Great Train Jourey of the dark incontinent
Zepher
Chris & Lyn Darch
Thu 18 Feb 2010 22:40
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Hi Folks,
Well after a few days recovering from the sail trip
down, we were off again back up north to collect the car which had served us
well during the holidays in the Bay of Island, our chosen method of transport
this time was train, this is no ordenary train but the " Once a day special"
from Wellington to Auckland, its called the overlander .
Up bright and early, 6am we set off to the grand
station in Wellington, this station is a grand masterpiece of 1930's art deco
arcitecture and is very pleasing on the eye at that time of day, our bags were
taken from us on arrival and we booked in to our carrage , "C" seats 11 and 12,
its not exactly Euro star rather more a slam door sixties special, with upgraded
seats I think they nicked out of a plane, they were rather ex BA in there style
and the carrige interiors had been referbished but Im afraid it was when we set
off that the ride gave it away, I know I bang on about" Richards B" train
set but at least his new trains have a good suspention system, anyway not to
detract from the whole experiance, the rest was top notch, food by one of the
local celeb cheifs Logan and Brown, a rather better deal than the famous BR
crustie sannie turned up at the edges, views to die for, the train stopped at
the viaducts to give us wonderful views down steep gourges and flowing rivers
some 100m below us, the comentary given was typical Kiwi humor, and as we ambled
through the hinterland it made a great change to the car journey we have so
often taken north, in between the grand views we stuck our heads into our books
to fill in the gapes between scenic wonders.
Twelve and a half hrs later we arrived in
Auckland, what a horible new station it looked like a set on one of Lady Ga GAs
shows, cras and bright, would have been better if she had been there in person
though I could have congratulated her on a realy gastly station design, but this
is Auckland and its that kinda city, comercial, brash and ugly, its a good job
we were only 5mins from the Devonport ferry, out of the station and off on the
water again, we were wisked from a Ga GA like experiance back into the
tranquility of the 1930's on arrival in Devonport, I can see now why it such a
sought after place, and I think the only place I could live if I had to be in
this end of the country, our freinds Dave Joe and Beth picked us up from the
ferry and we went off to there delightful appartment overlooking the Hiraki
Gulf, cracked a botle of Macs and watched the sun go down Ah .....
The Welly wood Ludites
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