Train And Coach To Franz Josef and Fox Glacier

Tuesday was a day for getting out of the sack early to catch the Tranzalpine Train from Christchurch to Arthur’s Pass. The NZ National Rail Authority Say “The TranzAlpine is one of the world's great train journeys. You’ll traverse the majestic Canterbury Plains, to the backdrop of the mighty Southern Alps - the journey of a lifetime”. Without being too harsh, that is somewhat exaggerated. Admittedly, we got off the train after covering about two thirds of the full trip and it was good. But The Rocky Mountaineer in Canada, the one that goes up the Alps from Interlaken are two that we know push this one down the ladder a bit. But everyone is entitled to their opinion I guess.

The weather was fine and about 21 degrees when we left Christchurch at around 8am and on arrival at Arthur’s Pass, it was considerably cooler. Dave had the coach ready and waiting to cross the NZ Alps to the West Coast country. Our first port of call is Hokitika on the Ocean’s edge, about as far west as you can go.

It took about 2 hours to get there and the countryside was mountainous and very scenic. It reminded me of some of the terrain in the Canadian Rockies or even the Great Ocean Road and the Otway Ranges away from the Coast.

On arrival in Hokitika, there was a Greenstone cutting and polishing display in a local store. Greenstone processing is a big industry in this region. I gave this a miss but almost everyone else took an interest in it. I did some reconnaissance of the local cafes as it was lunch time and we were starting to fade away to nothing. The recommended cafe/bakery was just about out of all stock as we were obviously not the first coach/bus in town that day.

The greenstone workshop finished and Lesley, Joan and Ron were wiser for it. I really should take more interest in such things. After wandering around the shop attached to the workshop, despite there being some nice items, no transactions were undertaken by the graduates.

It was definitely time to put the nose bag on and we found a reasonable looking cafe. They served whitebait patties better described as a whitebait omelet, a local delicacy it seemed. A few of the Poms gave it a go as they love whitebait but the reviews were average. We opted for burgers and they were only just ok as well.

Back on the Coach, we settled in for a long trek to the town of Franz Josef, which is inland from the Coast at the bottom of the famous glacier of the same name. The weather was ok at the foot of the Alps but we couldn’t see the tops as they were shrouded in mist and

cloud. It took us about 2 hours to get to Franz Josef where we’re happy to get off the coach, stretch our legs, have a coffee and use the facilities. Dave was doubtful we would be able to see the glacier because of the poor weather conditions above us. After checking it out with the local experts, he confirmed his prediction.

So onward we pressed on our trek to Fox Glacier where we are camping for the night. The chances of being able to see any frigging glacier were negligible given that rain had started to fall and the mist and clouds were really settling much lower.

Fox Glacier is a hamlet way below the glacier called, you guessed it, Fox Glacier. From Franz Josef, it took us a further 40 minutes and while disappointed that a visit to the old Franz was not going to happen, we were just about all knackered and were over natural phenomena at this stage. From what I can gather, Fox Glacier is not really accessible by vehicle in this kind of weather any case.

The hotel Distiction at Fox Glacier was surprisingly good. It had some issues for some but really, in a place that small, the accommodation could only be described as excellent.

The pre-dinner cleansers were served in a small lounge, there was no bar. Then we went down to the restaurant for the 3 course meal. I had the Pork Belly. It had been nuked and as was as dry as. But the others had good meals. Lesley had a terrrific venison steak and Ron and Joan had fresh water salmon and they too were very satisfied. We were all bloody tired so It wasn’t a late night. As we went to our rooms, the weather outside had really turned and I am pretty sure it rained steadily all night.