November 19 and 20: Trans Alpine Train - Christchurch to Greymouth

The Trans Alpine train takes 5 hours each way to travel from Christchurch on the east coast, across New Zealand’s Southern Alps, to Greymouth on the west coast. It leaves Christchurch at 8:15 am, arriving at 1:10 pm in Greymouth and then leaves Greymouth at 2:15 pm arriving in Christchurch at 7:10 pm. When making these reservations, we decided to stay the night in Greymouth rather than spending the entire day on a train. Scenery was the same both ways, although it was mostly sunny on our travels to Greymouth and mostly rainy through the mountains on the way back. The track carried us past farmlands where sheep, cows, horses and even deer grazed before heading into the mountainous alps. Once we crossed the mountains, it was another 2 hours to Greymouth.

Greymouth is a small coastal town that sits at the mouth of the Grey River where it flows into the Tasman Sea. At low tide, one can often see sharks and dolphins feeding on smaller fish near the river’s mouth. We found a coastal pathway near our hotel and walked to the mouth of the river on the chance we might see these sea predators. We weren’t lucky in that regard but we did get a nice 6-mile walk in. 

Some of the views from the train:




Walking the coastal path in Greymouth


Waiting for the return train from Greymouth










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