North-South NZ Rail

Eeerm. Not very helpful Rufus
Izabella; Apologies; I was dealing with a couple of pests at the time and my evening dinner (Shepherd's Pie courtesy Aldi) was waiting. Very nice too! Now it all depends on when you intend being here as to what's available. Two points to consider: traffic; almost deadlocked at times especially at so-called peak hours, although peak "hour" can run all day. As a result travellers with early morning flights, which seems to encompass most international ones stay the night at the airport hotel which is on the doorstep so to speak.
The 2nd point again depends on your timetable. Incoming internationals tend to arrive early i.e. 6.00am which would certainly help towards a full day, unless you have to spend half of it prostrate with jet-lag! knowing more about your itinerary would help.
Btw. can I ask a small favour? I can't send priv messages and I won't know if I can/cannot receive until the system is tested and if I know blocks are in place.
or not. "Hi Rufus" would be fine
Ta very much.

Eeerm. Not very helpful Rufus - but thanks. Will get back to my Melbourne pals.

OK then Rufus. What do we do on a 24 hr stopover in Melbourne
Izabell. Depends on the time of year! Choice of a cricket match; a footy match or Church and pray that the Pilots' Union and the Air Traffic controllers Union don't pull the plug on your forward flight. Or you cold spend a very nice day in that Rufus Bar I've recently discovered OoRoo

We'll have to try and find this on youtube - our son lives in Auckland which is where his wife is from. He gigs all over and drives most places (hard to carry a drum kit on a train ) but obviously has to fly to the other island. We didn't get chance for much travel when we were there 3 years ago due to a 6 week old baby!

Thanks for the link Izabella. It brought back memories.

OK then Rufus. What do we do on a 24 hr stopover in Melbourne?

GranmaKT try this

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFIveQoNttM

Anyone?

Hi, has anyone watched this in the UK please? My son lives in Wellington ND and we are visiting soon ( to coincide with the birth of our first Kiwi grandchild!) Would love to watch it.

Rufus are you in Tassie perchance?
Izabella; No! Melbourne only, apart holidays o/seas and mainland OZ. My dear Vera was the intrepid traveller due to invitations to judge floral art comps. at garden shows in places such as NZ and Tassie and of course OZ. As with Nuns, two judges always travelled together in pairs, so I was always going to be gooseberry!
They do say that it's very much like England, but I'd been in Blighty for 44years before coming here!
Btw. there have been some dreadful bush fires and right now down there!

Yes its a lovely drive. We usually drive down but fly back up to Auckland airport. We have 'done' all the railways but the best one I think is the Taieri Gorge. We got that back to Dunedin after our cycle tour down from Christchurch.

Talked to my DH last night who is from NZ as I was amazed it takes 11 hours to get from Auckland to Wellington. He tells me it's about 400 miles. I had not realised the Islands were so big. When we visited we flew down to Christchurch to visit family so had no idea how far it was. Happy days. Well, it was the winter of discontent back home.

Yes, The Picton ferry crossing is spectacular.
My DH and I have been on the transalpine express on the South Island. Magical.

Going back to the ferry. Cant remember how far in advance I would need to book (December) as we dont usually go inter-island these days. Will be crossing just before Christmas.

Rufus are you in Tassie perchance?

Will have to see if I get find this on YouTube.

As far as I recall, the train up the South Island (Invercargill to Picton) was different.

The Cabbage Train left in the early hours and called at every little hamlet, halt and station, collecting produce (hence its name).

Passengers going on to Auckland and beyond then transferred to the ferry - and yes, it is one of the most beautiful crossings Izabella - and you then boarded the Silver Star.

All gone now and the Intercity Northern Explorer coach service is appalling. They charge the earth, show you spacious cabins with smiling passengers and it could not be further from reality.

Their regular Ak-Wtg/Wtg-Ak service is quite good though, especially if you have a great, chatty driver as I often have.

I'd still rather have a train!

Yes indeed. The Picton ferry
Yes indeed! What a marvelous prog.! Just finished over 3hours of stunning visual treats from Auckland to Milford Sound; no "talking heads", no distracting travel catalogue guff. an occasional silent caption relating history of several tribes, all the mining disasters and construction details of all the tunnels, bridges and viaducts. All of the latter were fantastic.
Absolutely fabulous! I was so hooked I forgot to have dinner, although that won't be such a bad thing! A bite of supper won't do any harm right now! I've got the whole prog. on tape so I'll replay it tomorrow. No! the train didn't go on the ferry, too small, but I was caught out on the South Island because we were suddenly on some road vehicle and I missed how the transition occurred. At least I'll be able to put it on freeze frame. Cheers

My mum's half-brother is buried in Auckland, North Shore Memorial Park. He was involved in a car accident in 2006 when he was 86. His brother is in his 90's and in a nursing home in the IOM.

His son is a hydrologist and a cousin of mine.

Yes indeed. The Picton ferry - and one of the most beautiful crossings in the world imho

I suppose the passengers went on a ferry to get across the gap in the middle. Or did the carriages go on board?

When my mother came out to NZ in 1989
Bradford Lass; Thanks for that; Awesome! Wish we'd done that years ago. My dear Vera had been to NZ several times to take part in various Floral Art demos. which appeared to be "big" in NZ. She was an Aussie floral art judge and visited with another judge, so I was happy then to stay home and keep our dogs company. (including Rufus1) She was always ready to jump into a helicopter going to the top of a glacier wherever we were, but I was quite happy to stay on terra firma holding her handbag. Fortunately she always came back for it! Happy memories! North-South is on TV in 25 min. Cheers

PS:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Star_(NZR_train)

When my mother came out to NZ in 1989, both being train buffs, we toured NZ and rode on every single railway we could find: steam, electric, diesel, narrow gauge - the lot !

Thank you for that Rufus2.

Yes, I'm in New Zealand and it could well be that we get SBS here but I've never had a television and now couldn't see one if I had

We used to have a magnificent train here called The Silver Star, which went between Auckland & Wellington, North to South.
It was a miracle of compact design and luxury but to my regret they stopped it in 1979.