Day 19 Christchurch to Greymouth to just south of Hokitika - train and cycle

So finally I was on the road again. Having left my music gear behind at Susan's in still war torn Christchurch I headed off finding the train station and making it on time despite the rather early 7:45am check in time! Off we went at 8:15 and I had been looking forward to this immensely as it was taking me across Arthurs Pass and through some really magnificent scenery. Unfortunately the train did not match the wonderful smooth trip I had had the day before on the new train that they had actually made in Dunedin - after much harranging the governmnet not to get it made overseas. It was certainly not a patch on that....

Still despite the somewhat jolty ride and the busy train with too many tourists trying to get shots in the one open viewing car for my liking - the journey was great. I was a bit tired after the antics of the night before and hoped I would get some energy soon for the coming cycling afternoon.....a wee bit of a snooze and plenty of photo shots saw me come right and after arriving at 1pm at Greymouth I got my bits together knocking off my sunglasses in the processes thinking rain was coming and then forgetting to pick them up. Unfortunately realising five minutes later and dashing back to the platform was five minutes too late as someone had popped them into their own pockets - was surprised that they had not been handed in. As I was quietly niggling at the dishonesty of people wondering if it was someone who had hopped on a tourist bus this guy comes up to me and hands me over his sunglasses having heard of what had taken place. After his insistence and remark that they were returning to the UK tomorrow and there was no sun there anyway I gratefully accepted his generosity and headed south feeling he had made up for the pre thief!

It turned out that the road from Greymouth to Hokitika was a dream - so lovely and flat and my cycle and I covered the ground quickly soon arriving 40km down the road into Hokitika. I stopped off to a cafe for acup of tea and a look round a gallery and was singing one of my new songs "Barbara Weldon" as I walked down Revell Street where she had once swaggered through in her slightly drunken state before finding some work for the night - keeping at least body alive if not soul.

Her world seemed so far away from the streets that I now saw as the hotels closed down to tourist shops, the cafes inviting passing tourists but not offering the morsels she had for sale.....only a hundred and forty years.....gone were those bustling streets that saw forty hotels on Revell St in its gold mining prime and here were the remnants of those days displayed in the fab museum and in a few random signs hinting at days of glory ? gone by.

As the clear blue sky gave way to thickening clouds I took that as a hint to make my way to the DOC campsite before getting caught in the coming rain. 10km down the road did see me caught out slightly but fortunately enough time to get into camp with ten t up and gear inside before too much damage was done. An hour of brief sunshine gave me time to wander around the lake, make dinner on my stove and get all done before putting on the thermals for the night - the air was decidedly colder tonight.