Auckland to Welly, 12 hours on a train!

After my trip to the Bay of Islands, I had an overnight back in Auckland before catching the train at 7.30am the following morning to Wellington.  The Overlander had been recommended to me by a couple of people and since I had enjoyed the train journey in Canada, I decided it would be a nice way to go.  I was the first one on the train and was allocated a seat in the rear carriage by the window which was lovely, spacious and comfortable.  That was until a family with 4 small excited small boys joined the carriage and were seated directly behind me. On the third occasion that they leant forward against the window and shouted loudly in my ear without the parents doing anything about it, I  decided that it would be a bit much to put up with for a 12 hour journey and asked the train manager for another seat.  He moved me without hassle to another lovely seat with grown ups around me instead!!

The journey took us through suburbs, wetlands, hilly regions and mountains, the scenery all interesting and we did have commentary from the train crew so we knew where we were and what we were looking at.  Before we made a 30 minute lunch stop at National Park, we  travelled the famous Raurimu Spiral,  a single track spiral with 2 loops and 2 tunnels climbing 132 meters across terrain too steep for a direct train track.


The 12 hours passed quite quickly actually, I had books to read and other things to do but it was hard not to just look out of the window there was so much to look at and I didn't want to miss anything!


Once in Wellington, I was met by my friend Theresa who would be my host for the next 3 nights and tour guide around the city.  Theresa and her husband Ian are former Nokia colleagues of mine and in addition, Theresa's brother John was a colleague of mine at the company I worked at before Nokia.  Theresa had already left Nokia when I departed but Ian left the same day having accepted the same voluntary package as me.  When I told Theresa I was coming to Wellington and asked if she would like to meet up, the response was an invitation to stay and I'm really glad I accepted.  It is great to see the new life that they have embarked on in New Zealand but it was also nice to be back in a 'home' for the first time in ages.

It was almost 8pm by the time we reached their house and dinner was almost ready, home made 'spag bol' with garlic bread and a glass of red.  Just what I needed, something home made, delicious and normal, and I mean that with the greatest respect, Theresa chose that dish for exactly that reason.  And after a comfy nights sleep, I was woken with a cup of proper english tea brought to me in bed.  Such lovely hospitality.


The next two days, Ian was working but Theresa had mostly free time so she played tour guide showing me the best bits of the city, the view from Mount Victoria, Lyal Bay where Ian surfs and where he was lucky enough not to have been eaten by a great white shark which had been caught in the next bay only days before.  She took me up in the cable car and we walked back down to the city through the botanical gardens, we went along the coast and we drove along the beach, a proper off road track which led us to a fur seal colony for a look at the blubbery creatures!  The morning that Theresa had to meet with some fellow students to work on an assignment, she dropped me to the Te Papa museum for a couple of hours of education which was brilliant, the museum is very interactive, great for kids and big kids like me!

It was great to be with such lovely people and to spend a bit of time with them and the time there whizzed past and before I knew it, it was saturday morning and Theresa took me to the ferry terminal for the 3 hour ride across the water to the South Island.