Wednesday 14th March 2007. Wellington to Christchurch.

On the road again and this time heading for the South Island...

I boarded the ferry around 7.30 this morning. This boat was previously known as The Pride of Cherbourg when it sailed the cross-channel route. Although it has been re-named Challengeror Kaitaki here in New Zealand, it is still registered in Portsmouth.

The crossing over the Cook Strait was beautiful and the views were stunning over breakfast; however we arrived in Picton in the Marlborough Sound in horrible weather.

The tranzcoastal journey from Picton to Christchurch must rank as one of the great rail journeys of the world. Some 347 kilometres long in its five hours the journey takes you across 175 bridges and through some 21 tunnels.

On our trip between Picton and the South Island's largest city we cross the Wairau Plains heading for Blenheim. The Marlborough region is the sunniest spot in New Zealand (and the weather has certainly cleared)and it is home to an outstanding wine growing region.

We now head over the Dashwood Pass to the coast. Lake Grassmere is where just about all of New Zealand's salt is produced by Dominion Salts solar salt works. Up to 100,000 tonnes a year are produced here.

One of the real highlights of the trip has been passing over the Awatere River on the combined road and rail bridge which is the only double-decker bridge remaining on the newtowrk in New Zealand.

We see spectacular views of the mighty Pacific Ocean as we watch the waves break on the rocky outcrops; and to the right we can view snow capped peaks. As we appraoch the town of Kaikoura we see many many seals on the ocean rocks. Kaikoura is world-renowned for whale-watching as the continental shelf here is within a kilometre of the coast with the strong underwater currents creating an upswell that is rich in nutrients thus attracting the whales.

Over the rich farmland of North Canterbury we pass Waipara where in 1867 the bones of a giant flightless bird known as the Moa were rediscovered. As recently as 1939 five complete Moa skeletons were found here, indicating that Moa's were still in the area 200 years ago.

The braided Waimakariri River is an ice-fed river of some 150km which starts its journey to the sea (at Kaiapoi near Christchurch) in the Alps above Arthur's Pass. In Maori Waimakariri means cold water.

Finally we glide past suburban Christchurch to arrive in the railway station in Addington.

This was a terrific journey, very well organised with outstanding commentary and a lovely Devonshire Tea which I had served around 3pm along with a glass of the local plonk, a Montana Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.

Although the first vines were planted in the early 19th century (Brown Muscat in 1873), New Zealand's reputation for fine wines took off barely 30 years ago when Montana - the largest wine grower and producer in the country - established Marlborough's first commercial vineyard growing the grapes that turned into New Zealand's signature...Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc...Nowhere else in the world can produce Sauvignon Blanc wines with such crisp herbaceousness.

This was a great journey from the heart of the countryside to the shores of the Pacific it was beautiful...and the weather turned on the charm again as we arrived in Christchurch in the midst of a hail storm.

Tonight I check into my accommodation at Oaks Smartstay Apartments and begin planning my time in New Zealand's oldest city.