When we were planning our RTW trip, Tom and I decided we would try to do ‘slow travel’ whenever and wherever possible, using trains, ferries, buses etc. instead of flying from point to point.
We both like train travel, so we booked two long train rides in New Zealand: the Northern Explorer from Auckland to Wellington and the Coastal Pacific between Picton and Christchurch.
The Northern Explorer bills itself as a journey “From the glittering skyline of Auckland to the quaint capital of Wellington, across the great plains of Waikato and the expansive farmlands of Manawatu, along river valleys and craggy coastlines, soaring over viaducts and spiraling up historic feats of engineering on an amazing ascent to the volcanic heart of the North Island”.
They also promised a ‘bespoke menu’ of ‘locally sourced delicacies’, 360° panoramic carriages, reclining seats, power sockets at every seat, an open air viewing car and fascinating GPS triggered audio commentary. Seat 61, the great railway journey website and every other site we consulted raved about this train ride, s0 we had no hesitation booking our seats back in July and we had high hopes this would be a fantastic and gorgeous trip.
Though the train departed at 7:45am, we were instructed to check in 45 minutes early, so we were in our seats at 7am. The train was due to arrive in Auckland at 6:25pm, so we knew we were in for a long day of travel–we just didn’t know how long….
The 7 car train (3 passenger cars with a capacity of about 200) was completely full- apparently it books out months in advance. Once aboard, we noted that the carriages do have fantastically large windows that include part of the train roof (but not 360°). The ‘power sockets’ were actually just 2 USB sockets (no ac/dc power) and the conductor announced right off the bat that there was no wifi onboard “ But,” he said “we have something even better: ‘Windows Live’. You look out our great big windows and everything you see is live.”
After that mildly amusing riposte, the conductor’s commentary was delivered so robotically and rapidly that we strained to hear or comprehend anything he said.
On the train, the seats did recline and were pretty comfortable (though I would have loved a footrest), there was varyingly interesting audio commentary (but Tom’s headphone jack did not work) and the open air viewing car was kind of neat.
But the food was not ‘bespoke’ in any sense of the word- it was prepackaged stuff heated in a microwave that did not look all that appetizing, and very few offerings were gluten free, so we gave all that a miss. We were thankful we had brought on board our own lunch and plenty of snacks, so we did not go hungry.
All of that would have been immaterial had the scenery lived up to its hype. It was not terrible, it was quite pretty in places, but spectacular it was not.
The highlights were a waterfall, a couple of river gorges and a few minutes along the seaside, but most of the journey was farmland and valley, none of it particularly remarkable or memorable.
By the halfway point, we were more than ready for the journey to be over and began counting the hours until we reached our destination. So it was with some dismay that at 5:30, when we thought we had less than a hour to go, the conductor announced that we would not be arriving into Wellington until after 7:30pm—more than an hour late—though his explanation for this delay was incomprehensible.
Topping it all off, when we finally did arrive, the dispersal of the luggage was a disorganized mess and absolute chaos, so it took us another 10-15 minutes to get our bags and leave the station.
When we finally checked into our apartment hotel, it was well past 8pm and we were too tired to go find dinner so we opened a DoorDash account and ordered in.
Marvelling at our exhaustion after sitting on a train all day, we realized that our journey from Auckland to Wellington- a distance of just over 400 miles—had taken longer than our entire flight from San Franciso to Auckland—a distance of over 6,500 miles.
We still advocate slow travel, but that was definitely the slowest train ride we ever wish to take.
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