No
blog post from Akoroa because I was too occupied to go looking for an
internet connection, which probably didn't exist anyway.
The
cruise ships now call at Akoroa instead of Lyttelton because the
berthing facilities at Lyttelton were apparently damaged in
Christchurch's earthquakes and haven't yet been restored. Akoroa is
out on the Banks Peninsula and has a French heritage. Cute, it
seems, but just a small town.
However,
I didn't have time to look at it because I booked for the train
excursion on the TranzAlpine. This is referred as one of the
world's top scenic train trips, and so it proved to be: amazing
views as the train ascended to Arthur's Pass alongside the river.
The not-inexpensive excursion doesn't have time to do the whole
TranzAlpine trip to Greymouth. It was advertised as bus to Arthur's
Pass to pick up the train returning from Greymouth (presumably
because there are spare seats on the return trip) but in fact it
seems that a special train was operated to cater for the excursion
from our ship as well as another ship in port. So, we had an
uphill trip. I thought, this will be better, because the train will
have to go more slowly up to the pass. Not so: this is mostly
100 kmph track (!!), and the 10 or so carriage train really rattled
along!
There are a couple of open observation cars, which were fun to stand in, but you certainly had to hold on to the rails (and to your camera).
There are a couple of open observation cars, which were fun to stand in, but you certainly had to hold on to the rails (and to your camera).
To
get to Rollestone, where we joined the train, it was necessary to
travel by bus across the Banks Peninsula. Again, the scenery was
great as the road wound up to the “Hilltop” and then down
again.
However, my pre-conceived idea that this peninsula would be forested was totally wrong: most of the hills are quite denuded of trees, with only odd patches of trees. The bus driver stated that the original forests had been logged in the early days. I haven't checked whether this is the case, but if it is, they certainly did a good job with the clear felling.
 |
| Banks Peninsula |
However, my pre-conceived idea that this peninsula would be forested was totally wrong: most of the hills are quite denuded of trees, with only odd patches of trees. The bus driver stated that the original forests had been logged in the early days. I haven't checked whether this is the case, but if it is, they certainly did a good job with the clear felling.
This post is from Dunedin, where I did another rail excursion (details in later post).
We'll be at sea from this evening until we return to Melbourne, although a cruise through the fjords will occur tomorrow.
[Further images added]
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