaikoura

Our Kaikoura whale watching trip kicked off to an ominous start. Our tour coach was over twenty minutes late, it was cold, and it was starting to rain.

John stood sentry at the roadside while I rushed back into the hostel to ring the tour company. A voice answered, interspersed with sounds of rushing vehicles. Hmm, the driver must be doing double duty. I said, "We're ready for pick-up at The Old Countryhouse."

There was a long pause, followed by, "I'm sorry, who is this?"

They'd lost our booking. We stood on the curb and shivered for another ten minutes until the coach came by for us.

Three-and-a-half hours later we were on a boat, bobbing up and down on the high seas. Kaikoura Whale Watch informed us that "the swell is a little high today," but they failed to mention it would feel like the nautical equivalent of Disney World's Space Mountain ride.

Our first two sperm whale sightings had us rushing outside the boat and watching in awe until they dove back down into the ocean. By our third whale, John was watching the computer simulated whales on the boat's large plasma TV instead. This is a state-of-the-art whale watching boat, using hydrophones to listen to and locate submerged whales. Nothing like the flimsy banca we hired on the cheap for watching dolphins in Bohol.

While I normally love rollercoasters, by the fourth whale I was feeling like an extra in The Perfect Storm, and I left my comfy seat for the fifth whale only because I realized we hadn't taken any pictures.


Organized tours do lunch at Aroma Cafe immediately after whale watching, so cafe staff are used to dazed tourists wandering in without much of an appetite. It's better than doing lunch before heading out on those boats, right? A note to future visitors: book the tour without lunch. That way you can split the gargantuan lunches with an equally seasick friend, instead of having to struggle through one on your own.

On our drive back we parked by the roadside and took pictures of these large, sleepy fur seals. All I had was a dinky point-and-shoot digital camera, so it was a toss-up between getting a decent picture and managing my irrational fear of the seal lunging into my lens. As an added bonus, at these close quarters we were enveloped in a distinctly fishy fragrance.

Midway to Christchurch we stopped for wine tasting and a sales pitch at a local vineyard, where John and I sniffed knowingly and exercised our expert wine knowledge, gleaned entirely from Sideways. I briefly considered lugging a bottle of wine all over the South Island and back to Singapore, but saving $5 just wasn't worth the risk of merlot-soaked clothes in my backpack - it's really not my color.

The rest of the trip back was quiet and uneventful... the effects of free wine samples combined with residual seasickness to lull most of the tour passengers into a nice, sound sleep.

What other people are blogging about Kaikoura and its whales...

• "I fell in love with the place" - Mindspill
  
• Whale watching by plane - LisaRTW
  
• Whale watching pictures - SunBurntBadger

Read the previous entry or check out the rest of this New Zealand trip series.

post this to del.icio.us

Christchurch: Home at The Old Countryhouse

I admit it - I'm choosy about my bathrooms. While I love bunking down in a hostel, I'm always nervous when I make my reservation. What if this hostel's got the bathrooms from hell? You know what I mean - grotty tiles, decades-old shower curtains, awkward communal shower rooms. I even pack a pair of flip-flops in case I can't stand the shower floor. To top it off, John loves his five-star business hotels and is highly skeptical of hostels... so this Christchurch hostel stay was set to be pivotal in deciding our vacation accommodation plans for the next twenty years.

Well, for our stay at The Old Countryhouse in Christchurch, those flip-flops could have stayed home. Ensuite bathrooms and shared shower rooms both featured modern shower enclosures with plexiglass doors and smooth, clean shower trays. The shared shower rooms were real individual rooms, not just shower cubicles in a large common area. Although we enjoyed our spacious double room, we could have skipped the ensuite bathroom and saved ourselves NZ$12.

Hallways and room floors were carpeted, yet another reason to leave my flip-flops snugly packed in my backpack. There's a photo album and journal of sorts in the lounge that follows the hostel's history as the owners restored and renovated the houses. You can see they've put their hearts into fixing up and maintaining the place... with good results.

The hostel was quiet and had lots of garden space. There's a number of food places around the corner; we recommend the pizza at Memphis Belle and the souvlaki place just across it. There's also a supermarket just down the road, which is very convenient. Give Murphy a wave on your way out the door - he's the owners' friendly black lab.

One disadvantage of The Old Countryhouse is that it's about 2 kilometers from Cathedral Square. That's a brisk 10-minute jog or a leisurely 25-minute walk, which can feel like a very long time when there's a cold wind blowing. Buses to the city stop across the street from the hostel. Check the timetable if you're travelling on a schedule, or you might find yourself sprinting downtown like we did. As you can see from the photo of the bus stop, someone had a little too much fun with one of those shopping carts...

Clearly not a party place, the hostel had a friendly home-like feel to it, and catered to a late-20's to 40's crowd while we were there. It has a spacious kitchen, comfortable beds, good water pressure in the showers (my bathroom fixation's showing again) and won John's approval - hostels of the world, here we come!

Information and Contact Details

• Web site: www.theoldcountryhousenz.com
  
• Prices and online booking
  
• Location map and directions
  
• Reception hours: 8 am to 8 pm. 24-hour access to the hostel is through a separate door.

What other people are saying about The Old Countryhouse...

• "Every bed has its own reading light, plenty of hooks..." - one of several user reviews at Hostelz
  
• 88% score averaged from dozens of ratings at hostelworld.com
  
• Mixed reviews at BUG
  
• "They even make fresh bread for your breakfast" - Blah Blah Blog
  
• "Tonnes of character, and a very amusing dog" - Migrant Roo travel blog
  
• A picture of "our wonderful room at the Old Countryhouse" - There and Back Again

Read the previous entry or check out the rest of this New Zealand trip series.

post this to del.icio.us

Day 1: Late Night Laughs in Christchurch

It was a cold and windy night. We'd given up waiting for the bus and were sprinting seven long blocks down Gloucester and Worcester streets to catch an improv show at the Court Theatre. Called Scared Scriptless, this improvisational comedy series is performed every Friday night by the Court Jesters. I rarely jog - let alone run two-and-a-half kilometers! - so the sole thought propelling me down the pavement was, "This had better be good!"

And it was.

The concept is charmingly simple yet effective. Two teams of four actors each, going head-to-head in a comedy face-off. That night they were competing for, well, a bunch of bananas. The MC decides each round's rules ("Perform the same scene in 3 minutes, 30 seconds, 7 seconds, and 1 second!"), and the audience provides a flurry of suggestions that determines the theme and style of the performance ("Snakes on a Plane? We want Aardvarks on a Monorail."). The monorail conductor's rendition of being bitten to death by aardvarks was hilarious. Never mind that aardvarks normally defend themselves with their claws - I could almost see the mad little critter tearing at the conductor's throat.

Improv is theater's equivalent of a dice roll - one scene may bring the house down and the next fall somewhat flat. Scared Scriptless was no exception, but had a lot of great gems. Performer quality was good although uneven, and by the end of the evening we'd developed definite favorites among the actors. The show's pianist was amazing - improvising spooky, serious, or slapstick soundtracks as the scenes progressed.

A good improv show is a great way to start a trip. We got a lot of mileage out of our $15 tickets - 1856 miles, to be exact - because quips from the show became humorous catchphrases for us throughout our South Island travels.

Check out the Court Jesters' performance of Scared Scriptless every Friday night at 10 pm. They perform at Court Theatre in the Arts Centre, right in the cultural heart of Christchurch. You can buy tickets at the box office or book ahead by calling 03 963 0870. $15, free seating.

Learn more about this fascinating and funny theater art form:

• TheatreSports - comedy as competition
  
• Whose Line Is It Anyway? - a classic favorite
  
• Improvisational comedy on Wikipedia
  
• Improv Everywhere: We Cause Scenes - imagine this in Singapore

Read the previous entry or check out the rest of this New Zealand trip series.

post this to del.icio.us

New Zealand's South Island in 9 Days

A guide to seeing the South Island in 9 days... or, what to do when you can't take enough time off work!

Day 1: Arrived in Christchurch

Watched Scared Scriptless. Stayed at The Old Countryhouse.

Day 2: Whale watching in Kaikoura


Day 3: TranzAlpine to Greymouth, bus to Fox Glacier

Took in the views at Lake Matheson.

Day 4: Fox Glacier

Day 5: Fox Glacier to Queenstown

Day 6: Bungy jumping in Queenstown

Day 7: Canyoning in Queenstown


Day 8: Queenstown to Christchurch via Mount Cook and Lake Tekapo

Day 9: Flew out of Christchurch



Preparing for the trip

Pack the right clothing for the time of year you are travelling. We recycled our Nepal packing list, sans rubbing alcohol as we weren't expecting leeches this time. As usual, I brought far too many shirts and John didn't pack enough warm clothing. Learn from our mistakes and don't forget to factor in wind chill when you pack!

Glacier heli-hikes and Kaikoura whale watch tours can fill up quickly, so it's best to make your reservations for those before you arrive in New Zealand. Particularly when you've inadvertently planned your trip during a New Zealand holiday weekend, like we did.

As anyone who's ever tried to redeem frequent flyer miles knows, it's always advisable to book frequent flyer redemption tickets well in advance. Like weeks, months, or even years. You never know when one airline (*cough* Air New Zealand *cough*) is going to stop flying between Singapore and New Zealand, causing the remaining direct airline's flights to be booked solid. Thankfully we managed to squeeze through at the last minute. Whew.

It was a great trip.

Read the previous entry, the next entry, or check out the rest of this New Zealand trip series.

post this to del.icio.us