The start of our trip went off without a hitch. I booked an Uber to take us to The Strand (station) and it arrived within a minute and had us to our destination right on time for check in.
While ‘The Strand’ sounds fancy – the station is anything but. It appears that it is used only for this train trip – the Northern Explorer. We had to take our check-in bags to a man in a shed and he picked them up and checked the weight – no scales. Just by feel. We got the nod of approval and a label, and were told to take them across to another man who was on the train. He placed them inside the luggage carriage.
The train had an almost open-air feel to it with the glass ceiling. Here is a ‘borrowed’ image that shows what I mean.
Another feature of this train was the inclusion of an open-air carriage where people could stand, safely behind bars, and observe the scenery more closely. But you needed to brave the freezing winds, which I did for a very short part of the trip, and then I decided I would ‘borrow’ images from Google!!
Once we were allocated our seats (2 seats with a shared table) we settled in and found how to use the headphones. During the journey, at key points, GPS-activated announcements were broadcast. There were two languages on offer for this service – English and Mandarin, supporting my comments from my last post. Many of the pieces of information in this post have been sourced from the commentary.
We departed on time at 7.45am, and our trip was expected to take just over 11 hours. Which it did.
The first part of the trip out of Auckland city was at a very slow (almost-walking pace.) The sun was on our left, as we headed southwards.
After almost one hour, we had travelled approximately 30 kilometres as we pulled into the first stop – Pukekohe. The recording told us there was still 20 kilometres to go before we had fully passed through Auckland’s suburbs. The city is the country’s largest, but it is not the capital. Around 1.5 million people (or one third of New Zealand’s population) live in Auckland at the moment and it is expected that by 2030 the population will reach 2 million. It has grown as a result of the amalgamation of approximately 25 smaller cities and counties. Almost 40% of Auckland’s residents were born outside of New Zealand, and the city is made up of 200 different nationalities, with Maori making up 12%.
This information did not surprise us.
The next hour of our trip took us through wetlands, bogs and swamp areas as we skirted around some mountains (Bombay??) while the motorway passes over and through them.
We had been advised to bring cash for purchases from the buffet car, as often the WIFI signal was poor. Or, we could have set up an account and paid it at the end of the trip. We decided to pay with cash.
The swamps then transformed into undulating farming country.
After about 2 hours, we passed through Huntly, famous for two things:
1) its power station which we also passed. The station supplies New Zealand with approximately 17% of its power generated by gas (which is obtained offshore). But at one stage it needed to increase its supply and used coal obtained from Indonesia (which Mick thought was a very odd chocie); and
2) its yellow clay which is used to make the very distinctive Huntly bricks, and the town had a lot of houses made from them.
It was about this stage that my head was full of information from the commentary – the length of rivers, the height of the track the names of places etc etc. Many of them in Maori language and totally unfamiliar to me. I almost gave in. But you will be pleased that I didn’t
After a few hours we climbed into the volcanic country through a spectacular gorge and over some enormous viaducts.
We saw snow on the peaks of several mountains near National Park. Mick wondered if it was permanent snow, as it is still weeks away from the start of winter. The photo here shows more snow than we saw.
Before reaching the National Park stop (the second highest station in NZ at 825m above sea level) @ 1.20pm, the weather changed from bright sunlight to overcast and cloud covered skies. Then it started to rain, followed by a rainbow and some weak sunshine. The trip in parts reminded us a lot of trips we have taken through the English countryside.
The tickets cost us $182.50 NZ each (as we are seniors), and was well worth it.
Once in Wellington, we had a 700 m walk to our accommodation. I felt a bit wobbly as if I’d been on a boat and it took me awhile to get settled. We wandered to the quay for a glass of wine and some dinner.
It had been a big day, but we had a fabulous experience – the scenery was amazing and the train was very comfortable.
Highly recommended.
Jane and Mick's Holiday Adventures 