Christchurch to the West Coast

There are a couple of ways you can do this trip - by car or on the Tranz-Alpine Train. Both have stunning scenery to enjoy along the way, so you won't be disappointed which ever way you choose to get there.

Last year, my partner and I drove to the west coast, starting out from Akaroa and staying overnight in Arthur's Pass, which is the highest and most spectacular pass across the Southern Alps.  It climbs to more than 900 metres through Arthur's Pass National Park.

As with most parts of NZ, the scenery is diverse and simply beautiful.  There are a couple of little towns you can stop at along the way to Arthur's Pass and I recall one where there was a lovely park area along a creek or river.

The scenery out of Christchurch was lush green fields with snow capped mountains in the background (we were travelling in spring) and the road is initially fairly straight. Along the way, you will see the wide shingle filled river beds and vast swathes of beech forest as described perfectly in the 100% Pure New Zealand website.

Eventually as you make your way closer to Arthur's Pass, the road becomes more winding and the scenery changes as you head into the Southern Alps.  For those fascinated by engineering, this is definitely the road (or rail trip) for you!  It has viaducts, bridges, rock shelters and waterfalls channeled into chutes. 

If you are planning to do this as a road trip, my #1 tip is to ensure you fuel up your vehicle before leaving Christchurch as fuel was a staggering $10 a litre in Arthur's Pass in 2015.  

The township has approximately 30 residents and while there is a store, it only stocks a limited supply of the basics which are also quite expensive.  This brings me to my #2 tip - if you're planning a stay, then buy whatever you think you may need from Christchurch before leaving.

You will find the Wobbly Kea Cafe in Arthur's Pass, which has a limited but reasonably tasty menu.  Again, a little pricey, but in line with what you'd expect in the area.  

We stayed at the Arthur's Pass Alpine Motel which I'd highly recommend.  The people there were warm, welcoming, friendly and helpful! They recommended places to go and things to see.

It had been raining heavily on and off during the time we were there which limited us somewhat as we'd originally had plans to do some walks in the area.  However, we did manage a relatively short walk to a gorgeous little waterfall up behind the church in town and a visit to the Tourist Information place before getting rained on again. Arthur's Pass is on my list of places to go back to so I can enjoy a bit longer walk in the area.

The remainder of our road trip across to Greymouth on the West Coast, was also somewhat rainy so we didn't really stop as we'd anticipated we might.  

I did the same trip on the Tranz Alpine Rail this year (2016), although I traveled about 2 months earlier than the trip we'd taken last year.  There wasn't a great difference in the amount of snow about, however, this year's trip was taken in sunshine rather than rainy weather which was a little friendlier for taking photo's.

That said, I found it somewhat challenging to take pics on the train that weren't too blurry!  The train is a lovely relaxing way to travel and while I don't know that you see much more scenery than you do by road, the difference is that the road isn't alongside the rail track the entire way so you may see the scenery closer up and you're not driving so you have time to gander out the windows.  On the train, you also get some great views of some of the engineering feats I mentioned earlier and the scenery around them.

There is an open air carriage on the train especially for those wishing to take photos, but it does get a little chilly at times! Some great views to be seen and take photo's of but again, the difference between a road trip and a train trip is you can stop whenever you want to take pics on a road trip (providing there's somewhere to pull over), so there's less of the blurry factor.

There is a brief stop at Arthur's Pass where you can get off the train to stretch your legs, take a pic or two, then get back on the train.  There is another stop at Moana which is on the Lake for people who wish to get off, enjoy a walk and/or a picnic and catch the train on it's return journey about an hour or so later.

I found the train trip really enjoyable, the staff were great, they had a reasonable selection of food on board (I enjoyed a cheese board) and they come around towards the end with delicious NZ ice creams.  It's only about a 4.5 hour trip from Christchurch across to Greymouth so if you're wanting to do a return day trip, then it's quite do-able.