So today Tom and I took our last train ride in New Zealand. The trip was taking us from Wellington all the way up the North Island to Auckland. Unfortunately, our luck with the weather ran out and we were met with grey skies, which followed us all the way to Auckland.
We left Wellington at 7:55 a.m. and were seated in the Premium Car with a fantastic couple from Atlanta (Megan and Andres) who were on their honeymoon. They were absolutely lovely and the 11 hour trip flew by thanks to great conversation and some fantastic food served in our car.
Now, sadly, I was not particularly impressed with the scenery we passed today when compared to what we saw on the South Island on our two train trips (the Tranz-Alpine and the Coastal Explorer). On this trip, there were lots and lots and lots of rolling hills with sheep and cows grazing, but missing was the spectacular mountain settings and ocean views.
Granted we did stay on the Kapiti Coast as we left Wellington, but that was short lived as we moved inland passing a small inlet before going through a little village where I spotted a cool looking church, which turned out to be the All Saint’s Church.
As we moved inland, we passed through Otaki (and numerous sheep stations), crossed the Otaki River and then continued on through more sheep and cattle stations.
When we finally reached the Rangitikei District, the landscape changed and we began seeing deep mountain gorges expanding up from the Rangitikei River. This scenery was really spectacular and turned out to be, in my opinion, the best scenery of the trip.
Now as we were travelling, we were looked after in our rail car by Dawn, a local Māori, and Tia, our cook, also a Māori. And what was particularly cool about having both of these individuals in our car was that they added an abundance of Māori culture to the service including Māori blessings, which I sadly did not videotape.
And the food we were served throughout the 11 hours was terrific starting with a variety of danish, followed by a vegetable frittata and bacon (or as they call it here, streaky bacon), lamb with quinoa, a cheese platter and finally chicken with veggies. I actually begged off the last dish. I was completely filled.
Anyway, back to the trip. As we passed through the beautiful Rangitikei District, saw more cows and sheep before we crossed the first of a myriad of viaducts accompanied by a number of tunnels. The first of these viaducts was the Makohine Viaduct (completed in 1902) which crossed the Makohine Stream followed by the South Rangitekei Viaduct, which crossed the Rangitekei River. I have zero pictures of these viaducts and for the life of me have no idea why.
Now as we continued on, we passed over a number of bridges and viaducts, but given the amount of vegetation close to the tracks, it was exceedingly difficult to take pictures.
The first real opportunity that presented itself for pictures of a viaduct was the old and new Hapuawhenua Viaduct. The old steel truss viaduct was constructed in 1908 and the new viaduct was completed in 1987. The new viaduct is 51 meters high and 414 metres long and was constructed high above and to the left of the old viaduct.
I ended up going to the outdoor car and was able to snap some nice pictures of the two different vintages of viaducts.
The last of the major viaducts was the bright red Makatote Viaduct, but the train announcer did a pretty poor job of giving us a heads up that we were crossing the tallest and most striking viaduct and before you knew it, we were on top of the viaduct making it far too late for me to go to the outdoor car to snap any pictures.
At this point, the land flattened out as we entered the plateau and the Tongariro National Park where we caught glimpses through the clouds of the “triple peaks”, Mt. Ruapehu, Mt. Ngauruhoe (aka Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings) and Mt. Tongariro. Unfortunately, glimpses are the best way to describe our views as the clouds greatly obscured the peaks.
Now as we left the plateau, we began the descent through what is known as the “Raurimu Spiral”, made up of a horseshoe curve, two 90 degree turns, a full circle, two tunnels and several cuts that took us down 218 meters in just under 11 km. Now it was impossible to capture the essence of the Raurimu Spiral so I found an arial view that gives you the best perspective of what we rode through.
So after the Raurimu Spiral, we passed through some small towns as we headed towards Hamilton, the fourth largest city in New Zealand. Along the way, the announcer on the train advised us that we were approaching a lovely waterfall. Unfortunately, this guy’s timing was lousy again because we were almost on top of the waterfall when he made the announcement so my picture of the waterfall in the Pueora National Park is marginal at best.
Now shortly after the waterfall, Dawn advised us that we were approaching Taupiri Mountain, which is the sacred burial grounds of the Waikato Māori, with the top of the mountain reserved for Māori Kings and Queens. To this day, when a king or queen passes, their body is transported along the Waikato River in a solemn procession for burial at the top of the mountain.
And shortly after passing this area, the Otarohanga Mountains, with 62 named mountains in the chain, came into view across the flat plains outside Hamilton. Sadly, the clouds obscured what I could only imagine was a spectacular view.
So once we entered Hamilton, it was nothing but little towns and lots of small, nondescript railway stations. By 7:00 p.m. we had reached Auckland, said our goodbyes to our fabulous seatmates, Megan and Andres, and were herded on a communal bus that took a half hour to reach our hotel (which turned out to only be 10 minutes from the train station). Apparently, because it was Sunday night, cabbies were in short supply so we had to take what we could get.
Anyway, we reached our hotel by 7:30 in a very trendy area near the Auckland waterfront. And with that, my trip with Tom had come to an end. Tomorrow, I am doing a bike tour of Auckland followed by a flight to Rotorura. Tom is going to spent two days in Auckland and then leaves for home on Wednesday via a detour in Fiji. I will be on my own for the next two months until my friend Mary Ellen Pegram joins me in Tokyo in mid April.
