Back to the Glaciers

Greetings, once again, from Glacier Country!!

I arrived in Christchurch yesterday morning, headed to my backpackers, dropped my bag, and walked into town. It was a short 15 minute stroll. It was cold in Christchurch! The pilot said it was 13C when we landed, and while it was chilly, it didn't feel that cold per se. I like Christchurch (although I was told by some others that it's always cold). It is the town with the most British influence in NZ and you can really feel it. I was relishing how flat it is and how badly I wished I could ride my bike. But alas, this is not that kind of trip, and I was soooooo tired!!! So I walked around, took in the cathedral (which I did not do last time), found the supermarket and picked up a couple of things (I forgot bath soap - doh!), and headed back to the backpackers early and got a good night's sleep.

It was an early start this morning with a 7 AM pick-up to take me to the railway station. I caught the TranzAlpine which takes you from Christchurch to Greymouth via Arthur's Pass. The famous pass which we crossed by car last time in the pouring rain. If I had a better adjective than pouring that could really emphasize the rain we had that day I'd use it, but I do not. Today I had zero expectations and it wasn't until I was on the shuttle and one of the passengers mentioned what a great day it was going to be for a train ride I realized - OMG!!! It was a beautiful, sunny day!! Yay!!! The ride was really amazing. We passed through something like 9 tunnels - the longest of which was 8.5 km long! And about 2/3 of the ride we had a helicopter following us, apparently filming the train as we rode along for a country western movie. Cool as! I met a really nice lady from OZ who sat next to me for the trip and I will meet up with her again here tomorrow when she comes to glacier country as well. The train was full, full, full, and as a result we were quite late leaving about 45 minutes late. I was afraid that I'd missed my connection with the coach that I'm traveling on for the remainder of my trip. The coach, however, was late arriving as well.

The coach, so far, is ok. I can't say it's the best, and yet it's not the worst either. I will reserve judgement. So far I've met 4 new Canuks. There are plenty of us traveling around this country indeed! The French Swiss guy who sat beside me today was probably the best new acquaintance, as I got to speak French all afternoon, which was great! Retracing a route I've already driven here before in much nicer weather made the scenery all that more spectacular. :) The Southern Alps are quite beautiful! Tomorrow, if the weather holds, I will have the chance to explore here, as I hadn't able to on the last visit.

On a side note, I seem to be having quite bad luck with my teeth down under. In November I broke off a piece of a built-up tooth (kind of a fake tooth, but not totally). I didn't deal with it and after it started causing me some pain in January (or was in Feb?? I can't remember now) I got it fixed. Luckily I knew the dentist through the bike shop - fellow cyclist. He did a good job and gave me a good deal. Today I bit into a pear and broke the bottom retainer off one of the two teeth that hold it in place (a relic from the years of orthodontics I painfully endured as a child) and now, in the middle of nowhere, there is no dentist to visit until next week. Luckily when I get to the next possible place to find dentistry (QT), I will be visiting with a friend that I met up in Raglan who is currently living down there and I texted her today to see if she could do me a big favour - find me a dentist and book me an appointment. I got a message back saying it's done! What would I do without such great friends like that?

I hope to post again tomorrow. Stay tuned...