You haven't done Arthur's Pass until you have done it by train, Philip Somerville discovers.
It sometimes pays to listen to your wife's wishes, at least when it comes to travel trips.
Shona had mentioned a few times how much she would like to take the TranzAlpine train from Christchurch to Greymouth. It chips its way 240km through the backbone of the South Island, the Southern Alps.
''So what,'' I thought. ''I've tramped in the Arthur's Pass National Park and been up on the tops. And I've driven the road. Why would I now want to travel by train way below the mountain tops.''
How wrong I was.
The trip to the Coast on a Friday morning and back the following Sunday afternoon well exceeded expectations. It was, indeed, one of those occasions when the journey was the destination, when the four and a-half hours whizzed by.
First up was the smart new purpose-built Addington Railway Station, and then getting comfortable.
There was a railway travel magazine, a fold-down tray and headphones. They're for listening to a detailed commentary about places along the way, history, geology and the like. It's well done and easy on the ear, and there's both an English and Mandarin channel.
More than 100,000 passengers a year take the trip, the majority from overseas.
Pricing varies, just as with airline tickets, and without special deals it might be considered pricey, rising steadily to $219 one way for a fully refundable, fully flexible and unlimited free stopovers ticket.
The train is often full, especially in the summer, so it pays - not just for the cost - to plan well in advance.
Kiwi Scenic Journeys rightly prides itself on the diversity of the scenery on the TranzAlpine.
It is astounding to move from the neat, flat green Canterbury Plains, through gorges, tussock land, braided rivers, mountains and forest, and then diversity across the West Coast strip.
The scenery for the first about 15 minutes, in contrast, was dire: light industrial, concrete slab construction and average suburbia.
We lucked in with the weather. The threatened valley mist burnt off and the mountains were clear.
We began to spend much of our time in the open viewing carriage, flicking in and out of tunnels.
There's a mere 19, plus five viaducts.
The Staircase Viaduct is 73m above a stream bed and the Otira Tunnel is nearly 8.6km long. Building the tunnel took about 20 years, from its beginnings until its opening in 1923. At the time, it was claimed to be the longest train tunnel in the world, sitting now about number seven.
Not surprisingly, the viewing carriage is closed for this slow half-hour chug.
You'll learn about the history of the tunnel from the comprehensive commentary, including the fact eight men died during its construction.
Then it was down the valley and across the narrow strip of land to the coast, verdant and rough country.
Although journeys, no matter the scenery, can drag, we were sorry to reach the end of the line at Greymouth.
At least, in two days, we had the return journey to look forward to.
• Philip Somerville was a guest on the TranzAlpine.
Tips
• Bring cash for food and drinks. They're reasonably priced and the eftpos will only work intermittently at best. The cafe car is licensed.
• Bring warm clothes if you are keen on the viewing carriage. The train itself is warm but only on the hottest of days will it be pleasant being buffeted by a breeze and climbing to more than 700m.
• They who hesitate are lost for many of the photo opportunities from the carriage are fleeting.
• If you can't stand the occasional ingestion of fumes, avoid the viewing carriage through the stretch with most tunnels.
• Courtesy of two three-point plugs against the wall by each set of double seats, there is an opportunity to charge cameras and phones.
