Train journey reveals winter wonderland after days of snow, rain and gales

Friday, 14 July 2017

Tourists and locals alike enjoyed the snow-covered beauty of the TranzAlpine crossing after the fierce southerly storm.

For some, it's the only way to travel – the carriage gliding quietly along smooth tracks, wine in hand, the scenery within touching distance.

The TranzAlpine railway through New Zealand's Southern Alps is one of the country's most memorable journeys.

But after the biggest snowstorm in years blanketed farmland and mountains alike, the trip became one through a winter wonderland.

The TranzAlpine took passengers and locals through the snow-covered Southern Alps, from Christchurch to Greymouth.

Passengers queued in Christchurch on Friday morning, three days after the front made its way through the city. Some planned the trip specifically after the snow fell.

**READ MORE:

Cass, in rural Canterbury, remained covered in a blanket of snow on Friday morning.

* Porters Pass, inland road open after wintry blast

* Live: Storm moves north

The train left Christchurch early on Friday morning, taking four-and-a-half hours to traverse the Southern Alps and get to the West Coast.

* Power cuts, wild wind and rain hammer Wellington

* Severe gales, heavy rain for central areas, more snow for upper South Island**

By the time the train pulled out, the skies were clearing in Canterbury as expectant tourists and locals alike prepared for the four-and-a-half-hour journey.

Within an hour, the ground around the carriages was thick with snow, tourists crowding the windows and viewing carriage, cameras in hand.

As the mountains grew, so did the smile on Thai tourist Sompong Boonnon's face.

Blackened trees from an earlier bush fire poke through the snow.

'When we saw the snow for the first time we felt very relaxed and very happy, like something from the heavens fell to the earth, a dream come true,' he said.

'I have to say, your country is very beautiful, don't move anywhere else, just stay here.'

Passengers on the TranzAlpine enjoy the snowy view.

Snow-flattened reeds and weighed-down matagouri shrubs lined the tracks for long stretches between the 15 tunnels and four viaducts the train traverses on its way to Greymouth.

The train stopped in Arthur's Pass for five minutes, just enough time for giggly travellers to scoop up a snowball or two from the half a metre of snow still settling alongside the train track.

State Highway 73 through Porters and Arthur's passes and Otira Gorge reopened to traffic on Friday. Others enjoyed the journey from the comfort of the TranzAlpine train instead.

A passenger captures a wintry vista from within the train.

The weather has cleared, but snow still covers the mountains between Canterbury and the West Coast.

Thai tourist Sompong Boonnon enjoys the sight of snow through a train window in the South Island last week.

A somewhat smug Kevin Keenan sat snug in his driver's chair at the front of the locomotive.

'You can see mate, she's quite a buzz. What's better than going past and seeing all the trucks parked up,' he said, acknowledging the days-long closure of State Highway 73.

'This is clearly the best way to transport [people and goods].'

The highway reopened on Friday morning, after being closed since Tuesday due to snow and ice.

Keenan had been driving trains for 20 years. There was nothing else he would rather do, he said.

'Especially when you get weather like this, it's a pretty good view out the office window.'

The eight-kilometre-long Otira tunnel marked the end of the snow, the West Coast spared from the worst of the weather.

But for Boonnon, the memories of the snow would last a lifetime.

'We would like to make a snowman and take a picture and take it home to tell everybody, 'hey, we touched snow one time in our life'.'