Arthur's Pass
- on the way to/from Greymouth
Halfway (more
or less), you stop at Arthur's Pass. The train guide on the PA system
was very witty - but one shouldn't attempt to reproduce his incidental humour.
Like when
the train stopped after barely a minute outside Christchurch, and he said "Ladies
and gentlemen,
I hope you enjoyed the trip with us today". And so on.
After a brief
- but long enough - stay in Greymouth, discussing the coal... sorry,
cold local beers at Jones's Cafe Bar,
I returned to Christchurch.
On the return
trip, my company on the train were the Roys, an Alexandra couple in their 80s.
I asked them if they'd care for some Sauvignon. Mr Roy's hearing wasn't optimal,
but there
was nothing wrong with his palate.
It was slightly
different from the previous journey. I turned to others for entertainment,
and the train guide/speaker was very willing to improvise a Norwegian/Viking
twist to his witty guiding
about local history on the loudspeakers.
I met another
guide the next day at the Canterbury
museum in Christchurch. A great museum,
free, and the frienly guide almost forced herself on you. But since there was
an Antarctic section, I
said I preferred to be patronizing on my own. We were first on the South Pole.
And it's pronounced Argh-moon-zen.
I should have
spent more time in Christchurch. And
Marlborough and Nelson and Dunedin and
all the other places further south. But my time was running out. Not my luck,
though:
I got to see Mt Taranaki peek through the clouds over a Tasman sunset
on my way back to Auckland.
And
eventually leaving Ruth in Onehunga, to face a ruthless existence back home.
