Friday 30th March 2007. Otira to Christchurch. New Zealand.

Traversing the heart of the Southern Alps along State Highway 73 is Arthur's Pass National Park. Situated midway between Canterbury and Westland, the pass is the highest of the three roads that cross the Southern Alps.

While access to the West Coast was a challenge to coach drivers, road makers and bridge builders, the Southern Alps proved to be an insurmountable obstacle for rail. The ports at Westport, Greymouth and Hokitika were the only freight gateways until the Otira Tunnel at Arthur's Pass was opened in 1923. The 8.5km tunnel is dead straight and has a gradient of 1 in 33. At the time of construction it was the longest tunnel in the British Empire, beating the Connaught Tunnel in the Rockies by a little over a quarter of a mile.

The Arthur's Pass route from Christchurch follows the same route as the famous Tranz Alpine Express (which I will take this afternoon) meeting the coast at Greymouth. In the south the road from Queenstown to Wanaka over the Haast Pass was opened in 1960, but wasn't connected to Fox Glacier until 1965 (and finally sealed in 1995).

The warmer currents of the Tasman Sea make the West Coast's temperatures relatively mild compared to the other parts of the South Island, however rain can fall with tropical intensity. During a downpour every rock springs a waterfall and the bush becomes vibrant with colour. In between the deluges though the sunshine is abundant.

Today we take a trip on the local school bus with Kev the driver. We set off from the Otira Hotel once known as the Terminus Hotel because until the tunnel was built the rail terminated here. This is one of the oldest hotels on the West Coast.

Otira itself was built solely for railway workers and was an important marshelling yard particularly for coal and timber, a purpose it still serves though not on the same scale today. Only one passenger train now runs each way on the Tranz Alpine Route per day with the track mainly used for hauling coal. With the steep gradient (which actually rises to 1:22 in one area) this is quite a journey.

Here we are on State Highway 73. The state highway system is an important part of New Zealand's engineering history. Through the terrible winter of 1865 men toiled here to cut a coach road through from Christchurch to the West Coast goldfields.

We head up through Arthur's Pass up and over the Death's Corner Viaduct. This Otira Viaduct is one of the most notable environmental engineering achievements in New Zealand...a challenge of design and building in a mountainous and geologically sensitive area.

The viaduct is 440m long with centre spans that are the longest reinforced concrete box girder spans in New Zealand. As it sits on a major faultline it was built to withstand earthquake stresses 40% higher than the maximum level used throughout New Zealand.

Prior to the viaduct the state highway crossed the 2000 year old scree slope above the Otira riverbed on the infamous zig-zag. Back in the 1860's Dobson had wanted to build a tunnel but it was Walter Blake who hit upon the zig-zag option.

The Arthur's Pass area is named after one Arthur Dudley Dobson who was the first surveyor to come through this area on behalf of the British Government. The route across Arthur's Pass was first used by Maori in their search for greenstone on the West Coast. The route became widely used by Europeans on the discovery of gold in the 1860's. Arthur Dobson had surveyed the road in 1864 and the original road was to be completed and opened to traffic as soon as 1866.

We pass by Jacks Hut (an original and now restored roadman's hut) on our way into the village of Arthur's Pass.

Cobb & Co began a regular coach service as soon as the road opened in March 1866 and continued its operation on the route for the next 57 years.

Upon the topmost seat I ride
Ladies and baggage go inside
And as we cross the Great Divide
My collar forms a funnel
To catch the rain which wets me through
Don't gush to me about the view
I'm cold and wet so tell me do
When shall we have the tunnel?

The view it fairly scares me stiff
The road's a ledge along a cliff
The wheels go near it, heaven if
They made a deviation
I only hope that I survive
This perfect nightmare of a drive
To offer thanks when I arrive
Safe at Otira Station.

The driver tries to calm my fears
As round a hairpin bend he steers
There's been no accident for years
He hastens to assure me.
I've done this job in wind and rain
Three times a week, and back again
For eighteen years, but all in vain
This has no comfort for me.

The scenery I understand
Is commonly considered grand
By tourists from another land
Who love each new impression
But I'm cold and wet as sop
And only think how far I'd drop
If I fell off the coach's top
I freely make confession.

I'm no seeker after thrills
I'd rather travel under hills
Than over them in rain and chills
In constant trepidation.
I only hope some other day
To travel back the tunnel way
So may no further hitch delay
That blessed perforation.

Tremayne Curnow 1920

I visited the Arthur's Pass Chapel which was built by a committee representing those churches within the National Council of Churches together with seven alpine sports clubs and the people who love this national park.

"O ye Mountains and Hills, Bless ye the Lord"

The mountain theme is carried on in the building for example in the roof which is made of slate imported from Wales, but the real highlight is the Avalanche Falls flowing strongly outside the altar windows; reflecting for me God's power in nature.

I had lunch with Patty and Joanne at The Wobbly Kea before we headed back to the Otira Hotel.

Following on from afternoon tea we head down to the station to take the Tranz Alpine and another of the world's great rail journey's. This train travels the route between Christchurch and the West Coast at Greymouth and it passes through some 19 tunnels on its 231km route. The highest viaduct crossed is the Staircase at 73 metres and the trip reaches its high just after we join when it reaches 737 metres at Arthur's Pass.

Leaving the Arthur's Pass National Park (which covers over 94,500 hectares of rugged wilderness) we travel the Waimakariri Gorge (the Waimakariri River is an ice-fed river which is around 150km long and starts its journey in the Alps above Arthur's Pass reaching the sea near Kaiapoi, north of Christchurch) and the alpine foothills to the patchwork of farms crossed by braided rivers that are the Canterbury Plains and on to the City of Christchurch.

Back in the city and we check again into the Copthorne Hotel on Victoria Square before we head out for what proves to be a non-event of a meal at indochine where we wait for an hour and three quarters for our food before Alex and I leave.