About 2 miles (3kms) on bikes since we spent the day on the overlander, the train that takes you from Auckland to Wellington, in preparation for the ferry tomorrow to the South Island. The idea is to get to the South Island, and find a suitable place to stay, before Christmas makes travelling difficult. We got up early and headed for the Britomart travel centre where we had our bikes placed in something that resembled one of those old BR luggage vans, and we then were assigned seats. The journey was most pleasant though impressively slow since it took 12 hrs 30 mins to do about 550-ish kms. We had lots of stops and the middle bit near Tongariro is very impressive even in drizzle. Towards the end of the journey a child threw a stone at the window opposite us which shattered externally (double glazing) and the train stopped shortly after to put it right. Ah, it is the first day of the school holidays and there are idle kids about with inadequate supervision. Finally we pushed on to Wellington a little delayed because their dualing some of the single track line that pops in and out of tunnels as you wind through the first suburbs of Wellington. The conductor did a commentary - mostly accidentally funny since his English was curiously wobbly and pronoucing V was impossible (it came out as W), and the beauty of hospitals and market gardening districts was extolled. We drank Moa Brewery's interpretation of a belgian tripel was excellent, and a decent organic stout from the brewery that we hope to visit in Nelson.The rain was still tumbling down when we reached Wellington so it was a good day for being on a train.
About 2 miles (3kms) on bikes since we spent the day on the overlander, the train that takes you from Auckland to Wellington, in preparation for the ferry tomorrow to the South Island. The idea is to get to the South Island, and find a suitable place to stay, before Christmas makes travelling difficult. We got up early and headed for the Britomart travel centre where we had our bikes placed in something that resembled one of those old BR luggage vans, and we then were assigned seats. The journey was most pleasant though impressively slow since it took 12 hrs 30 mins to do about 550-ish kms. We had lots of stops and the middle bit near Tongariro is very impressive even in drizzle. Towards the end of the journey a child threw a stone at the window opposite us which shattered externally (double glazing) and the train stopped shortly after to put it right. Ah, it is the first day of the school holidays and there are idle kids about with inadequate supervision. Finally we pushed on to Wellington a little delayed because their dualing some of the single track line that pops in and out of tunnels as you wind through the first suburbs of Wellington. The conductor did a commentary - mostly accidentally funny since his English was curiously wobbly and pronoucing V was impossible (it came out as W), and the beauty of hospitals and market gardening districts was extolled. We drank Moa Brewery's interpretation of a belgian tripel was excellent, and a decent organic stout from the brewery that we hope to visit in Nelson.The rain was still tumbling down when we reached Wellington so it was a good day for being on a train.