A train trip through New Zealand,  October 2006


We are booked on a steam train trip organized by Mainline Steam of  New Zealand (see the Wikipedia article about them). 
The train will run from Auckland all the way down the North Island Main Trunk railway to Wellington.
There the train will be loaded on board of a Interislander ferry to cross the Cook Straits to the South island. From Picton, the ferry terminal on the South Island, the train will continue south to Christchurch and then all the way south to Dunedin. Dunedin celebrates the 100 years anniversary of the railway station, of course one very important reason to be there.

From Dunedin, a steam train excursion up the Taieri gorge to Middlemarch, using one of the steam engines we have brought along, will be one of the highlights of this trip. From here, we continue by coach to Queenstown, for a cruise on the lake on the TSS Earnslaw and a ride on the Kingston Flyer steam train.

From Queenstown we go to Cristchurch, the steam train will take us all the way back to Picton, cross Cook Straits aboard a ferry again and back to Auckland.

We have some time left to spend on the North Island, and follow the usual tourist path to the Bay of Islands, and later south to the Coromandel peninsula. We had four weeks for this trip, but this is just not enough to see this wondeful country.

Monday,  October 9

Singapore Airlines flight from Zurich to Singapore SQ345, then  from Singapore to Auckland without stopover.
This means 24 hours in airplanes, a tiring exercise, but not impossible. We still need some time to recover from the journey, and arquite glad we have some time before the train trip starts.

We spend the first few days exploring the city of Auckland walking and using the public traffic network, an of course a visit to the Auckland traffic museum is also on the program. The museum has a fine collection of street cars, and a model railroad layout of the Raurimu spiral tunnel. We stay at the Kingsgate Parnell Hotel in Auckland.

Vintage streetcar at the MOTAT traffic museum

our steam train, pulled by Ja class engine 1275

The Glenbrook Vintage Railway provides a nostalgic trip back to the past when steam locomotives hauled passenger trains over the NZR Waiuku branch line. As a big surprise the railway people prepare a big lunch for the entire tour group.

We then continue south to Hamilton, where we leave the train and go to visit Rotorua by motorcoach.

Friday, October 13

We board our steam train at the old Auckland station, and start our trip south to Paerata. A bit west of Paerata is the Glenbrook Vintage Railway, a museum railway that gives the visitor a 12 kilometre round trip through rural South Auckland.

Ww 480, built by NZR Workshops, Dunedin 1910

There is plenty of time to explore Rotorua and walk along the Lake Rotorua. We go for a scenic flight aboard a light float plane get an impression of the volcanic mountains and landscape.

A farming show at the Agrodome teaches us many aspects of sheep farming.

Rotorua sightseeing with the many steaming geysers and boiling mud pots and the centers of the Maori Culture. We spend the evening at an impressing show and dinner presented by Maori people.

Overnight at the Kingsgate Rotorua Hotel.

 

Sunday, October 15

We return to our train at Hamilton and continue southbound on the main trunk railway as we enter the rugged mountain area and roll through the Porotoorau Tunnel into the Ongarue River Valley.

We then climb up to the famous Raurimu Spiral tunnel. We have a photo run-by there at the lower entrance of the tunnel, and there is just enough time to quickly walk up to the upper entrance to see the train come out from the dark.

Lodging in Ohakune, the town at the southern gateway to the Tongariro National Park, at the foot of Mt Ruapehu.

on the way up to the Raurimu spiral tunnel

engines AB 663 and WAB 794 blowing steam clouds in the cold mourning air in Picton

Monday October 16

Our charter steam train takes us from Ohakune to Wellington, crossing over some of the largest viaducts in the country.

As we approch Wellington our train snakes around the cliffs of the Kapiti Coast with views of the Tasman Sea.

In the afternoon, we catch the Rail Ferry across Cook Strait and down the beautiful Marlborough Sounds to make landfall on the South Island at Picton.
The train is loaded onto the ferry, but we have to leave the engine Ja 1275 in Wellington and get engines AB class 663 (a 4-6-2 Pacific) and WAB 794 (preserved at Feilding, a tank version of the AB class)

Overnight lodging in Picton at the Beachcomber Inn

Tuesday, October 17

We have a very early start today. The weather is cloudless clear and cold and allows for wonderful photos of the two steam engines 663 and 794 as they steam from the service area to the platform where our train waits.

We continue southbound from Picton, a short climb and then along the valley across the Wairau river to Blenheim. We deeply regret that we cannot stop and explore this wine growing region, but decide that we have at least to taste wines coming from here in the coming days. We roll past Seddon, and meet the southern coast at Wharanui, and continue along the coast to the community of Kaikoura. Here we stop for some hours to service the engines.

We finally roll into Christchurch, and have passed 22 tunnels along the coast to finally get here.

Overnight in Christchurch, at the Grand Chancellor Hotel

along the south coast

across the southern New Zealand alps

Wednesday, October 18, Christchurch over the Alps to Greymouth

07:35 Departure from Christchurch Addington Station in perfect sunshine.
We cross the Canterbury Plains and it is not long before we enter the Southern Alps. We have some stops along the way to the mountains, one to let then Tranz Alpine passenger train pass, one more at Springfield to water up.

We continue the climb to Arthur's Pass surrounded by mountains and crossing many turquoise rivers. From the mountain community of Arthur's Pass we plunge into the Otira Tunnel, emerging on the West Coast.

On arrial in Greymouth it rains cats and dogs, from what we hear this is very usual here. Today's route is considered as one of the top 10 train journeys in the world.

Overnight in Greymouth, at the Kingsgate Greymouth Hotel  

The next day we re-trace our journey across the Southern Alps back to Christchurch.

Departure from Greymouth still in pouring rain, also the first phototops are in pouring rain. Leaking windows in the passenger cars keep us busy for all of the mourning.

As expected, the weather clears up after we have passed Arthur's Pass, and the trip down towards the plains turned more and more sunny.

We are running about two hours late, but make it into Christchurch shortly after 6 o'clock. Just time left to use the last minutes of daylight to chase the famous electric streetcars

 

Friday, October 20  Christchurch to Dunedin

Continuing south from Christchurch we make a stop at Timaru to visit the Pleasant Point Railway and ride a charter to Keanes Crossing where there is vintage rail equipment on display.

We then reboard our train for the trip on to Dunedin. This is a beautiful city of 19th and early 20th century architecture. The Dunedin Railway Station will be celebrating its 100th Anniversary. Steam locomotives from a number of museum railroad groups are expected to attend this event. We arrive a bit late in Dunedin, but early enough to have a first look around Dunedin station and still get some dinner. 

Overnight at the Mercure Leisure Lodge in Dunedin

Ab699 (built 1922) at the Pleasant Point Railway

Dunedin Railway station

the railway station building in Dunedin

a Fowler traction engine in action

Dunedin Railway Station 100 Year Anniversary Fiesta.

The Dunedin Railway Station is a spectacular reminder of the time 100 years ago when the city was the richest and most influential in New Zealand. It is not just historic; it was ranked last year in an international travel book as one of the world’s 200 “must-see” buildings — the only one in New Zealand.

The station is not just an architectural museum either. It houses the headquarters and booking office of the Taieri Gorge Railway, which runs passenger excursion trains from the main platform. Over the labour weekend the iconic Dunedin building played host to one of the largest steam train locomotive collections seen in New Zealand for decades.

A sunny start of the day and a fine steam engines cavalcade in the station.

But somehow they seem to have forgotten how to make a real fiesta - by three in the afternoon all the fiesta was packed up and removed (?!?). Strange way to celebrate.

A67 is the oldest locomotive on the Ocean Beach Railway. Built in 1873 by Dubs & Co., Glasgow

Sunday, October 22, Dunedin to Queenstown

Today we ride up the Taieri Gorge behind steam. Mainline Steams ex NZR AB 663 engine pulls the train, assisted by a Mitsubishi diesel pushing the train (as the line has many tunnels, the helper engine was there for security reasons). This turns out to be the best part of the whole train trip. At Middlemarch, at the end of the line, the rebuilt turntable is returned to service with a celebration, and the steam engine is turned on it - a difficult process, that did not work until the engine was perfectly balanced on the bridge of the turntable. The very remarkable 'The Ceilidh Clan Band' at Middlemarch band played pipes and drums to everyones delight.

We continue our trip by coach towards Queenstown. The route follows the former tracks of the railway (rails have been removed and the track has been renaturated to be a hiking and biking trail of roughly 160 km length) over a beautiful plateau.

We arrive at Queenstown by early evening, just right for a quick walk in the last sunrays and make some first photos of the lake Wakatipu.
Overnight in Queenstown, A-Line Hotel  

Mainline Steams ex NZR AB 663 on the reconstructed turntable at Middlemarch

Queenstown, lake Wakatipu

Queenstown, lake Wakatipu

Tss Earnslaw entering Queenstown harbour

The Kingston Flyer train originally operated between Kingston and Gore where it connected to the NZR network. Passengers to Queenstown changed at Kingston to a steamships like the TSS Earnslaw, to complete the trip to Queenstown.

It is a rainy afternoon today like (so it seems) many others in this area, but we still get a fun ride on this really unique train. To make these photos today, extensive use of umbrellas is essential.

Monday, October 23,  Queenstown.

We get a first class breakfast served on board of the TSS Earnslaw while the steam boat cruises along the lake Wakatipu.

Later in the day we drive down to the southern tip of the lake Wakatipu. At Kingston, the end point of the  Kingston Flyer, the museum steam train is waiting for us.

Ab class 778 and 795 at Kingston

the Kingston Flyer steaming through a rainy afternoon

Tuesday, October 24, Queenstown to Christchurch

We travel from Queenstown down to Christchurch by motorcoach, through absolutely spectacular mountain areas. Sheep on the curvy roads, a fine snow cover on the nearby peaks from the past rainy days and vast mountain wilderness cover about every cliche about New Zealand.

a Rogers engine at The Plains museum in Ashburn

Mountain wilderness east of Queenstown

In the afternoon, we visit the Plains Museum in Ashburton. The museum operates a steam train pulled by an magnificently restaured Rodgers engine, and of course we get a ride out on the plains over their stretch of track.

Overnight in Christchurch again at the Grand Chancellor Hotel

one of the famous Christchurch streetcars on their 2-5km loop through the center of town

We get a number of photo run-bys along the coast of the South Island, and finally roll into Picton in the early evening hours but in daylight.
Overnight lodging again in the Beachcomber Inn at Picton

Wednesday, October  25, Christchurch to Picton.

We reboard our train at Christchurch and head up the east coast to Picton.

Engine Ab 663 takes us back along the coast and through the hills in the north to the ferry terminal at Picton.

 

Thursday, October 26, Ferry for Wellington.

An early start today, we board the Interislander ferry before the sun is up, our train is already loaded, and we observe some other loading manoevres of the railway switching diesel. We seem to be lucky to sail in quiet weather after some really stormy days with interrupted ferry connections.

We have some hours to spend in Wellington town, before we have to board our train again for the stretch of rail to Palmerston North.

J 1211 and Jb 1275 double-heading our train out of Wellington

A crossing Interislander ferry in todays first sunrays

We take the Wellington cable car for a view  and a fine lunch on the mountain, and stroll around town and the harbour area.

In the afternoon we leave 663 behind here and get engines J 1211 and Jb 1275 to pull our train from Wellington north back to Auckland.

Overnight Palmerston North, Novotel Hotel  

Friday, October 27, Palmerston North to Auckland

We get a motor coach today to chase the train. But this is not really the answer either, first the thing is far too fat to react quickly enough if we need to stop, and then we are far far too slow unloading.

A Train chasing is not an easy excercise in this area, the line is very often far away from the road. It would probably work well on the South Island, but here it does not.

Hotel: Kingsgate Parnell Hotel

Saturday, October 28, Auckland

We take the harbor ferry to Devonport just to hang around there over some white wine for a while, and later in the day go to Kelly underwater world aquarium, a worthwile visit especially for their unique arctic penguin world.
Dinner today is in a Parnell restaurant.

Sunday we visit  the MOTAT tranportation museum again, this time they fire up their oldest steam tram for us to take rides. And this time we also find the aviation department (which is located some 3 km away from the museum site).

the Rain Forest Express, Waitakere dam

A planned steam train excursion north of Auckland is cancelled, as necessary trackworks use this sunday to replace the rails, and with no rails, it is difficult to run a train.
Mainline steam takes us to a very unique railroad operation instead:  the Rain Forest Express, a miniature narrow gauge train that had originally been built there to assist in building the Waitakere dam water tube, an important project for Aucklands water supply.

The rain forest does live up to it's name, the whole excursion takes place in pouring rain, which on the other side makes the silver fern trees look really juicy green.

The mini train on 2-foot gauge originally had small Orenstein & Koppel steam engines, today a small Diesel is used for the tourist trains.

Monday, October 30, Bay of Islands

We go get our hire car in town, and then start the 4 hour drive north to the Bay of Islands, where we have some days at the Abel Tasman Lodge on the Waterfront in Paihia.

Thursday, November 02, Coromandel peninsula

Today we drive to the last region we have included in this trip, the Coromandel peninsula. It is a 8 hour drive from the Bay of Islands to Coromandel, we have clearly underestimated the distance (or overestimated the speed). But this is a real paradise and something absolutely not to be missed.  

We have enjoed every minute on the peninsula, and have regretted that we had not more time her.

Hotel: Blue Water Motel, Tairua 

Monday, September 7, Auckland to Singapore

This is the last day of our vacation in New Zealand. We have time enough and drive leisurely back to Auckland airport, drop off our hire car, and  board Singapore Airlines SQ286 flight to Singapore.

Here we have some days to spend before we have to return home, and spend our time walking in this fascinating city.
I spend hours with the Chinese Camera sellers discussing if my equipment was leading edge, or if they had something better for me in their store (we do not come to a conclusion pro or contra my equipment, it seems to be ok at the time).

We reserve a day to visit the Singapore Zoo for a whole day, a place worthwile to spend a week rather than a day.

Hotel is the Raffles Plaza Hotel


letzte Aenderung: 19.10.2009