The World's Most Scenic Railway Journeys (2019) s01e03 Episode Script
New Zealand
Join us on this extraordinary voyage
that crosses a wild country
created by great forces of nature.
On a railway line that took decades
to build and only seconds to crush.
This coast-to-coast journey
will pass through
magnificent mountains,
a stunning sacred place
that has been inspiring
the Maori for centuries.
The beauty of it is,
in a million years,
this will still be here.
A trainline that has had
to conquer deep gorges
on its way to Christchurch
that sits on a deadly fault.
The strength to push that out
is just phenomenal.
We'll meet the people
who live and work
along this very special train line.
This is no ordinary railway journey.
This is one of the most scenic
railway journeys in the world
New Zealand.
South Island, New Zealand,
a dynamic land created by the
collision of two great continents.
A landscape still growing
and on the move.
Our journey begins on
the West Coast, at Greymouth,
a town with a thriving railway
and a station steeped in nostalgia.
This is the starting point
for our train -
the TranzAlpine.
We're off to Christchurch - we hope.
THEY LAUGH
We hope, too! Yeah.
I'm an on board service manager,
so my job is to look after the crew,
ensure the smooth service
of the train
and the customer service.
Everyone gets looked after.
We'll close the doors
around two o'clock -
I'd better go and get my paperwork.
To cross South Island
from Greymouth to Christchurch
will take four and a half hours.
From the lush lowlands,
we head into the Southern Alps,
through Otira Tunnel,
to our route's highest station,
at Arthur's Pass.
Then we enter an unspoiled
wilderness of big rivers
before we head to
the flat plains of Canterbury.
After 139 miles,
we'll arrive at our destination
and the Pacific Ocean.
The train leaves Greymouth
carrying up to 400 passengers.
It attracts a wide range
of day-trippers, train buffs,
and some just here to celebrate.
I wanted to make it special.
New Zealand is such a special place.
We've been living in South Island
for six or seven years. Yeah.
We've been planning every year
but, this year, her birthday -
nothing could be better.
The start of our voyage
is through lush lowlands
and thick forests
as it follows the Grey River.
This dramatic landscape
was sacred to the Maori,
a land they knew
for hundreds of years
before any Europeans arrived
with their industries.
We're passing the Brunner Mine
very shortly.
This area is where
the railway line first started.
This was one of
the 130 coal mines in this area.
It was the need
to transport the coal
that ignited the need for
a railway, as David explains.
The railway was built to access
the resources of the West Coast,
coming from the Greymouth side.
And coal and gold were,
from a European perspective,
the keys to driving
that West Coast economy,
and timber was not far behind.
Shipping it out of Greymouth
was too treacherous
but, on the East Coast
near Christchurch,
the harbour was deep enough.
The railway was extended through.
Once it was completed,
it became quite possible
to take the coal to Lyttelton
and, from Lyttelton, it would be
shipped in larger vessels overseas.
The Europeans began building the
railway to connect the two coasts.
But with no local knowledge,
they couldn't find a low, safe route
for a rail line.
They turned to the Maori people,
who knew this land for centuries
as they scoured it
for the sacred stone jade.
My people, where I come from,
we're from the forests,
so l can relate
to all this environment
that we're currently going through,
which makes us so close
and part of the environment.
It's very special.
Very special.
I We will always relate to nature.l.
Not only did they understand
their natural surroundings,
they created paths
through the mountains.
A lot of the guides were Maori,
because they knew the land.
They were hunting for jade,
known in Maori as pounamu.
Bevan's ancestors went
to great lengths to find it.
They did a lot of walking,
a lot of
You know, they didn't have Nikes,
they just had moccasins,
flax shoes or bare feet,
you know, and hard work,
and finding food on the way.
All for the stone,
all for the stone.
The Maori trails run
back through the hills
that the TranzAlpine follow,
and you can see how rugged it is.
And it's pounamu they used to use
for their tools and artefacts.
Because we were Stone Age people
pre-European, of course,
so whoever controlled
the pounamu was, erm
like the king who held
the crown, you know -
he was the man.
Jade is passed down
through the generations,
as it's highly valued for tools
and, for the Maori,
ii carries spiritual meaning.
They didn't throw it underground
and bury it
and then forget about it.
No, they came back up.
Manaia's your inner strength
and your goals, you know?
Like, your passion and
You don't get given money,
you earn it and your learn it.
This one just glows.
You could make a tiki out of that.
That's a good find.
It's not one to be sneezed at.
Well-respected in the community,
Bevan is a natural guardian
of the stone.
This is the workshop.
This is where it all happens.
Back in the day, and pre-European,
it was probably the womenfolk
that did most of the carving.
This is a taniwha,
so it's like a water serpent.
Say, the likes of kayakers,
they might wear taniwha
to protect them,
because they're in the water,
you know? As a protector.
The beauty of it is, to me,
in a million years,
this will still be here,
and so will this, and so will this,
and so will
Everything I've made out of
the stone will still be here.
It doesn't go rotten.
So it's eternal, you know?
The Maori had a huge impact
on the history of the railway,
and they continue to work together.
On board today,
Jo and her team are always busy.
And always know where they are.
We are not far from Moana.
We're picking up eight people
at Moana.
It's a very popular place to stop.
On my Fitbit,
in the middle of summer,
I do get up to 22,000 steps
just on the train.
So far I've done 4.62km,
and that's 14,898 steps.
Yeah. So we do do a lot of steps
on the train!
Just on cue, we pass
tranquil Moana Railway Station
on the shores of Lake Brunner.
We're currently only travelling
at 300 feet above sea level,
but this is about to change.
The train is about to cross
one of the world's biggest
and most dynamic features -
the Alpine Fault.
It's so big you can
see it from space.
For 300 miles,
it runs down South Island.
We're crossing the Alpine Fault zone
at the present time.
We have a broad zone,
probably 500 metres or so wide.
It's a very active,
dynamic landscape.
In the last 12 million years,
the fault has pushed up the
Southern Alps by over 12 miles.
Only the fast pace of erosion
has kept these magnificent mountains
under 13,000 feet.
All of this melds together
and it's really, I think,
hugely impressive.
As the train heads
out of the plains,
the journey enters a new landscape -
the Southern Alps.
Unable to go over them,
the engineers had to tunnel.
You've got gas from explosives,
you've got rockfall,
so all of that combines
to make it very, very difficult.
Our train left Greymouth
two hours ago
and now climbs steadily
to over 1,200 feet
as it enters Otira Valley.
We're nearly at Kelly's Creek.
Once we cross Kelly's Creek,
we'll be into Otira.
Population of about 40 people.
So what we do there is
we put the bank on the back
to prepare for our trip
through the rail tunnel.
To live here, you have to be hardy.
In winter, the sun only penetrates
this steep-sided valley
for a few hours a day.
The train needs extra horsepower
to cope with the next part
of the railway.
It was the last section of
the Midland Line to be built,
and probably the hardest.
The Otira Tunnel.
It was started in 1907.
With the simplest of tools,
the workers had to dig
five miles through the mountain.
100 years ago, the conditions
were not quite so good.
You've got ventilation issues,
you've got gas from explosives
and it would be wet.
You've got rockfall
coming off the side walls
and the crown of the tunnel,
the top of the tunnel.
So all of that combines
to make it very, very difficult.
The tunnel rises
an incredible 820 feet
inside the Alps.
When the western and
the eastern halves of the tunnel,
the Otira Tunnel, met,
there was about 2cm of displacement.
So it was really,
really good engineering,
and the surveying was
clearly of a high quality,
and you need that when
you're building tunnels.
When it finally opened in 1923,
after 16 harsh years,
it was the seventh longest
tunnel in the world.
The train is now
in Arthur's Pass National Park.
An area that has snow and ice cover
even in midsummer,
with over 3,000 glaciers.
And it has the highest
railway station on our route.
We're at Arthur's Pass.
Right in the centre of the journey.
Ah, there's a gentleman
I just saw down there
and he's never seen snow before,
and it was beautiful, the way he was
just putting his fingers in the snow
and trying to feel
what it feels like. Incredible.
That's what's the best thing
about these passengers,
is that they've got no idea
until they get here
just how beautiful it is.
The village, which is in
the middle of the national park,
is the only place in New Zealand
that has an apostrophe in its name.
Local and park ranger Pete
is pretty proud of it.
A few years ago, when my kids
were a bit younger,
we used to come out on midnight
missions around the village,
with a black marker pen,
and put in apostrophes
on all the signs.
But now I just do it during the day,
I'm not quite so scared any more.
But my kids used to love it.
We'd get dressed up in beanies
and hoods and everything
so no-one would recognise us
and come out at midnight.
I'll probably come along here
with some paint one night
and flick the apostrophe in
properly.
Even if it's a bit
cloak-and-dagger at times,
there's a great community spirit.
Of the 30 people
that live in the village,
most of us gel on
really well together.
Like, last night for example,
we had the local book club,
which has run every month.
There's anything from 6 to
13-14 people will turn up to that
which, I know that doesn't sound
like a huge number,
but 13 or 14 is nearly half
of the population of the village.
In fact, the community do tend
to all pitch in.
In here we've got the fire station.
Of the 30 locals,
12 of them are on the fire crew,
all wearing different hats
all the time, as we always do.
This is our little post office.
The post gets delivered there,
we've all got our
own individual post boxes,
and a book fridge
next to it as well.
Oh, look at that,
there's quite a few in there.
Illustrated London News,
there you go.
What about that? From May, 1978.
We try All the locals try
and pick up rubbish
as we go around the village.
Tends to be a common thing.
Even in idyllic places,
you can have
the odd problem resident.
At Arthur's Pass, the local
hooligans are above the law.
They even have special
protected status.
These vandals are the world's
only alpine parrot - the kea.
The local mountain parrots,
they learned how to lift them up.
They'll sort of jiggle it up
and then lake all the rubbish out
and throw it all around
and play with it.
And so, with that little bit
of a weight on there,
it just makes it much harder
for them to
What we used to do was put
a big rock on the top of each one,
but then the kea actually learned
how to push the rocks off as well.
Rubbish-tipping, stealing
and rubber-ripping
have been on the increase.
Even though the parrot population
has been in rapid decline.
The kea have got bands
on their legs.
The bulk of them
are named as well.
And there's a very good website
now, the Kea Database,
that you can record
sightings of them.
And in the year or so that
the database has been running,
there's been 3,500 sightings
logged already.
Here we go.
This one's called Cam,
and he's about
a two- or three-year-old male.
A cheeky young kea
hanging out in a group of
at least seven other cheeky kea
in Arthur's Pass village.
I've been here and know,
you can see,
that bird's going to take something,
and they'll take a sandwich
out of somebody's hand.
Too clever for their own good.
They are.
Thanks to the efforts of
the national park,
and their growing fan club,
these loveable rogues
are no longer in danger.
The community wouldn't have it
any other way.
It's time to leave Arthur's Pass,
with 94 miles still to travel.
The railway journey has crossed
the great Southern Alps,
and is about to enter
an extraordinary new region.
The Bealey and Waimakariri River.
The "river of cold rushing water"
in Maori.
This valley was carved out
by glaciers 27,000 years ago.
Now, this huge, braided river system
continues to erode,
creating this
breath-taking landscape.
This is incredible. I love it.
You travel round the world,
you go to all the different places
around the world,
and here, at my back door,
is all this beautiful scenery,
and I thoroughly enjoyed
every minute of it.
The landscape here,
east of the great divide,
is dramatically different
to the lush green west.
We're now in the rain shadow
of the mountains,
a remote area that
few people live in.
16 miles southeast of Arthur's Pass
is the tiny station of Cass,
and its one permanent
resident, Barrie.
A retired railway engineer.
Well, there we are.
We've just come through Cass,
and the gentleman we may have just
caught standing there was Barrie.
And he's a legend,
everyone knows Barrie.
I've been living in Cass
for 32 years,
coming up for 32 years,
and I'm the sole occupant of Cass.
It's a good place to live,
especially on a day like today -
it's nice and warm and
a bit of snow on the hills.
I've worked on the railway
all my life.
The train does provide
a lifeline to it, like here,
and Arthur's Pass,
when the rains close.
There's always somebody in here.
There wouldn't be a day go by
when there's not a car
come into the station,
look at the station
and come and say g'day.
Today is no exception.
I think I've found my spot.
I love the contrast between
the structure of the building
and the curves of the landscape.
It's a perfect day
to create a painting.
This tiny, century-old station
may look nondescript,
just like many
modest railway buildings,
but this one is iconic
in New Zealand culture.
Ii was made famous by their most
influential painter, Rita Angus.
It attracts people
from around the world,
like Livia, originally from Brazil,
now an artist in Christchurch.
I love the way she used colour.
It's quite emotional.
We can definitely tell
how much joy she had
painting this here.
In May, 1936, Rita,
a then-unknown artist,
came to Cass to paint with
a couple of friends for ten days.
The picture she painted
is now world-famous.
Vastness of the landscape
is the same, it's unchangeable.
It's well-preserved since then.
I like how the figure looks so small
against all this vastness
of the background,
And it shows
how isolated the area is,
it shows how isolated
we are in New Zealand
from the rest of the world.
Rita's painting caught
a moment in time over 80 years ago.
But the scenery remains
just as inspiring as ever.
The Transalpine is now three hours
and 15 minutes into its journey
through many diverse landscapes -
and ahead is no exception.
The train is about to descend
into a ravine so steep
that the engineers called it
the "fearful gorge".
Our train continues its great voyage
across South Island.
After the wide expanse of Cass,
it faces another dramatic change.
A steep, eight-mile gorge.
The only way to overcome
such challenging terrain
was to tunnel 15 times
and crisscross the river
with four giant viaducts.
Ii was one of the most difficult
sections of the line to build.
Staircase Viaduct is
a major curved structure,
and it takes the rail
over Staircase Creek.
And that has its peer foundations,
and that really is, I would suggest,
the most spectacular of
the four viaducts we have.
With no roads, they could only
bring their equipment by rail
and then pull it across the gully
with metal ropes.
The build took two long years,
and it was so remote
the workers brought their families
to live there during this time.
This is the tallest
of the viaducts through here
and it's the only one
that can be seen from the river -
the rest of them are
slightly further back.
Ed Wicken has worked on
this river for over 25 years
and knows just how difficult it was
to build this rail line.
72 metres from the shingle
up to where the rails are.
Good British engineering.
And British steel, I suppose.
The thing I love about
this particular location
is that it's an isolated place.
There are no roads around here,
so the only way to see this
beautiful piece of New Zealand
is by seeing it from
the window of the train
or experiencing it on the water
by coming by jet boat.
Since there are no highways,
Ed has made his living
showing people the gorge by boat.
We're going to head up
to a beautiful patch
where there's a hut
called Walker's Hut.
Welcome to 1960.
This is a pure piece of Kiwiana.
Now these huts are bases for people
who enjoy fishing and walking.
I We maintain it, I
and it's open for anyone to use,
at any time, never locked.
And people can use it
in an emergency,
if they were kayaking on the river
or, if they had a boat that broke
down, they could come and stay here.
There's even provisions -
if it was a really
desperate emergency.
How long do cans of food last?
Decades, don't they?
These ones do anyway.
They've been there
since the '70s, I think,
but we won't worry about those.
We've got Marmite.
Everyone likes Marmite.
Except the people who don't.
Black beans and chilli sauce.
I think this is a recent addition.
This has probably
only been here five years.
And we have vintage baked beans.
I Anyway, the thought's there. I.
And it's the thought that counts.
The train descends 1,200 feet
down the fearful gorge.
Its drop in altitude
is tough on the train,
so it needs regular care.
There is quite a bit involved
in looking after the carriages.
They do work through the night
to make sure that the consist
is ready for the next day -
everything's drained, clean, tidy.
That's a 24-hour operation.
All clear as you report.
TRAIN HORN BLOWS
At Waltham Yard, team leader Deven
guides the train every night
to this special siding.
Yes, 504, keep it coming.
We have got about three.
When I started, I just used to
see the trains go past -
oh, here, there's a passenger train.
But how it's maintained
and how it's kept - magic.
It takes a team of about 11 people
to nightly check
and maintain the train.
The guys' job is
to inspect the train.
You will be going from
the front of the van,
underneath, checking all bogies,
all draw gear, all running gear,
just to make sure
everything's perfect.
He'll check everything one way
and then, coming back, he'll make
sure he's done it the second time
to sign it off.
This big, American-built
DXC diesel locomotive
has up to 3,300 horsepower.
Once the train is refuelled,
the checks continue
through the night.
TANNOY: 'Testing, one, two, three.'
So
So he's good.
Yep, I can hear you
loud and clear, Todd.
Everybody on the team here
plays their part,
and then the train becomes safe
and ready for morning.
We're now on the fertile expanse
of the Canterbury Plains,
the largest area of flatland
in New Zealand,
covering 3,000 square miles.
As our train heads to the coast,
so does the Waimakariri River.
It's 150km long.
It's from a glacial melt,
so it's quite unique,
and we do get lots of colours in it
from different season to season.
In the spring, it can
turn beautiful, jade colours.
Once again, it is
a huge, braided river system
that carries
three million tons of gravel
to the sea every year.
The most popular way to travel
across the Island in the 1920s
was by steam locomotives.
By the '60s, they were
superseded by diesel trains,
but not everyone
has given up on steamies.
25-year-old inventor Sam
is building his dream.
This is covered up
because it's all secret parts.
The boiler's based on
some new technology
that we've been developing.
It's important that
we keep this to ourselves
to get the foot in the door
and, hopefully, one day,
this will all be revealed.
He hopes it will be
a new kind of green steam train.
We've maintained the shape of
a conventional locomotive boiler,
because that's
the best way to build it.
But the big difference
with Sam's new boiler design
is that it will reduce pollution,
be cheap to run and quick to start.
It's been a challenge.
Most exciting challenge.
It took about a year to build this
from the ground up
and there were lots of little things
to be worked out along the way.
The fireman is firing wood
into the firebox
to maintain a steady fire,
keep the pressure up,
and balance that with
feeding water into the boiler
to maintain a steady output of steam
for the driver to use
in pulling the train.
Using wood, a sustainable fuel,
Sam believes his engine
could be a viable option
as a commuter train
into Christchurch.
TRAIN WHISTLES
To fully appreciate
the power and joy of steam,
Sam also works with the Canterbury
Steam Preservation Society.
These local train enthusiasts
have rescued and restored
several original locomotives.
So that was when my passion
for the environment
and for steam came together
and, what I've learned here,
has been instrumental
to that development.
To change the world
is a massive task,
and it's not so much about what I do
but who I can inspire
and the people I can pass
these ideas on to in the future
that will be key.
So, ladies and gentlemen,
just another five minutes
before we arrive into Springfield.
She's got a lovely voice,
Desi, hasn't she?
Oh, thanks, Jo-Jo.
When we get to Springfield,
we're going to meet Heather,
and Heather supplies us with
all our cheeseboards on board.
So she supplies not only
the South Island, the TranzAlpine,
also the Coastal Pacific
and the Northern Explorer
in the North Island.
In 1880, Springfield's
first station was built
to coincide with the start
of the Midland Line.
Now the place is full of nostalgia
rather than passengers,
as Heather, the cafe owner,
explains.
In those days, the commuter trains
were going through to the coast
and a sea of people
would come in here
and there would be ladies lined up
against the great, long bench
that ran almost
the full length of the cafe.
Teapots, coffee pots,
everything was at the ready.
Cups and saucers, and they'd be
practically filled with beverages
before the people got off.
And there'd be
this huge clamour of people
just racing in here
to get their drinks and their food
and to get back on in time.
And it was all over, you know,
just like that.
Ii might not be
brimming with people,
but it still plays an important part
in the smooth running
of the TranzAlpine.
Today, we've got a small order
for 20 cheese platters
to go on the train,
which is due in at 5:20.
These are the cheese platters.
These are the beautiful
Barrys Bay cheeses
that we put through
in the cheese boards,
and these go on board
for passengers to eat.
I love trains. I didn't know
the first thing about trains
until I came here.
All of a sudden, all these train
people come out of the woodwork.
It was a stroke of luck
that brought Heather here.
We were walking through Darfield
one morning
when my boys were
quite a bit younger,
and my eldest son
spotted a little card
in the window of
the real estate agent in Darfield.
And said, "Oh, look, Mum,
there's a cafe, we should buy that.
"It's in Springfield."
And we did. We just bought it,
bought the business.
And, erm, we never looked back.
I really enjoy it, really love it.
The folk that we work with
in KiwiRail and Christchurch
are just amazing.
And we've got to know the drivers
and all the different staff.
It's brilliant.
TRAIN WHISTLES
The bells are going.
There she comes.
Sounds like it's going to stop.
See which door's going to open.
Hi! How are you? Good. How are you?
Haven't seen you for ages. You too.
Good to see you. Thank you so much.
That's your cheese platters.
You're very welcome.
Isn't ii beautiful on this side?
It's gorgeous. What's it doing
over there? Freezing cold. Ooh.
Freezing cold and rain
on the West Coast. Oh!
Thanks, Heather. Good to see you.
And then we'll see how many waves
we can get out of the passengers.
And that's Heather.
She's lovely.
And here's our cheese boards.
We're now only 40 miles from
Christchurch, the island's capital.
Perched by a volcano
and the vast pacific ocean.
It might appear calm on the surface,
but what lies beneath this land
is a very different matter.
The train is just 45 minutes
from Christchurch,
and we are about to enter Darfield.
Despite the peaceful setting,
it is one of the most
dynamic places on earth.
We're going to use flour
as the Earth's crust.
We can trace the path
across the Canterbury Plains
down into Christchurch.
The passengers get off here,
and the freight can then
also go out of Lyttelton Harbour
and out to the rest of the world.
Ben, a volcanologist,
and his son, Noah,
have a unique way of explaining
the hidden dynamics
below the railway line.
Try and get it nice and flat.
Nice work.
So, in New Zealand,
the two tectonic plates
are sliding past each other.
It's that sliding past that
causes the mountains to grow.
And then this,
you can imagine,
is just like the Alps.
And you can see cracks moving
across the Canterbury Plains.
l noticed that the land
was getting smaller
while the mountains
were getting bigger.
You're right. As the mountains grow,
the land is slightly compressed
as it folds and bends.
As the alpine fault continues
to squeeze the island,
the cracks, even far from the fault,
forcefully move causing earthquakes.
At 4:35am on 4th September, 2010,
a massive earthquake
hit South Island.
The magnitude of these shockwaves
reached a terrifying 7.1
on the Richter scale
directly along
the TranzAlpine route.
Just that bend there. Look at that.
Zac was working that day
when he came across the track,
bent as if it was just rubber.
There's a bit of power in that, eh?
That's nature there.
When I first arrived out there,
I just shook my head.
First two things -
it's our heaviest rail,
it was supported by
our heaviest type of sleeper,
it had good track formation
round the side,
and it just, you know
To do something like this
is pretty
Pretty amazing.
The local engineer driver, he parked
his train on the west side.
His story was that,
as he was coming down here,
he could feel the train
bouncing, moving,
and he thought he was going to come
off and it was wiggling like that.
He was driving when
it actually happened.
You know, that's a heck
of a force in there.
The strength to push that out
is just phenomenal.
I realise I needed probably one,
two, three, four pairs of rails.
So I'd already arranged
for somebody in town
to go and pick up some 50kg rail
for us to bring out.
In that photo, you see me,
I'm just cutting, doing the cuts.
It was only six months later
that another earthquake hit -
this time it was deadly.
The field teams were again
out in force.
I'm pretty chuffed
with our track guys
because, when that happened,
everybody got their home life right
and then they knew
they had to be back,
you know, they just
fronted up the next day.
I think that's where
they glow their brightest,
when they've got
disasters like this.
The train has crossed
the country in nearly 4.5 hours.
Arrival into Christchurch Station
approximately 10 minutes.
It's gone a long way,
and so have the crew.
There we go - 18,892 steps
for one day at work.
Pretty awesome!
Now, that's a bit of work. Yeah.
At 6:30, the TranzAlpine
pulls into Christchurch Station -
our Journey's end.
They're all smiling,
they all look happy. Thank you.
Gives the guys a hand.
We can take the train earlier then.
Even though it's not our job to
unload, it's just a team thing,
it's a KiwiRail thing.
Everybody chips in.
Above the city,
on Lyttelton Volcano,
Ben reflects on why the raw
elements and the dynamic earth
are so special to the city
and our train.
Here we are at
the end of the TranzAlpine.
As it turns out,
there is a very real hazard
and the city has experienced
more than 10,000 earthquakes
in the last seven years
that I've been here.
Having gone through
the earthquakes myself,
you know, the community
was incredible,
because it really banded together
to get through these, you know,
really hard times.
But Christchurch is
a wonderful place to live
because of all these
surroundings, right?
Because of the ocean,
because of the mountains,
because of this volcano and the
spectacular landscape it creates.
It's definitely worth the risk
to live here, yeah.
It's a wonderful place to live.
Our train has travelled
across a whole country.
And experienced diverse changes
of landscape and weather.
This route that tested
the engineers
climbs the great Southern Alps
..is an inspiration to artists
and train-lovers.
The TranzAlpine is one of the great
train journeys of New Zealand
and the world.
that crosses a wild country
created by great forces of nature.
On a railway line that took decades
to build and only seconds to crush.
This coast-to-coast journey
will pass through
magnificent mountains,
a stunning sacred place
that has been inspiring
the Maori for centuries.
The beauty of it is,
in a million years,
this will still be here.
A trainline that has had
to conquer deep gorges
on its way to Christchurch
that sits on a deadly fault.
The strength to push that out
is just phenomenal.
We'll meet the people
who live and work
along this very special train line.
This is no ordinary railway journey.
This is one of the most scenic
railway journeys in the world
New Zealand.
South Island, New Zealand,
a dynamic land created by the
collision of two great continents.
A landscape still growing
and on the move.
Our journey begins on
the West Coast, at Greymouth,
a town with a thriving railway
and a station steeped in nostalgia.
This is the starting point
for our train -
the TranzAlpine.
We're off to Christchurch - we hope.
THEY LAUGH
We hope, too! Yeah.
I'm an on board service manager,
so my job is to look after the crew,
ensure the smooth service
of the train
and the customer service.
Everyone gets looked after.
We'll close the doors
around two o'clock -
I'd better go and get my paperwork.
To cross South Island
from Greymouth to Christchurch
will take four and a half hours.
From the lush lowlands,
we head into the Southern Alps,
through Otira Tunnel,
to our route's highest station,
at Arthur's Pass.
Then we enter an unspoiled
wilderness of big rivers
before we head to
the flat plains of Canterbury.
After 139 miles,
we'll arrive at our destination
and the Pacific Ocean.
The train leaves Greymouth
carrying up to 400 passengers.
It attracts a wide range
of day-trippers, train buffs,
and some just here to celebrate.
I wanted to make it special.
New Zealand is such a special place.
We've been living in South Island
for six or seven years. Yeah.
We've been planning every year
but, this year, her birthday -
nothing could be better.
The start of our voyage
is through lush lowlands
and thick forests
as it follows the Grey River.
This dramatic landscape
was sacred to the Maori,
a land they knew
for hundreds of years
before any Europeans arrived
with their industries.
We're passing the Brunner Mine
very shortly.
This area is where
the railway line first started.
This was one of
the 130 coal mines in this area.
It was the need
to transport the coal
that ignited the need for
a railway, as David explains.
The railway was built to access
the resources of the West Coast,
coming from the Greymouth side.
And coal and gold were,
from a European perspective,
the keys to driving
that West Coast economy,
and timber was not far behind.
Shipping it out of Greymouth
was too treacherous
but, on the East Coast
near Christchurch,
the harbour was deep enough.
The railway was extended through.
Once it was completed,
it became quite possible
to take the coal to Lyttelton
and, from Lyttelton, it would be
shipped in larger vessels overseas.
The Europeans began building the
railway to connect the two coasts.
But with no local knowledge,
they couldn't find a low, safe route
for a rail line.
They turned to the Maori people,
who knew this land for centuries
as they scoured it
for the sacred stone jade.
My people, where I come from,
we're from the forests,
so l can relate
to all this environment
that we're currently going through,
which makes us so close
and part of the environment.
It's very special.
Very special.
I We will always relate to nature.l.
Not only did they understand
their natural surroundings,
they created paths
through the mountains.
A lot of the guides were Maori,
because they knew the land.
They were hunting for jade,
known in Maori as pounamu.
Bevan's ancestors went
to great lengths to find it.
They did a lot of walking,
a lot of
You know, they didn't have Nikes,
they just had moccasins,
flax shoes or bare feet,
you know, and hard work,
and finding food on the way.
All for the stone,
all for the stone.
The Maori trails run
back through the hills
that the TranzAlpine follow,
and you can see how rugged it is.
And it's pounamu they used to use
for their tools and artefacts.
Because we were Stone Age people
pre-European, of course,
so whoever controlled
the pounamu was, erm
like the king who held
the crown, you know -
he was the man.
Jade is passed down
through the generations,
as it's highly valued for tools
and, for the Maori,
ii carries spiritual meaning.
They didn't throw it underground
and bury it
and then forget about it.
No, they came back up.
Manaia's your inner strength
and your goals, you know?
Like, your passion and
You don't get given money,
you earn it and your learn it.
This one just glows.
You could make a tiki out of that.
That's a good find.
It's not one to be sneezed at.
Well-respected in the community,
Bevan is a natural guardian
of the stone.
This is the workshop.
This is where it all happens.
Back in the day, and pre-European,
it was probably the womenfolk
that did most of the carving.
This is a taniwha,
so it's like a water serpent.
Say, the likes of kayakers,
they might wear taniwha
to protect them,
because they're in the water,
you know? As a protector.
The beauty of it is, to me,
in a million years,
this will still be here,
and so will this, and so will this,
and so will
Everything I've made out of
the stone will still be here.
It doesn't go rotten.
So it's eternal, you know?
The Maori had a huge impact
on the history of the railway,
and they continue to work together.
On board today,
Jo and her team are always busy.
And always know where they are.
We are not far from Moana.
We're picking up eight people
at Moana.
It's a very popular place to stop.
On my Fitbit,
in the middle of summer,
I do get up to 22,000 steps
just on the train.
So far I've done 4.62km,
and that's 14,898 steps.
Yeah. So we do do a lot of steps
on the train!
Just on cue, we pass
tranquil Moana Railway Station
on the shores of Lake Brunner.
We're currently only travelling
at 300 feet above sea level,
but this is about to change.
The train is about to cross
one of the world's biggest
and most dynamic features -
the Alpine Fault.
It's so big you can
see it from space.
For 300 miles,
it runs down South Island.
We're crossing the Alpine Fault zone
at the present time.
We have a broad zone,
probably 500 metres or so wide.
It's a very active,
dynamic landscape.
In the last 12 million years,
the fault has pushed up the
Southern Alps by over 12 miles.
Only the fast pace of erosion
has kept these magnificent mountains
under 13,000 feet.
All of this melds together
and it's really, I think,
hugely impressive.
As the train heads
out of the plains,
the journey enters a new landscape -
the Southern Alps.
Unable to go over them,
the engineers had to tunnel.
You've got gas from explosives,
you've got rockfall,
so all of that combines
to make it very, very difficult.
Our train left Greymouth
two hours ago
and now climbs steadily
to over 1,200 feet
as it enters Otira Valley.
We're nearly at Kelly's Creek.
Once we cross Kelly's Creek,
we'll be into Otira.
Population of about 40 people.
So what we do there is
we put the bank on the back
to prepare for our trip
through the rail tunnel.
To live here, you have to be hardy.
In winter, the sun only penetrates
this steep-sided valley
for a few hours a day.
The train needs extra horsepower
to cope with the next part
of the railway.
It was the last section of
the Midland Line to be built,
and probably the hardest.
The Otira Tunnel.
It was started in 1907.
With the simplest of tools,
the workers had to dig
five miles through the mountain.
100 years ago, the conditions
were not quite so good.
You've got ventilation issues,
you've got gas from explosives
and it would be wet.
You've got rockfall
coming off the side walls
and the crown of the tunnel,
the top of the tunnel.
So all of that combines
to make it very, very difficult.
The tunnel rises
an incredible 820 feet
inside the Alps.
When the western and
the eastern halves of the tunnel,
the Otira Tunnel, met,
there was about 2cm of displacement.
So it was really,
really good engineering,
and the surveying was
clearly of a high quality,
and you need that when
you're building tunnels.
When it finally opened in 1923,
after 16 harsh years,
it was the seventh longest
tunnel in the world.
The train is now
in Arthur's Pass National Park.
An area that has snow and ice cover
even in midsummer,
with over 3,000 glaciers.
And it has the highest
railway station on our route.
We're at Arthur's Pass.
Right in the centre of the journey.
Ah, there's a gentleman
I just saw down there
and he's never seen snow before,
and it was beautiful, the way he was
just putting his fingers in the snow
and trying to feel
what it feels like. Incredible.
That's what's the best thing
about these passengers,
is that they've got no idea
until they get here
just how beautiful it is.
The village, which is in
the middle of the national park,
is the only place in New Zealand
that has an apostrophe in its name.
Local and park ranger Pete
is pretty proud of it.
A few years ago, when my kids
were a bit younger,
we used to come out on midnight
missions around the village,
with a black marker pen,
and put in apostrophes
on all the signs.
But now I just do it during the day,
I'm not quite so scared any more.
But my kids used to love it.
We'd get dressed up in beanies
and hoods and everything
so no-one would recognise us
and come out at midnight.
I'll probably come along here
with some paint one night
and flick the apostrophe in
properly.
Even if it's a bit
cloak-and-dagger at times,
there's a great community spirit.
Of the 30 people
that live in the village,
most of us gel on
really well together.
Like, last night for example,
we had the local book club,
which has run every month.
There's anything from 6 to
13-14 people will turn up to that
which, I know that doesn't sound
like a huge number,
but 13 or 14 is nearly half
of the population of the village.
In fact, the community do tend
to all pitch in.
In here we've got the fire station.
Of the 30 locals,
12 of them are on the fire crew,
all wearing different hats
all the time, as we always do.
This is our little post office.
The post gets delivered there,
we've all got our
own individual post boxes,
and a book fridge
next to it as well.
Oh, look at that,
there's quite a few in there.
Illustrated London News,
there you go.
What about that? From May, 1978.
We try All the locals try
and pick up rubbish
as we go around the village.
Tends to be a common thing.
Even in idyllic places,
you can have
the odd problem resident.
At Arthur's Pass, the local
hooligans are above the law.
They even have special
protected status.
These vandals are the world's
only alpine parrot - the kea.
The local mountain parrots,
they learned how to lift them up.
They'll sort of jiggle it up
and then lake all the rubbish out
and throw it all around
and play with it.
And so, with that little bit
of a weight on there,
it just makes it much harder
for them to
What we used to do was put
a big rock on the top of each one,
but then the kea actually learned
how to push the rocks off as well.
Rubbish-tipping, stealing
and rubber-ripping
have been on the increase.
Even though the parrot population
has been in rapid decline.
The kea have got bands
on their legs.
The bulk of them
are named as well.
And there's a very good website
now, the Kea Database,
that you can record
sightings of them.
And in the year or so that
the database has been running,
there's been 3,500 sightings
logged already.
Here we go.
This one's called Cam,
and he's about
a two- or three-year-old male.
A cheeky young kea
hanging out in a group of
at least seven other cheeky kea
in Arthur's Pass village.
I've been here and know,
you can see,
that bird's going to take something,
and they'll take a sandwich
out of somebody's hand.
Too clever for their own good.
They are.
Thanks to the efforts of
the national park,
and their growing fan club,
these loveable rogues
are no longer in danger.
The community wouldn't have it
any other way.
It's time to leave Arthur's Pass,
with 94 miles still to travel.
The railway journey has crossed
the great Southern Alps,
and is about to enter
an extraordinary new region.
The Bealey and Waimakariri River.
The "river of cold rushing water"
in Maori.
This valley was carved out
by glaciers 27,000 years ago.
Now, this huge, braided river system
continues to erode,
creating this
breath-taking landscape.
This is incredible. I love it.
You travel round the world,
you go to all the different places
around the world,
and here, at my back door,
is all this beautiful scenery,
and I thoroughly enjoyed
every minute of it.
The landscape here,
east of the great divide,
is dramatically different
to the lush green west.
We're now in the rain shadow
of the mountains,
a remote area that
few people live in.
16 miles southeast of Arthur's Pass
is the tiny station of Cass,
and its one permanent
resident, Barrie.
A retired railway engineer.
Well, there we are.
We've just come through Cass,
and the gentleman we may have just
caught standing there was Barrie.
And he's a legend,
everyone knows Barrie.
I've been living in Cass
for 32 years,
coming up for 32 years,
and I'm the sole occupant of Cass.
It's a good place to live,
especially on a day like today -
it's nice and warm and
a bit of snow on the hills.
I've worked on the railway
all my life.
The train does provide
a lifeline to it, like here,
and Arthur's Pass,
when the rains close.
There's always somebody in here.
There wouldn't be a day go by
when there's not a car
come into the station,
look at the station
and come and say g'day.
Today is no exception.
I think I've found my spot.
I love the contrast between
the structure of the building
and the curves of the landscape.
It's a perfect day
to create a painting.
This tiny, century-old station
may look nondescript,
just like many
modest railway buildings,
but this one is iconic
in New Zealand culture.
Ii was made famous by their most
influential painter, Rita Angus.
It attracts people
from around the world,
like Livia, originally from Brazil,
now an artist in Christchurch.
I love the way she used colour.
It's quite emotional.
We can definitely tell
how much joy she had
painting this here.
In May, 1936, Rita,
a then-unknown artist,
came to Cass to paint with
a couple of friends for ten days.
The picture she painted
is now world-famous.
Vastness of the landscape
is the same, it's unchangeable.
It's well-preserved since then.
I like how the figure looks so small
against all this vastness
of the background,
And it shows
how isolated the area is,
it shows how isolated
we are in New Zealand
from the rest of the world.
Rita's painting caught
a moment in time over 80 years ago.
But the scenery remains
just as inspiring as ever.
The Transalpine is now three hours
and 15 minutes into its journey
through many diverse landscapes -
and ahead is no exception.
The train is about to descend
into a ravine so steep
that the engineers called it
the "fearful gorge".
Our train continues its great voyage
across South Island.
After the wide expanse of Cass,
it faces another dramatic change.
A steep, eight-mile gorge.
The only way to overcome
such challenging terrain
was to tunnel 15 times
and crisscross the river
with four giant viaducts.
Ii was one of the most difficult
sections of the line to build.
Staircase Viaduct is
a major curved structure,
and it takes the rail
over Staircase Creek.
And that has its peer foundations,
and that really is, I would suggest,
the most spectacular of
the four viaducts we have.
With no roads, they could only
bring their equipment by rail
and then pull it across the gully
with metal ropes.
The build took two long years,
and it was so remote
the workers brought their families
to live there during this time.
This is the tallest
of the viaducts through here
and it's the only one
that can be seen from the river -
the rest of them are
slightly further back.
Ed Wicken has worked on
this river for over 25 years
and knows just how difficult it was
to build this rail line.
72 metres from the shingle
up to where the rails are.
Good British engineering.
And British steel, I suppose.
The thing I love about
this particular location
is that it's an isolated place.
There are no roads around here,
so the only way to see this
beautiful piece of New Zealand
is by seeing it from
the window of the train
or experiencing it on the water
by coming by jet boat.
Since there are no highways,
Ed has made his living
showing people the gorge by boat.
We're going to head up
to a beautiful patch
where there's a hut
called Walker's Hut.
Welcome to 1960.
This is a pure piece of Kiwiana.
Now these huts are bases for people
who enjoy fishing and walking.
I We maintain it, I
and it's open for anyone to use,
at any time, never locked.
And people can use it
in an emergency,
if they were kayaking on the river
or, if they had a boat that broke
down, they could come and stay here.
There's even provisions -
if it was a really
desperate emergency.
How long do cans of food last?
Decades, don't they?
These ones do anyway.
They've been there
since the '70s, I think,
but we won't worry about those.
We've got Marmite.
Everyone likes Marmite.
Except the people who don't.
Black beans and chilli sauce.
I think this is a recent addition.
This has probably
only been here five years.
And we have vintage baked beans.
I Anyway, the thought's there. I.
And it's the thought that counts.
The train descends 1,200 feet
down the fearful gorge.
Its drop in altitude
is tough on the train,
so it needs regular care.
There is quite a bit involved
in looking after the carriages.
They do work through the night
to make sure that the consist
is ready for the next day -
everything's drained, clean, tidy.
That's a 24-hour operation.
All clear as you report.
TRAIN HORN BLOWS
At Waltham Yard, team leader Deven
guides the train every night
to this special siding.
Yes, 504, keep it coming.
We have got about three.
When I started, I just used to
see the trains go past -
oh, here, there's a passenger train.
But how it's maintained
and how it's kept - magic.
It takes a team of about 11 people
to nightly check
and maintain the train.
The guys' job is
to inspect the train.
You will be going from
the front of the van,
underneath, checking all bogies,
all draw gear, all running gear,
just to make sure
everything's perfect.
He'll check everything one way
and then, coming back, he'll make
sure he's done it the second time
to sign it off.
This big, American-built
DXC diesel locomotive
has up to 3,300 horsepower.
Once the train is refuelled,
the checks continue
through the night.
TANNOY: 'Testing, one, two, three.'
So
So he's good.
Yep, I can hear you
loud and clear, Todd.
Everybody on the team here
plays their part,
and then the train becomes safe
and ready for morning.
We're now on the fertile expanse
of the Canterbury Plains,
the largest area of flatland
in New Zealand,
covering 3,000 square miles.
As our train heads to the coast,
so does the Waimakariri River.
It's 150km long.
It's from a glacial melt,
so it's quite unique,
and we do get lots of colours in it
from different season to season.
In the spring, it can
turn beautiful, jade colours.
Once again, it is
a huge, braided river system
that carries
three million tons of gravel
to the sea every year.
The most popular way to travel
across the Island in the 1920s
was by steam locomotives.
By the '60s, they were
superseded by diesel trains,
but not everyone
has given up on steamies.
25-year-old inventor Sam
is building his dream.
This is covered up
because it's all secret parts.
The boiler's based on
some new technology
that we've been developing.
It's important that
we keep this to ourselves
to get the foot in the door
and, hopefully, one day,
this will all be revealed.
He hopes it will be
a new kind of green steam train.
We've maintained the shape of
a conventional locomotive boiler,
because that's
the best way to build it.
But the big difference
with Sam's new boiler design
is that it will reduce pollution,
be cheap to run and quick to start.
It's been a challenge.
Most exciting challenge.
It took about a year to build this
from the ground up
and there were lots of little things
to be worked out along the way.
The fireman is firing wood
into the firebox
to maintain a steady fire,
keep the pressure up,
and balance that with
feeding water into the boiler
to maintain a steady output of steam
for the driver to use
in pulling the train.
Using wood, a sustainable fuel,
Sam believes his engine
could be a viable option
as a commuter train
into Christchurch.
TRAIN WHISTLES
To fully appreciate
the power and joy of steam,
Sam also works with the Canterbury
Steam Preservation Society.
These local train enthusiasts
have rescued and restored
several original locomotives.
So that was when my passion
for the environment
and for steam came together
and, what I've learned here,
has been instrumental
to that development.
To change the world
is a massive task,
and it's not so much about what I do
but who I can inspire
and the people I can pass
these ideas on to in the future
that will be key.
So, ladies and gentlemen,
just another five minutes
before we arrive into Springfield.
She's got a lovely voice,
Desi, hasn't she?
Oh, thanks, Jo-Jo.
When we get to Springfield,
we're going to meet Heather,
and Heather supplies us with
all our cheeseboards on board.
So she supplies not only
the South Island, the TranzAlpine,
also the Coastal Pacific
and the Northern Explorer
in the North Island.
In 1880, Springfield's
first station was built
to coincide with the start
of the Midland Line.
Now the place is full of nostalgia
rather than passengers,
as Heather, the cafe owner,
explains.
In those days, the commuter trains
were going through to the coast
and a sea of people
would come in here
and there would be ladies lined up
against the great, long bench
that ran almost
the full length of the cafe.
Teapots, coffee pots,
everything was at the ready.
Cups and saucers, and they'd be
practically filled with beverages
before the people got off.
And there'd be
this huge clamour of people
just racing in here
to get their drinks and their food
and to get back on in time.
And it was all over, you know,
just like that.
Ii might not be
brimming with people,
but it still plays an important part
in the smooth running
of the TranzAlpine.
Today, we've got a small order
for 20 cheese platters
to go on the train,
which is due in at 5:20.
These are the cheese platters.
These are the beautiful
Barrys Bay cheeses
that we put through
in the cheese boards,
and these go on board
for passengers to eat.
I love trains. I didn't know
the first thing about trains
until I came here.
All of a sudden, all these train
people come out of the woodwork.
It was a stroke of luck
that brought Heather here.
We were walking through Darfield
one morning
when my boys were
quite a bit younger,
and my eldest son
spotted a little card
in the window of
the real estate agent in Darfield.
And said, "Oh, look, Mum,
there's a cafe, we should buy that.
"It's in Springfield."
And we did. We just bought it,
bought the business.
And, erm, we never looked back.
I really enjoy it, really love it.
The folk that we work with
in KiwiRail and Christchurch
are just amazing.
And we've got to know the drivers
and all the different staff.
It's brilliant.
TRAIN WHISTLES
The bells are going.
There she comes.
Sounds like it's going to stop.
See which door's going to open.
Hi! How are you? Good. How are you?
Haven't seen you for ages. You too.
Good to see you. Thank you so much.
That's your cheese platters.
You're very welcome.
Isn't ii beautiful on this side?
It's gorgeous. What's it doing
over there? Freezing cold. Ooh.
Freezing cold and rain
on the West Coast. Oh!
Thanks, Heather. Good to see you.
And then we'll see how many waves
we can get out of the passengers.
And that's Heather.
She's lovely.
And here's our cheese boards.
We're now only 40 miles from
Christchurch, the island's capital.
Perched by a volcano
and the vast pacific ocean.
It might appear calm on the surface,
but what lies beneath this land
is a very different matter.
The train is just 45 minutes
from Christchurch,
and we are about to enter Darfield.
Despite the peaceful setting,
it is one of the most
dynamic places on earth.
We're going to use flour
as the Earth's crust.
We can trace the path
across the Canterbury Plains
down into Christchurch.
The passengers get off here,
and the freight can then
also go out of Lyttelton Harbour
and out to the rest of the world.
Ben, a volcanologist,
and his son, Noah,
have a unique way of explaining
the hidden dynamics
below the railway line.
Try and get it nice and flat.
Nice work.
So, in New Zealand,
the two tectonic plates
are sliding past each other.
It's that sliding past that
causes the mountains to grow.
And then this,
you can imagine,
is just like the Alps.
And you can see cracks moving
across the Canterbury Plains.
l noticed that the land
was getting smaller
while the mountains
were getting bigger.
You're right. As the mountains grow,
the land is slightly compressed
as it folds and bends.
As the alpine fault continues
to squeeze the island,
the cracks, even far from the fault,
forcefully move causing earthquakes.
At 4:35am on 4th September, 2010,
a massive earthquake
hit South Island.
The magnitude of these shockwaves
reached a terrifying 7.1
on the Richter scale
directly along
the TranzAlpine route.
Just that bend there. Look at that.
Zac was working that day
when he came across the track,
bent as if it was just rubber.
There's a bit of power in that, eh?
That's nature there.
When I first arrived out there,
I just shook my head.
First two things -
it's our heaviest rail,
it was supported by
our heaviest type of sleeper,
it had good track formation
round the side,
and it just, you know
To do something like this
is pretty
Pretty amazing.
The local engineer driver, he parked
his train on the west side.
His story was that,
as he was coming down here,
he could feel the train
bouncing, moving,
and he thought he was going to come
off and it was wiggling like that.
He was driving when
it actually happened.
You know, that's a heck
of a force in there.
The strength to push that out
is just phenomenal.
I realise I needed probably one,
two, three, four pairs of rails.
So I'd already arranged
for somebody in town
to go and pick up some 50kg rail
for us to bring out.
In that photo, you see me,
I'm just cutting, doing the cuts.
It was only six months later
that another earthquake hit -
this time it was deadly.
The field teams were again
out in force.
I'm pretty chuffed
with our track guys
because, when that happened,
everybody got their home life right
and then they knew
they had to be back,
you know, they just
fronted up the next day.
I think that's where
they glow their brightest,
when they've got
disasters like this.
The train has crossed
the country in nearly 4.5 hours.
Arrival into Christchurch Station
approximately 10 minutes.
It's gone a long way,
and so have the crew.
There we go - 18,892 steps
for one day at work.
Pretty awesome!
Now, that's a bit of work. Yeah.
At 6:30, the TranzAlpine
pulls into Christchurch Station -
our Journey's end.
They're all smiling,
they all look happy. Thank you.
Gives the guys a hand.
We can take the train earlier then.
Even though it's not our job to
unload, it's just a team thing,
it's a KiwiRail thing.
Everybody chips in.
Above the city,
on Lyttelton Volcano,
Ben reflects on why the raw
elements and the dynamic earth
are so special to the city
and our train.
Here we are at
the end of the TranzAlpine.
As it turns out,
there is a very real hazard
and the city has experienced
more than 10,000 earthquakes
in the last seven years
that I've been here.
Having gone through
the earthquakes myself,
you know, the community
was incredible,
because it really banded together
to get through these, you know,
really hard times.
But Christchurch is
a wonderful place to live
because of all these
surroundings, right?
Because of the ocean,
because of the mountains,
because of this volcano and the
spectacular landscape it creates.
It's definitely worth the risk
to live here, yeah.
It's a wonderful place to live.
Our train has travelled
across a whole country.
And experienced diverse changes
of landscape and weather.
This route that tested
the engineers
climbs the great Southern Alps
..is an inspiration to artists
and train-lovers.
The TranzAlpine is one of the great
train journeys of New Zealand
and the world.