Coastal Pacific
The Coastal Pacific departs from Christchurch at 07h00 for a 5h40 journey up to Picton. Being winter, it was still very dark out, but as we left the city and headed out onto the Canterbury plains the sun began to rise.
I headed out to the viewing carriage to take in the beautiful sunrise as we crossed rivers and passed fields.
The early morning light (and early morning cold) made the first hour pass in a flash. We kept crossing wide alpine rivers which were super impressive, but also quite difficult to photograph.
As we got further from Christchurch and headed deeper inland the Kaikōura Ranges began to appear on the horizon with their snow-capped peaks.
Before long, we hit the coast.
The train follows the coastline very closely which was pretty impressive but also worrying thinking about the inevitable sea level rises to come in the future.
On a more positive note, it was absolutely stunning seeing the sea mist and the imposing green hills with the snowy mountains popping up behind.
Hitting the coast was also a sign we were approaching Kaikōura, the mid-way point on this journey north. We dived back inland for a bit as coastal plains opened up.
In Kaikōura we dropped off and picked up a few passengers, giving just enough time to jump off the train and walk down the platform and take in the view (of both the mountains and the train).
Then the whistle blew and the stragglers rushed back onboard.
We continued tracking the coast north, but the scenery was was a bit less extreme and felt more inhabited, especially as we joined the freshly reconstructed State Highway 1.
The Kaikōura Earthquake in 2016 destroyed a lot of the road and tracks along this stretch of coast, so everything was very new and flash-looking. Though I preferred the parts of the journey where the rails were in front of, rather than behind, the road.
Fortunately we went through some tunnels and soon got closer to the ocean again as we passed some pretty black sand beaches.
We then headed back inland as we neared Blenheim. Passing the pink salt flats of Lake Grassmere on our way.
Once past Lake Grassmere we had to ascend through the Redwood Pass, which gave a hint of what the weather might be like in Picton...
Once over the Pass and back down on the flat we trundled through vineyards around Blenheim.
The last thirty minutes of the journey into Picton had some of the most fascinating scenery with deep green forests on one side and bare logged hillsides on the other.
It felt a bit eery passing all these dead trees in the river.
Soon enough we reached Picton where, surprisingly, it wasn't raining and I bid the train farewell before wandering through town to the Interislander terminal.
But this is enough of a photo dump for one day so I'll leave that journey for the next post :)
Overall, I was really impressed with the Coastal Pacific. It far exceeded my expectations in every sense. The constantly changing scenery made the time fly by, I think I'd happily do it again just to get a better look at some of the things I missed!