Tag Archives: Landscape

Purple Peak – Akaroa

Purple Peak - Akaroa by Steph Jennings
Purple Peak – Akaroa, a photo by Steph Jennings on Flickr.

The last day of the Banks Peninsula Tramp after heading through the Hinewai reserve we reached purple peak. The highest point of this days walking before we start heading down the other side of the hill and into Akaroa. The bay in the distance is Otanerito where we started the days walking.

Tranzalpine, Christchurh to Greymouth

The Transalpine Trip is a 233.8 km train journey from Christchurch on the east coast to Greymouth on the west coast on New Zealand passing through some of the most amazing scenery I’ve ever encountered.

Travelling first across the Canterbury plains then into the Southern Alps, passing via Arthur’s Pass and in several places crossing the waimakariri river, there are 19 tunnels, the longest one taking 20 minutes to pass through and 4 viaducts, the highest being the Staircase standing at 73 metres.

The journey took 4.5hours one way but with a stunning open air carriage for you to take pictures from there was no way you could tire of the scenery.

We travelled from Christchurch to Greymouth and back again in one day with only an hours stop on the west coast, It was long day with a round trip of 467.6km but worth every minute!

The only thing that could have made it any more scenic would have been if these mountains we snow capped.

www.tranzscenic.co.nz/services/tranzalpine.aspx