Up the East Coast

Today I took the Coastal Pacific train from Christchurch to Blenheim, and then the bus to Nelson. After having cleared Christchurch, we rolled through the Canterbury Plains again.

Until we hit the coast. From then on, there were mountains to the left 

and ocean to the right. 

Most of the time, we were chugging along the edge of a mountain, and we went through a lot of tunnels.

Around Kaikoura you are supposed to be able to see seals frolicking on the coastline. I was fairly dubious about actually seeing any seals, but they were quite visible, and in some places there were hoards of them!

We stopped at Kaikoura itself and a bus load of Chinese tourists left the train.

Some time later, the train goes inland. We passed a lake that’s used as a salt works.

And an enormous number of vineyards and a cherry farm. By this time, the rain that had been threatening all day started to fall. The bus picked me up from the station, and I travelled through magnificent forests and mountains for another three hours, while the rain bucketed down.