My wife and I are going to take the tranzalpine train ride, and because we are in a campervan is it worth it to do it both ways.Also can you do both trips in one day. We have heard there is a good brewery in Graymouth. thanks, emindee.

I don't follow...you have a campervan, but want to take the train?

Can you collect the campervan in Greymouth? If so, I'd suggest taking the train from Christchurch to Greymouth, collecting your vehicle and driving from there.

We took the Tranzalpine both ways on our first visit to NZ, and it was a long day. Had I known better, I'd have only taken it one way.

The brewery in Greymouth is Monteith's - we took a tour several years back and really enjoyed it - it was just the two of us so it was like having a personal tour.

http://www.monteiths.co.nz/brewery

Sorry Melnq8, but i forgot to mention we have a 3week tour in a campervan,we have already driven arthurs pass, and i thought it might might give a different prospective to the east west crossing. thanks emindee.

In that case swintonian, I don't think the train offers much more than the drive, but if you do decide to do it....YES, both legs of the train journey can be done in one day. The train leaves Christchurch early in the morning, reaches Greymouth around lunch, and then head backs in early afternoon.

I don't know what it's like from the train, but Arthurs Pass is not that interesting by car. The Buller Gorge (route 6) is much better. (I started from Motueka, not Nelson, and the connecting road from Motueka to route 6 is gorgeous also).

If you're contemplating crossing the mountains twice, I'd suggest Arthurs Pass by train and Buller Gorge by road.