9th-10th April 2009: Overlander and Wellington

Tim's mum Karen and stepfather Ian came over to NZ for a holiday, and we joined them for a week on the North Island starting at Wellington. As I'm not working at the moment I decided that, rather than flying, I would spend all day getting there on the Overlander train from Auckland. Tim joined me in the evening, flying in an hour the distance that took my train 12 hours to cover.

Long-distance trains in NZ aren't really serious. They are only used by tourists, typically run once or twice per day, and there are only a handful of routes. This is not the Pendolino from London to Manchester. The trains do, however, pass through miles of fantastic scenery, sometimes in places that are nowhere near a road.

On this particular journey the highlights are in the Tongariro National Park. Low cloud meant that the mountains were not visible, but I didn't mind - I have seen them before and climbed one of them. We went through some spectacular valleys, over several viaducts, and climbed the Spiral at Raurimu, an 11km section of track that loops back on itself around hills and valleys to create a gentle gradient while climbing some pretty steep hills. Google has a good aerial view. It was great fun to watch our progress through the large back window of the train.

One of the many viaducts

Wellington is a pretty place with a picturesque waterfront. It has more of a holiday feel than Auckland's harbour, and we watched a guy diving off a plank built into the sea wall, evidently for that purpose.

We spent the morning in Te Papa, Wellington's excellent museum. It is huge: the introductory tour lasts over an hour, only giving an overview of the exhibits. Our Maori guide was great fun, friendly and enthusiastic, but also quite feisty and certain of her own opinion. Very Kiwi. After the tour we went to see the colossal squid, the largest specimen ever caught.

We finished up our day in Wellington with a ride up in the cable car, built in 1902, and a walk back down to the city through the Botanic Gardens. After that we just about had time to collect our bags and jump in a taxi to meet Karen and Ian off the Interislander ferry.