{"id":22,"date":"2022-11-16T06:01:09","date_gmt":"2022-11-16T00:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ausizealand.com\/?p=22"},"modified":"2023-04-20T20:49:53","modified_gmt":"2023-04-20T15:19:53","slug":"the-most-beautiful-new-zealand-rail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ausizealand.com\/the-most-beautiful-new-zealand-rail\/","title":{"rendered":"You don’t want to miss this epic train ride"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
As I stand in the dawn light at Auckland’s Strand Terminal, the city’s<\/a> Sky Tower rising on the skyline, a sense of anticipation and possibility fills the air. I’m about to go on a fantastic New Zealand rail journey for a rail excursion through both the North and South Islands of New Zealand, using three such trains (each with its own stylish set of contemporary carriages) and a boat.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n At a significant lag behind the train, I can see the top of the city’s old major train station, a glitzy 1930 Beaux-Arts structure that now houses serviced apartments, as a one-stop of my New Zealand rail journey. That, however, is history now that the train is slowly moving ahead. The many tunnels and viaducts constructed to transport the railroads across New <\/a>Zealand’s<\/a> rugged landscape have me looking forward to the journey. I must know what lies beyond!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n It’s the Auckland-to-Wellington leg of the Northern Explorer.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The three long-distance trains all use identical, tourist-friendly<\/a> car designs. In certain configurations, there are four individual seats that form a square around a table, with two seats on each side of the aisle. There is plenty of space to stretch out, and the roomy layout is complemented by huge windows that let in plenty of light and reveal pleasant scenery. Timber paneling lends an earthy vibe to the inside, while pull-down displays provide a route map of our 10-hour drive to Wellington.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Once we leave the Auckland suburbs behind, we get into the kind of rolling green countryside that makes me think of the old Footrot Flats comic strip, and the movie’s theme tune, Slice of Heaven, begins playing in my brain.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The agricultural theme is picked up at Te Kuiti, and the train’s superb recorded commentary, accessible through headphones, tells us of a renowned local rugby player who used to practice with a sheep under each arm. There’s also some background on the line’s development in the 19th century and how some railway surveyors were once held hostage by a Maori tribe that didn’t like their intrusion.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The train has a caf\u00e9 car and an observation vehicle with glass walls. It’s here that I join a group of other travelers waiting to see a waterfall that quickly passes by on their right, while I look the other way. Even still, it’s far preferable to not have to deal with window reflections whenever possible while taking photographs.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n By way of the Raurimu Spiral, a remarkable bit of engineering from the Edwardian period that enables trains to gain 132 meters of elevation in a very short distance, we make our way to the Central Plateau of the North Island. The grass beside the railroad lines is yellow and the air seems dryer up here.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Mount Ruapehu, one of the region’s major volcanic peaks, is momentarily seen when the clouds part. The commentary references the 1953 accident when the Wellington-Auckland train fell over a bridge that had been destroyed by floods caused by the fall of the mountain’s crater wall, at the exact right moment.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n