The morning of Thursday 4th. April saw us checking in for the last of our rail journey's on the 14 day rail pass we purchased. It was another early start for us as departure time was 7.50 We had a table seat to ourselves, as passenger numbers were well down on the journey North.
After departing Auckland we slowly passed through the suburbs with accompanying commuter trains. One point of interest was the the race track where the New Zealand Grand Prix use to be run. It is no longer on the Formula 1 circuit. I don't know when the last one was. It is still a race circuit, as this coming weekend the V8 racers from Australia will be in competition there.
The rest of the 10 hour 50 minute journey was very relaxing in between visits to the outside viewing platform and the buffet car.
The journey from Auckland to Wellington covers 681 kms, crosses 352 bridges and passes through 14 tunnels,not to mention ascending the famous Raurinu Spiral, with bends of up to 220 degrees.
On arrival at Wellington we checked back in at the Kingsgate Hotel for our last night in the city.. Steven met up with us after finishing work and we had a bite to eat at The Backbencher pub near our hotel. Caracatures of New Zealand politicians are displayed on the walls around the pub. The disco dancing Prime Minister and the Minister of Transport are pictured below.
The three of us finished up at the Welsh Bar (Steven's local) to join in it's 9th birthday celebrations.
We said our farewells to Steven and returned to our hotel. He isn't due to depart New Zealand until the end of August.
This morning we went to pick our hire car up after checking out of the hotel. Before leaving Wellington we took advantage of the weather and called at Te Papa museum of Mauri culture and the early settlers history. It was laid out over six floors and had an outside viewing area on the top floor, which is where we started our visit, then made our way down to the ground floor.
Took the picture of the Waitangi Treaty, which basically signed New Zealand over to HM Queen Victoria, and British rule. The car is our hire car for the rest of our stay on North Island. It's another automatic.
As the weather was just amazing when we came out of the museum, we stopped for an hour or so on the prom at Oriental Bay, across the water from down town Wellington and took in some more of the sun's rays.
We couldn't leave Wellington without a visit to the summit of Mt. Victoria (not far from where Steven lives).
All good things come to an end, it was time to say goodbye to "the Windy city", in all fairness, we never experienced the really cold south westerly winds.
After departing Auckland we slowly passed through the suburbs with accompanying commuter trains. One point of interest was the the race track where the New Zealand Grand Prix use to be run. It is no longer on the Formula 1 circuit. I don't know when the last one was. It is still a race circuit, as this coming weekend the V8 racers from Australia will be in competition there.
The rest of the 10 hour 50 minute journey was very relaxing in between visits to the outside viewing platform and the buffet car.
The journey from Auckland to Wellington covers 681 kms, crosses 352 bridges and passes through 14 tunnels,not to mention ascending the famous Raurinu Spiral, with bends of up to 220 degrees.
On arrival at Wellington we checked back in at the Kingsgate Hotel for our last night in the city.. Steven met up with us after finishing work and we had a bite to eat at The Backbencher pub near our hotel. Caracatures of New Zealand politicians are displayed on the walls around the pub. The disco dancing Prime Minister and the Minister of Transport are pictured below.
The three of us finished up at the Welsh Bar (Steven's local) to join in it's 9th birthday celebrations.
We said our farewells to Steven and returned to our hotel. He isn't due to depart New Zealand until the end of August.
This morning we went to pick our hire car up after checking out of the hotel. Before leaving Wellington we took advantage of the weather and called at Te Papa museum of Mauri culture and the early settlers history. It was laid out over six floors and had an outside viewing area on the top floor, which is where we started our visit, then made our way down to the ground floor.
Took the picture of the Waitangi Treaty, which basically signed New Zealand over to HM Queen Victoria, and British rule. The car is our hire car for the rest of our stay on North Island. It's another automatic.
As the weather was just amazing when we came out of the museum, we stopped for an hour or so on the prom at Oriental Bay, across the water from down town Wellington and took in some more of the sun's rays.
We couldn't leave Wellington without a visit to the summit of Mt. Victoria (not far from where Steven lives).
All good things come to an end, it was time to say goodbye to "the Windy city", in all fairness, we never experienced the really cold south westerly winds.
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