We woke to bright sunshine this morning, which was wonderful. Unfortunately, somebody had not stoked the boiler fire early enough, so the shower water was lukewarm - I suppose the other guests who have been there for more than a night know to bathe or shower at night while the fire is still going.
We went for a walk round the town. Apart from our hotel, which is over 100 years old, there are some other old buildings, though many suffered in earthquakes, floods or fires. This is one near our hotel, built in 1864.
The town clock, originally in a tower on top of the post office, was damaged in an earthquake. The tower had to be demolished, but the clock was restored and is now in a wooden tower on the Flood Wall.
This picture looks down towards the harbour, which was originally used for exporting coal from the mines which were very busy from the mid 1860s. Gold was also discovered in 1865, so there was a gold rush, which meant the town grew quickly. Both coal and gold are still mined in the area, though not to the same extent.
The area is also famous for nephrite jade, which was originally discovered and used by Maori people for weapons as it is very hard and can be given a good edge. We spent some time looking at jade, and then we went off to the local Museum, which has a fascinating clutter of objects and a huge collection of wonderful old photos.
Eventually we had to leave to catch our train back to Christchurch. The train and the cars share the main street, but there are relatively few trains so it probably isn't that inconvenient.
The train set off again, past the places we had passed yesterday, but this time we saw them in a different direction. The train manager mentioned that the Grey River is noted for whitebait at this time of year, though they seem to be different from what we would call whitebait. They are almost transparent and about the size and general shape of a match. We haven't tried them.
We started to climb gradually as we left the coast. The river had obviously brought down a lot of gravel, and this is being used, presumably for building.
We passed towns we had barely noticed before, like the former mining town of Dobson, or the site of the Brunner mine, now derelict. At Stillwater there is still a sawmill, but it's almost the last one left. Coal is still mined near here though, so the little town hasn't completely disappeared.
After Lake Brunner, we passed the small settlement of Otara, and then we really started to climb. We went into the Otara Tunnel, which is in a spiral, so it takes 8 1/2 km to travel 2 km in distance through the hill, at a steep gradient (for a train) of 1 in 33. The train takes 15 minutes to pass through this tunnel, and shortly after that, it arrives at the highest point, Arthur's Pass. After that, the journey becomes more scenic so I went outside onto the viewing deck to get some more pictures. We were gradually surrounded by snowy peaks, and it was cold.
This is the gorge of the Broken River
It is hard not to repeat the same views as yesterday's. The views on this part of the journey are so stupendous, with steep rocky cliffs, surrounding hills, and snowy mountains in the background, it is hard not to photograph everything.
Eventually we were back on the Canterbury Plains which surround Christchurch, then back at the station. Even in the big city, traffic has to stop for the train
As we only had our rucksacks, we did the 25 minute walk back to Jail. We are in a different cell this time, and as it wasn't midnight, as it was the last time we arrived, I was able to photograph it before we filled it with suitcases!
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