New Zealand: Coastal Pacific train from Picton to Christchurch
Previously: on board the Interislander ferry to cross New Zealand’s Cook Strait from Wellington on the North Island to Picton on the South Island.
There are cheaper or faster ways to travel between Wellington and Christchurch. But I love boats, and I love trains. So, an alternative is a trip with KiwiRail Scenic Journeys, combining boat and train. After 3.5 hours, the ferry across Cook Strait arrives in Picton at 1140am. I make my way out of the ferry terminal, and walk the short path to the train station nearby. My luggage on the ferry is automatically transferred onto the train, as I’ve paid for both legs of the trip in its entirety.
At 1pm local time, the Coastal Pacific train trundles out of Picton for the 5-plus hour journey to Christchurch, with key stops in Blenheim and Kaikoura. Ahead are smooth rolling hills; green meadows; salt flats (at Lake Greenmere); the rugged and snaking Pacific coastline around which the train tracks cling; and finally, the emergence of the towering Kaikoura mountains, “merely” the northern extension of the much taller mountain range to the south.
Early-winter skies are dark as our train arrives a little before 630pm at the southern terminus in Christchurch. People shuffle onto the platform, I dig out my contact information, and I hop into a taxi to the place I’m staying.
Ferry, train, first sighting of the Southern Alps: it’s another glorious day in New Zealand.
KiwiRail train at Picton station
Comfy seating with accompanying commentary
Marlborough region, south of Blenheim
Modes of transport
Free standing blur
Salt ponds on Lake Grassmere, Marlborough region
Coastline near Wharanui, Marlborough to Canterbury
Alternative transport
… I’m trained az, bru …
Northeast coastline, South Island
Lead car, engine
Covered open-air observation car
Kaikoura mountains over the Pacific
West to Kaikoura mountains
Beauty as understatement
Seaward Kaikoura mountain range
This view northwest faces the Seaward Kaikoura Mountain Range. The snow-covered pyramidal-shaped peak at left is Uwerau at a height of 2213 metres (7260 feet).
Seaward Kaikoura mountains.
Seaward Kaikoura mountain range
Planned stop in Kaikoura town
Kaikoura station
Last light at Spyglass Point (Piripaua)
More travel on the South Island:
• Traveling from Wellington across Cook Strait to Picton on the Interislander ferry.
• Traveling from Christchurch over the Southern Alps to Greymouth on the TranzAlpine train.
Disclosure: No Connection, Unpaid, My Own Opinions. I have not received compensation for this post, and I have no material connection to Kiwi Rail or Tourism New Zealand. I made the photos above on 14 July 2012. This post is published on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-2po.
Fotoeins Fotografie 
15 Responses to “New Zealand: Coastal Pacific train from Picton to Christchurch”
I like your sentence “just another day in New Zealand”. The number of huge mountains can be overwhelming sometimes. Their sheer height was just something I’m not used to. I realised just how wide, brown and flat Australia really is.
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Hi, Leanne. I wrote “just another day in New Zealand” to mean the opposite of that! I was very lucky, I feel lucky that the weather was sunny and clear for most of the time I was in New Zealand; the South Island was an incredible experience and left indelible impressions. I would love to go back to New Zealand and spend even more time on each of the two islands. Thanks for your comment!
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Ah, I love driving down that route. What a beautiful train journey this must be, when you can just sit back and relax. I’ll have to have quite a few rest stops to take pictures π Only 2 weeks to go π
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Hi, Christina. OK now I’m envious you’re going back! Then again, I would be envious of anyone going to New Zealand. π
An advantage of the train is having someone else drive, being able to walk between carriages, and there’s even running commentary about scenery, locations, history, etc. An advantage of driving a hired car is stopping everywhere on demand to make photographs; this in turn can also be a “disadvantage”, as I’d be stopping a lot!
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What a very spectacular train journey. I hope we get to do that soon!
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Hi, and thanks! I did two of three available train journeys with KiwiRail; I’ll have another upcoming post on the second journey, which was an east-to-west crossing over the South Island. I hope you can hop on a train when you’re in New Zealand!
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This would be cool- I just loved having my little campervan too much!
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Hey, Erik. Clearly, there are advantages and disadvantages to taking the train or hiring one’s own vehicle. I’d like to think the advantages of taking the train outweigh the disadvantages. In a car, I would stop everywhere and it would take forever to reach my intended destination. π
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[…] Interislander ferry from Wellington to Picton. • KiwiRail Coastal Pacific train from Picton to […]
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[…] my trip on the Coastal Pacific train from Picton to Christchurch along the Pacific coast. • my trip on the TranzAlpine train […]
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[…] • Southern Alps: The Southern Alps at sunset, from Lake Matheson • Train: Coastal Pacific train, from Picton to Christchurch • Train: TranzAlpine train, from Christchurch to […]
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[…] Near Hapuku on the South Island: Seaward Kaikoura mountains with snow-capped Uwerau at left […]
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[…] Near Hapuku with Seaward Kaikoura mountains; snow-capped Uwerau at upper-left (HL). […]
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[…] Up to that moment, my personal reasons for voyaging included a slow ferry across Cook Strait, a slow train down the South Island’s east coast, chatting with people curious about why I was visiting in the grey and rainy winter season (July), […]
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[…] Near Hapuku with Seaward Kaikoura mountains; snow-capped Uwerau at upper-left (HL). […]
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