My jet lag is working for me at the moment. I had a 7:30 departure this morning and I was wide awake at 5 already. My hostel in Auckland was within walking distance from the Britomart Travel Centre. The Northern Explorer train has recently moved to another station, Strand, which isn't close to anything as far as I could tell, but they do run a free transfer bus from Britomart, so that worked perfectly for me. Not sure if that is a permanent thing, the notice at Britomart station only mentioned specific dates this week. So anyone planning to catch this train should check with KiwiRail.
The train departed Auckland 07:45 and was due to arrive in Wellington 18:25. A long day, but made worse with a 50 minute delay due to track work. Was it worth it? Well, that depends. If you have plenty of time on your hands, why not. The price for a flight over the Easter weekend was about the same, but that would only have taken an hour (plus airport transfers of course). Was the scenery along the way beautiful? Yes it was. Was it spectacular? Not in my opinion. You have a good view of Mount Ruapehu, but the view from the road is just as good. The seats are standard train seats and do not recline. The first carriage was an open viewing platform, but if you're tall like me, you'll need to stoop to see anything. Food and drink was available to purchase on board.
The train does have the advantage of ease of walking around, to the buffet coach or the viewing platform. But as an alternative, consider the Intercity coach. The fare is only $49, and it seems you can choose a very comfy seat with wi-fi for the 11.5 hour journey.
On arrival in Wellington, I only had to cross the street to my hostel. Great planning, hey?! The room is quite nice, still a shared bathroom, but only sharing with one other room this time, and I have both a sink and a TV in the room. The hostel in Auckland was more basic at around the same price, no TV or sink in the room, and toilets and showers shared with the whole floor. Both hostels give limited free wi-fi, then you have to pay. Both offer a 24-hour pass, $10 in Auckland and $8 in Wellington.
On my last day in Auckland, I caught a local bus to Western Springs, a nice park near the Museum of Transport and Technology, MOTAT. A single fare was $4.50, quite pricey in my opinion. I couldn't really get my head around how the ferries work. It seems none of the regular ones run on weekends and Bank Holidays, only the more expensive ones to Devonport and Waiheke Island. I had my baconator burger at Wendy's, and a walk through Albert Park.
If I get my new credit card tomorrow, I will head over to the South Island on Wednesday. Fingers crossed!
No comments:
Post a Comment