Friday morning we got up early and looked out at the mists rising from the still waters of Endeavor Inlet, and blue sky above. So we started walking up the dirt drive to the Queen Charlotte Track before breakfast, hoping we might find some nice views from the ridge trail above Kenepuru saddle. We did.

Our water taxi back to Picton left the Mahana Lodge at 1015 for a pleasant and somewhat more direct ride back to Picton. We just had time for lunch of local green mussels at “Le Cafe” before dragging our bags the 600m to the bus platform and boarding our bus to Christchurch (there’s also a train, but we couldn’t get tickets).

The bus driver narrated the entire five hour trip on the PA, including his opinions about traffic safety and anecdotes about farms and vineyards and memorials along the way. We tried to watch a movie that took place in New Zealand, “The Justice of Bunny King.”

We got to Christchurch just in time to check into our motel and grab dinner at an Indian buffet.

Saturday morning, in the pouring rain, we grabbed an Uber to the train station and boarded the TranzAlpine train - one of New Zealand’s “Great Journeys.” We rode the train through the rain falling mainly on the Canterbury Plain and up the Waimakariri River valley, Tunnels and trestles made for a dramatic ride even in the soggy weather. We were soon treated to glimpses of deep canyons below and snow spotted peaks above, and all too soon arrived at Arthur’s Pass, where we disembarked.

Michael, our host at The Wilderness Lodge greeted us as we walked back to retrieve our baggage. “I can tell from your rain gear that you are people who sailed here on your yacht,” he said. The lodge van was waiting for us.