Overlander Train

Friday, the 7th, we rose early in order to catch the Overlander train which runs in one long day from Wellington to Auckland (or Auckland to Wellington).

The day had an inauspicious beginning. Since we were once again traveling with all our luggage--2 big roller bags, 1 small roller bag, a recently purchased duffle, 2 backpacks, and the computer--we had the hotel arrange a taxi for the short drive to the train station. We waited at least five minutes past the designated time and then anxiety prompted us to set out walking. Fortunately, the rain had ended and the distance to the station was not too great. We made it in huffing good time, checked our bags, and found our comfortable seats on the train.

The ride was like a flashback of so many of our wonderful stops during our travels on the North Island. We crossed over the viaduct we had hiked below in Ohakune, had wonderful glimpses of the regal Mt. Ruapehu dusted with a little snow this time, chugged through Te Kuiti where we saw the Running of the Sheep, glimpsed our little hotel in Otorohanga where we visited the glowworm caves and saw some kiwi birds.

We also saw endless miles of the now familiar NZ countryside, bush, and forests. I mentally catalogued some of the sights from our window: perky pukekos and paired paradise shelducks in fields, hilly paddocks of sheep and cattle running from the train, all manner of ponga (fern trees), the waving toi toi (looks like pampas grass to us), the scrawny but hearty manuka trees, wide gravel rivers, deep gorges, sparkling fast moving streams. We happily ate the gourmet deli lunch we had brought with us and frequently rose to go stand on the open aired platform to take pictures. It was a treat for us.

However, just a half hour short of Hamilton, our specified endpoint, misfortune struck. In the middle of the countryside, the train simply stopped. Gradually, little by little, tidbit by tidbit, we heard what the problem was: our electric engine had run out of power/what?…there was a track fire ahead of us/oh, no!….they had shut down the electricity due to the fire/ok….they were sending a diesel engine to retrieve us/yeah!….the new engine couldn’t get past the fire/boo….they were sending buses to transport us/hmmm….. All in all, we sat on the track for about an hour and a half. Finally, the buses arrived but then within minutes we heard that the track fire was out and the diesel engine had arrived. We were on our way again.

We arrived in Hamilton but the rental car agency was long closed. We fortuitously horned in on another person’s cab-van, enjoyed friendly conversation with both passenger and cab driver, and were delivered to our hotel. After dragging all our luggage into our room, we took the helpful hotel owner’s advice and wandered across the street for some late dinner. Although tired, we were once again struck by the Kiwis as a people--good humored, cheery, willing to go out of their way for strangers, low keyed. Really lovely people!