12
April 2014
We’re
going for a ride on a puffer train!
Actually
it’s a bit more modern than that.
Since
we last travelled on the, what was then, the Overlander, they’ve upgraded the
carriages and reduced the service. Now we have flash new carriages with large
windows, glass viewing “ports” above the glass luggage racks, more roomy
seating arrangements, TV screens (in the aisles) to let you see where you are
(I think. We haven’t moved yet and all we’ve seen have been maps of the North
Island), and headphones to plug into convenient jacks so you can listen to the
commentary in the language of your choice, so long as it’s English or Mandarin.
It was a long trip |
I
think we’ll choose English.
Anyway,
back to last night. It was a long one. We were in room 409, which is on the
fourth floor of the Mecure Hotel on the corner of Customs and Queen Streets. Four
floors up, in the CBD, of Auckland, on a Friday night… I’d turned the air
conditioner off as its continuous buzz threatened to keep me awake. After a
couple of hours of not sleeping, and being warm, but not too warm to sleep, I
turned it on again to mask the shouts, and horns, and sirens, and engines, and
the noises blaring out of the cars of those who think that their “music” is
preferable to what the nightclubs and restaurants offer.
It
worked, but I still couldn’t sleep. So, after almost a week of early nights and
long (if interrupted – “I’m awake”) sleeps, I’ve (we’ve) lost all the good in
one night.
Still
it did mean that we were up early enough to get washed and dressed in plenty of
time and down to pay the bill. We went to MacDonalds to check our non-existent
emails and have something to fill a hole until we get our breakfast on the
train.
We’re
off!
That’s
interesting. They ask that if you have to press the emergency button at the end
of the carriages that you do not do so within tunnels. Must store that bit of
information away for future use in a story… And I think I may know which one.
The
commentary sounds like it’s going to be excellent. We hear a chime whenever
it’s going to play and that’s the time to put the headphones on to listen to a
clear, thorough, relevant description of the area around us.
The
sun’s very bright and low. We could barely see Rangitoto as we trundled past
because the sun was in our eyes. Fortunately I had my sunglasses in my bag.
What I have a sneaking suspicion that I wish I had in my bag was a charger for
FAB2, my tablet PC. There are power points available. But this has an excellent
battery life and I’ve turned the screen brightness right down, so hopefully
I’ll have enough power to last the full 11 hours.
Time
to put it into sleep mode.
9:19
– back again
We’re
just crossing the Whangamarino wetlands. What I’ve probably been told before,
but didn’t remember is that the railway is basically laid on rafts of vegetation,
especially Manuka, which doesn’t rot in water. This is the reason why the rail
lines through here haven’t been “duplicated” and it’s only a single line.
Something
else I forgot. As we were very early for the train, for a while there we were
the only ones in our carriage, we had time to get ourselves sorted. It was at
this point that I realised that I didn’t have my bottle of water that I’d
bought yesterday. I had no recollection of taking it out of the hotel room, let
alone having it at McDonalds, so I took off back to the hotel (with a quick
glance through the door at McD’s to reassure myself) to see if I could get back
into the room to collect it. The man on the desk was very obliging and coded an
access key for me.
It’s
clever, this system, for those of you who don’t know it. The keys are
magnetised strip cards like credit cards, and they can change the coding on the
magnetised strip when need be. To access the accommodation floors in the lift,
or enter your room, you have to put the card into the card reader and withdraw
it. Then, when the light flashes green, you can press your floor number or turn
the handle and enter your room. Once you remember all this it’s easy to use.
Anyway,
he gave me my key and I took the lift upstairs… Remember these lifts? I think
I’ve told you about them in earlier blogs. They take off with the speed of
Thunderbird One launching and stop with the ferocity of Pod Four being dropped
into the water to discharge Thunderbird Four. I shared my lift up with one of
the cleaning ladies, who got out on the conference centre floor and then I
continued on alone for the fourth floor, ejecting myself out of it at a speed
approximating Thunderbird Two lifting off the runway of Tracy Island…
I think
I’d better get back to my story writing.
But
not until I’ve finished boring you with the great water bottle rescue.
I
dashed down the hallway and let myself inside and there, standing proud on the
bedroom cabinet, was the water bottle. Perhaps if it had only been the water
bottle I would have taken it with me, but it was in a plastic bag and didn’t
look like something that we’d have a need to take with us. I grabbed it, and
headed outside. I pushed the button for the lift to go back down and waited for
the doors to open.
When
they did the lift was clearly going up (it doesn’t actually settle until well
after the doors open, which happens when you’ve got a step of about 15 cm. The
wise move is to wait until the lift stops moving and there’s no step at all.) I
checked with the two people on board which way they were going, and they
confirmed that they were ascending.
As I
didn’t have any lifts waiting for me I took off back to the room and let myself
in to use the facilities. I figured I may as well make use of them while I
could!
Then
it was back down to the foyer to return the card to reception, with thanks.
Looking
back I see that I haven’t explained about the check in procedure. In previous
years you’d drag your suitcase down to the “B2” level, meet the “guard” at a
portable lectern check in booth, be assigned your tickets (scrawled on your
printed out ticket), the tag was attached to your bags and the stub given to
you to keep. Then you found your carriage, struggled down the narrow aisles,
and collapsed into your seat.
Today
we entered the Britomart complex through the front door. As we dragged our
cases through the concourse a gentleman stopped us to ask how far we were
travelling. When we said we were going to Wellington he escorted us to the
Tranz Scenic booth/room where we were given our proper tickets and the tags
were attached to our bags. Then we were directed to the lifts and escalators
and told that we could board. As we still had our suitcases we took the lift.
While we were waiting I saw an elderly trio drag their cases in. One of the men
saw us and came in our direction. I asked him if they were going to Wellington
and when he confirmed that they were, directed him to the “nice young man who
will help you.”
As I
said the train’s carriages are a lot smarter than they used to be. Did I
mention that the doors between carriages are glass and automatic?
Interesting
snippet: Kauri was used in rebuilding San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake.
Interesting snippet #2: Pumice is classified as a glass as it has no crystalline structure.
Interesting snippet #2: Pumice is classified as a glass as it has no crystalline structure.
2:00pm
and we’re crawling out of Ohakune and we are ten to 15 minutes behind schedule.
Prior to reaching here, and after National Park, I went out to the observation
car. (note car!! Not just a little platform tacked onto the end of a carriage!)
It was wonderfully windy, exciting, and not too cold. I stayed out there for
two viaducts, but I’d already decided to stay inside for the Raurimu Spiral.
The commentary’s that good, the best NZ Railways/Tranz Scenic have ever had,
that I wanted to stay inside and hear about it. I did get some photos through
the window, but they won’t be very good. There have been lots of photos that I
would have loved to have got, we’re going past some wetlands now (about Main Trunk Line territory), but with the
windows’ reflections it’s almost impossible to get decent photos. However I did
manage to get the photo of the cairn commemorating the “AST PIKE” as we flew
past.
As we
were coming into Ohakune I started walking back to my seat (with the intention
of having a “pit stop” while the train wasn’t in motion.) It was quite an odd
sensation as the train was going at the same speed that I was walking (you
always knew I was speedy), but in the opposite direction. This meant that the
Ohakune Station was staying in the same place relative to my position. It felt
very odd to be walking and see my surroundings standing still.
The
mountains of the Central Plateau haven’t cooperated today. We saw the base of
Ruapheu and not much more. Still, we got some good views of them when we
visited National Park with Pen, so we can’t complain.
3:45pm.
Right, I know I said I wasn’t going outside again and I was going to stay here
and enjoy the commentary, especially when it started to rain, but when we got
to the five Rangitikei viaducts and I saw a rainbow outside, I had to go out in
the hope that we might just have the sun at our backs, shining through the rain
at 42 degrees, when we were passing over some of that fantastic scenery.
We
didn’t.
But
that didn’t stop people from literally gasping in awe as we passed over the
South Rangitikei Viaduct, the driver going extra slow so that we had the chance
to appreciate it. I heard someone say “I didn’t think it was going to be as
wonderful as it is.” It is wonderful and I still got plenty of photographs,
even if they were rainbow free.
The
increase in air pressure as we went into a tunnel was pretty impressive too.
I eventually
took my rather windblown self back to my seat and we sat in the sun as we
descended the easier contours to Wellington.
We
could always tell when we were in cell phone range as the guys in the seat
behind us were always yammering on theirs. To make matters worse they had them
loud enough so that we could hear both sides of the conversation. It probably
would have been quite interesting if it was in a language we could understand.
Fortunately
there is no cell phone coverage on a large part of the network.
We
had roast vegetable salad (me) and macaroni cheese (D.C.) for lunch and roast
chicken for tea. As we were out of cell phone range the café car attendant hung
onto my credit card until about 5.30 when he came to my seat and I paid up.
The
train got into Wellington Station in the dark at 6.50pm. Apparently that was
late, but as we weren’t going anywhere and no one was meeting us, I didn’t
worry about it. We decided that it was easier to get a taxi than to try and
find our way in the dark, which resulted in a $14.00 Tiki Tour through
Wellington’s one way streets system. Apparently it’s much easier in daylight
when you’re walking.
The
driver dropped us off at the Travelodge – Plimmers Towers where we’re staying
until Friday, We’d been discussing Wellington’s weather (and how it’s always
bad when we’re here) and he dropped us off in the traffic drop off point at the
hotel, which was great because we were under cover. What wasn’t so good was
that we couldn’t work out how to get inside. I left D.C. holding the bags and
went scouting, eventually deciding that we had to skirt a corner of the carpark
to find a set of door. Once there the lady on reception was very nice and had
no problems finding our booking and gave us room 1007.
So
far it’s a lot quieter than last night.
But
it was a great day.
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