Taking to the rails...

For my birthday treat this year Sue and I went on a train journey through New Zealand on the Tranz Scenic Rail network. They have three tourist routes through the North and South Islands, each different and spectacular in its own way.

The Overlander took us from near Auckland down the North Island to Wellington and takes in the Raurimu Spiral as it climbs up onto the volcanic plateau through the National Park and past the volcanic cones of Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro. The scenery changes again as it crosses the Rangitikei River with its deep sided gorges and towering bridges. Later the tracks run beside the coast providing views of Kapiti Island and glimpses of the South Island in the distance before it runs through a long tunnel and into Wellington. Don’t expect the trains to run on schedule. We were delayed for a couple of hours with various problems including a tree on the line.

Wellington is one of our favourite New Zealand cities and although our stay was short we were not disappointed this time either. We stayed in the Shepard’s Arms Hotel on the pretty Tinakori Road not far from the Botanical Gardens. The hotel was reasonable and had all we needed (accept a plug for the bath) and looked quaint, based as it was on the original hotel of the same name that was established in 1870. The next morning we strolled down to the Parliament Buildings and took the very interesting free tour around them before having a quick look at the delightful Old St Paul’s (a weeding practice stopped us from spending more time here). We wandered around the waterfront and had lunch at a rustic food hall at the Wellington Market. We spent a good few hours in the Te Papa museum particularly enjoying the Golden Days, Passports and New Zealand in Bloom exhibitions.

We took the ferry across to the South Island and joined the TranzCoastal train at Picton bound for Christchurch. As the name suggests this route took us mainly down the east coast of the South Island after cutting through the wine-growing region of Marlborough. All of the trains have an exposed viewing area to allow a better opportunity to take photos without the interference of the glass windows in the other carriages. Running so close to the sea was a breezy experience and we had to come back inside for a break and to clean the salt rind off our glasses.

We arrived at Christchurch later in the day and walked to our Best Western Motel in Riccarton, near Hagley Park. We had been given vouchers for this chain of motels and we were very impressed with the facilities and service that we received at the Annabelle Court on Riccarton Road. We had a few of days here in the Garden City, although one of those would be taken up with our TranzAlpine excursion. We explored the beautiful Botanical Gardens as we walked through towards the centre of town. Worcester Boulevard with the tram, entertainers and Arts Centre Weekend Market were lovely, and throughout the small city everything looked enticing. The Cathedral Square with its market, the Avon River and the punts. We ate in New Regent Street looking at the faded glamour of the terraced buildings and pastel colours. We took a bus out to the Mona Vale Gardens, which were nice (though we were put off by constantly stumbling over various wedding parties). I had been given tickets to see a gig that night as a birthday present, so before the event we returned to New Regent Street and ate a fantastic evening meal at the Six Chairs Missing restaurant. The tickets were to see Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy at the Creation club at 8pm. We arrived a little early, but the doors didn’t open until around 9pm and then we had more than an hour until after the support act finished until the main act came on. Needless to say, after a long day walking around the town, we were starting to flag. As we had an early start the next day we left the club before the gig finished. Christchurch at night is a very different place full of drunken yobs, not attractive at all.

We took the day return excursion on the TranzAlpine from Christchurch on the east coast to Greymouth on the west, and back again. On the way the train runs across the wide-open Canterbury Plains before winding its way through the Southern Alps up to Arthur’s Pass over more dramatic river gorges in the shadow of the tallest mountains in the country. Through the 8-kilometre tunnel from the dry and arid plains to the wet rainforest of the west coast, the train journeyed down to Greymouth. After a short break we returned again to Christchurch. All of the way on each train we had most entertaining and informative commentary from the crew pointing out places of interest as we passed them by. Out of all of the trains the TranzApline is the biggest and most popular by far, next was the TranzCoastal and lastly the long Overlander journey.

We returned the way we came with an evening in Wellington where we walked through the Botanical Gardens and took the Cable Car down into town where we ate on the fashionable heart of town.

The journey was very interest and we saw some amazing scenery that you wouldn’t see by flying or driving, even so we were glad to step off the train at the end of it. We still think Wellington is our favourite city, but Christchurch is not too far behind.