Wellington-Auckland on the Overlander from just NZ$119 (£48)!
The famous "Overlander"
train is easily the best way to
get from downtown Auckland to city centre Wellington,
stress-free and in comfort at ground level, stopping off if
you like at the Tongariro National Park. The
"Overlander" is an epic 681 kilometre (423 mile) journey across the
whole interior of
the North Island, taking you in a single day past every kind of scenery there
is, from coastline to volcanoes to mountains, from lush green
farmland to thick New Zealand bush. It will take you the
length of the historic
North Island Main Trunk Railway,
started in 1885 and completed in 1908, over such feats of engineering at the
Raurimu Spiral,
Turangarere Horseshoe and Makatote Viaduct.
It's one of the world's great railway journeys, and one of my
favourites. And all this costs just NZ$ 119
(£48 or US$95). This is one of my favourite train
journeys anywhere, you'd be crazy to waste the opportunity,
so ditch that domestic flight to Wellington and take the
train!
* The
Overlander runs daily in the summer season,
but since 2006 only on Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays
in winter. It will run daily from 30 November 2008 to
26 April 2009 (except Christmas day), then on Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays from 1 May
to 24 September 2009, then daily from 25 September 2009 until May 2010.
The
Overlander has reclining seats, a cafe-bar, an observation lounge
and viewing platform, see the photos below.
Latest
update summer 2009: Overlander passengers have increased by over 25% in the last
11 months, and thanks to this success daily operation will now
start in late September rather than in late November as
originally planned, and will run until May 2010 rather than
April 2010 before three-times-a-week operation resumes.
New Zealand's newly-renationalised train operator, Kiwi
Rail, is determined to make the Overlander a success, an
they're off to a good start!
For an unbeatable day's travel experience, the fare is a
bargain.
It's easy to buy tickets for the Overlander online at www.tranzscenic.co.nz,
whether you live in NZ or overseas.
You pay by credit card and simply print out your own ticket.
Or you can call 0800
TRAINS(0800
872467) when you're in New Zealand, calls are
free. From outside New Zealand
you can call 00
64 4 495 0775. This is the cheapest way to buy
tickets for the Overlander, direct from the train's operator and
not through any intermediate agency. There are no discounts
for seniors or students on the Overlander, although there are
discounts on the other Tranz Scenic trains.
Reclining seats, facing direction of travel,
all lining up with huge panoramic windows, with loads of legroom even if you're over six feet tall.
Seats
recline to about 40 degrees. Seats are not allocated
at booking, but by the train manager before departure.
However, if you book by phone (or book online and then call
Tranz Scenic's freephone number when you get
to NZ and quote your booking reference) you can make a seating
request. For example, four friends or family
travelling together could request one of the very few bays of 4
seats facing each other around a table, keen photographers
could request a
seat at the front of the train close to the viewing
platform, or you might prefer a seat in the rear coach
near the observation lounge. Requests can't be
guaranteed, of course, but it doesn't hurt to ask!
All your heavy baggage is checked in to the baggage van,
only hand luggage may be taken into the seating coaches.
Observation lounge:
At the back of the train is a small lounge with glass
observation window so you can look back along the track.
Great for socialising! Seats in the lounge are not
allocated but free for all passengers to use. You are
asked not to hog the lounge seats for the whole trip!
Viewing platform:
At the front of the train at the rear of the baggage car
is a small open-air viewing platform, ideal for seeing and
photographing the scenery, with no
glass in between you and it. Children must be
accompanied.
Cafe-bar:
In the centre of the train is a cafe counter selling tea,
coffee, wine, beer, spirits, snacks & light
microwaveable meals at reasonable prices. I can
recommend the Devonshire cream tea in the afternoon, and a
glass of Montana Sauvignon Blanc!
You take your food and drink back to your seat.
Historic coaches: The Overlander's coaches have
been re-built from traditional New Zealand Railways coaches,
built to a design which first appeared in 1938. That's why
they may appear strangely antiquated from the outside (apart from their
new panoramic windows), but inside the coaches have been
refurbished to a very high standard.
What to
see on the Auckland to Wellington train ride...
The crew of the Overlander provide a commentary over the train's
public address system, pointing out things of interest, but
here's a summary of what to look out for on the journey from
Auckland to Wellington:
Above: With its observation car attached at the
rear, the Auckland-Wellington "Overlander" stands at
platform 3 of the Britomart Transportation Centre.
A 423-mile adventure lies ahead...
Above: No wonder filmmaker Peter Jackson
realised that NZ looked so much like Tolkien's Middle
Earth..!..
Above: A green & pleasant land...
Above: Stretching one's legs at National Park!
Above: Crossing the Makatote Viaduct. This
photo was taken from the Overlander's open-air viewing
platform.
Above: Crossing the Hapuawhenua Viaduct.
This photo was taken through the rear-facing observation
lounge window of a northbound Overlander. Note the
original steel viaduct, now a walking trail, on the
left...
Above: The "Cookie Time" DC3!
Above: Coastline north of Wellington, seen in the early
morning light from a northbound 'Overlander'...
The Overlander leaves from Auckland's shiny new
Britomart Transportation
Centre. Unlike the airport 23km away, the
station couldn't be more convenient. It's right at the top of
Queen Street (Auckland's main street), just across the road from
the Devonport and islands ferry terminal, and a few
minutes' walk from all the city centre hotels and the
Sky Tower. You should check-in at least 20
minutes before departure at platform 3. The train manager
sets up a podium on the platform, allocates seats to passengers
with reservations and sells tickets to any last minute
passengers. His assistant will take your heavy bags and
check them into the baggage car.
The Britomart transportation centre was opened in 2003, and the
building that forms its main hall was originally Auckland's
General Post Office, built in 1912 and used as a post office
until the 1990s. Auckland's suburban trains and the
Overlander now use five underground railway platforms, reached by
two short escalators at the back of the main hall. Funnily enough, this was the site of
Auckland's original railway station (albeit on the surface),
right behind the post office, opened in 1885 on land reclaimed
from the sea. This was
closed in 1930 when an imposing new railway terminal was opened
on Beach Road, an inconvenient 15 minutes' walk from the town
centre. Only in 2003 was this 1930 station closed and the
trains once more diverted into the city centre to the new Britomart station. The
impressive 1930 station still stands, it is now a university
accommodation centre. It's virtually a clone of the railway
station at Wellington, which you'll see later!
The Overlander departs at 07:25 and the diesel struggles up the
steep incline out of the station before emerging into the daylight. You'll
see Auckland harbour and container terminal to the left, and a glimpse of the derelict
platforms of Auckland's 1930 station to the right. The
train swings right onto a causeway across the Orakei Basin (a
submerged crater of an extinct volcano), passing
occasional local trains as it snakes its way through the
Auckland suburbs.
From Auckland to the first major stop, the Overlander passes
towns, villages, light industry and farmland. There are
some very scenic sections, with extinct volcanoes dotted in
places over the landscape. The train runs along the
Waikato river and passes right by Mount Taupiri (287metres), the
sacred mountain of the Waikato people. Many ancestors and
chiefs are buried on Taupiri, including all the Maori kings.
Hamilton is the Overlander's first major stop, where there's time to get
off and stretch your legs. Here, the diesel locomotive is
usually changed for an electric. The central part of the
Auckland-Wellington
North Island Main Trunk Railway
between Hamilton and Palmerston North was electrified in 1988, allowing heavier loads
to be hauled over the difficult terrain. Several new bits
of track ("deviations") were also constructed in the 1980s,
easing most severe curves and gradients.
Beyond Hamilton, the scenery starts to hot up. The flat
farmland immediately south of Hamilton is amongst the richest in
the world, grazed by sheep, cattle and red deer. You'll
cross the boundary between Waikato and King Country, and see the
volcano Mt Pirongia (959 metres high) in the distance.
King Country is the area once ruled by the Maori Kings. In
the 1870s, the New Zealand government admitted that it had no
real control over this area. However, after 1882 an
agreement was reached with the kings which allowed a railway to
be constructed. Surveying started in 1883 and construction
in 1885, though it would be another 23 years before Auckland and
Wellington were finally linked by rail.
The train calls at Te Kuiti (alight here for the Waitomo
glow-worm caves) and on the left as it leaves the station you'll see a
king-size statue of a man shearing a sheep. Te Kuiti
bills itself as the sheep shearing capital of the world..! A
few minutes later the Overlander crosses the Waititi viaduct,
built in 1887 and the oldest viaduct on the North Island Main
Trunk Railway.
For the next hour or two, you'll start to appreciate just how
lush and green New Zealand is. The train winds its way
through valleys, hills, rivers, and you
can almost see those hobbit holes in the hillocks! Indeed,
Peter Jackson (filmmaker and producer of the "Lord of the Rings"
films) has said that it was on board an Auckland-Wellington
train aged eighteen and reading Tolkien for the first time, that
he realised how like Tolkien's Middle Earth the New Zealand
landscape is. The train follows the picturesque Ongarue
river all the way to Taumaruni.
About 30 minutes after departing Taumarunui, the traincrew will make an
announcement that the Overlander is about to enter the
world-famous
Raurimu Spiral. Actually a couple of major
hairpin bends then a couple of loops and two tunnels, all built
through thick rainforest, the
Raurimu Spiral is how the railway
engineers building the North Island Main Trunk got the line to
climb 221 metres (700 feet) in less than 6 kilometres (3½
miles). The train
twists, turns, and doubles back on itself as it climbs. As
a result of the spiral, Raurimu to National Park is 11 km by
rail, though only 5.6 km as the crow flies..! Designed in
1898, the spiral was adopted in favour of an earlier proposal
for a longer way round that would have been 19km long and
involved several difficult viaducts.
Just after clearing the top of the
Raurimu Spiral, the train arrives at
National Park station, 7 km by road from
Tongariro National Park
Village. Northbound and southbound Overlanders meet here and
swap crews. The train stops for 45 minutes and you can
stretch your legs, take photographs, or use the station's
excellent buffet. Be warned, a huge queue will form
at the buffet counter minutes after the train's arrival..! On a clear day, you
can see the huge volcanoes in the distance.
After the train leaves National Park, you pass over a succession of imposing
viaducts, in thick bush over huge river
gorges. The first is the famous
Makatote Viaduct,
11km south of National Park, the highest of the lot and a huge
steel structure 860 feet long and 258 feet above the river.
A minute or two later, the Overlander passes
the site at Manganuioteao where engineers building the North Island Main Trunk
from Wellington northwards and from Auckland southwards finally
met and New Zealand's
Prime
Minister Joseph Ward drove in the final spike in 1908. When completed,
the new railway
reduced the Auckland to Wellington journey from 3 days of train,
stagecoach, river steamer and train, to just 14 hours by direct
train. A small grey obelisk marks the spot on the right, though you
may not notice it as the Overlander swishes by.
A few viaducts further on, the huge Hapuawhenua viaduct was
replaced in 1985 and is now a concrete structure, taking a
shorter route across the valley. You can see the original
1908 (now disused) steel viaduct curving round the valley on
your left.
At Ohakune you'll see another New Zealand peculiarity, small wooden
houses originally built by New Zealand Railways for employees.
There are thousands of these houses, all built to the same handful of
designs, all over New Zealand.
Ten minutes after Ohakune the Overlander passes over the
Tangiwai Bridge, across the Whangaehu River. After the huge viaducts in the Tongariro
national park, this seems a very small and unimpressive bridge, but it was
the scene of
New Zealand's worst
ever rail disaster in 1953.
A small memorial stands next to the track on the right. It
was Christmas Eve 1953, and a
lake had formed in the crater of
Mt Ruapehu. The wall
of this crater burst, sending a "lahar" or 6-metre high torrent of water, mud and volcanic rock down
the mountainside and along the river. The lahar washed away a
bridge pier, just before the 3pm Wellington to Auckland express
reached the bridge at around 10:21pm, with 285 people on board.
151 people died as the locomotive and five 2nd class coaches plunged into the river
and were washed downstream.
A sixth, 1st class car teetered on the brink allowing time for
al but one passenger to be rescued, then plunged into the river. Today, bridge piers have been strengthened and an early warning
devices have been placed upstream.
Ten minutes later, the train passes the army camp at Waiouru,
running through barren country some 800 metres above sea level.
There is little vegetation here except grass, because of the
altitude.
After another 15-20 minutes the train doubles back on itself around the Turangarere
Horseshoe, a huge hairpin bend around a small green
valley.
Soon, the train starts following the massive and dramatic Rangitikei river
gorge, and passes over a series of huge viaducts and occasional
tunnel. Once in Mangaweka, look out on the left for
the cafe with a DC3 Dakota aircraft stuck on top of it, painted
in "Cookie Time" colours!
The Overlander descends off the volcanic plateau to Marton, named
after the birthplace of Captain Cook near Middlesbrough.
Marton is on the Wellington-New Plymouth railway, and it is the
point where they started building the North Island Main Trunk
into the interior.
The train descends further down the side of a hill, curves
around a golf course and crosses the Rangitiki River.
Shortly afterwards it stops at Feilding, which has won many
"best kept town" competitions and is proclaimed on the
station signs as "Friendly
Feilding, New Zealand's most beautiful town".
Twenty minutes after Feilding, the train arrives at Palmerston
North's Franklin station. Until 1963, the railway ran
right through the middle of Palmerston North's main square.
This was not very convenient for either New Zealand Railways or
the townspeople, so a new station on a deviation around the
outskirts of the town was constructed. Here, the electric
locomotive is usually exchanged for a diesel, and you have a few
minutes to stretch your legs on the platform.
An hour or two of rich green farmland follows, before the train
reaches the coast. The Overlander runs along a very scenic
stretch of coastline for a fair way, with great views of the
sand and the breaking waves. It may be dark by now, but on
the northbound journey the coastal views in the early morning
sun are wonderful.
The coastline gives way to the picturesque Porirua Harbour and
a stop at Porirua station.
The Overlander heads on to finish it's run at Wellington's imposing
railway station, opened in 1937 and a stone's throw from the New
Zealand Parliament buildings and city centre. You've done
it, you've travelled overland between New Zealand's two biggest cities,
all 423 miles of it. I hope you'll agree, it was an epic
trip.
A brief bit of history...
Surveys for
the route of the North Island Main Trunk Railway started
in 1883, led by one John Rochfort. Building work
started in 1885, and the line was finally completed in
1908.
From the
1920s to the 1950s, the most prestigious train on the
route was the "Night Limited", an overnight sleeping-car
train that would have been used by businessmen,
politicians, in fact anyone who was anyone travelling
between Auckland and Wellington. With fewer stops
and a lighter load it could manage the journey in about 12
hours.
There was
usually also a slower overnight train with more stops,
leaving Auckland and Wellington around 3pm and getting in
next day in the early morning. This had seats but no
sleepers, and it was the train involved in the accident at
Tangiwai.
The third of
the three main daily Auckland-Wellington trains was the
"Daylight Limited", also a fast limited stop train that as
its name suggests ran during the day, from morning till
night. When it switched from steam to diesel haulage
in 1963, it was renamed the "Scenic Daylight".
In 1968, the
"Scenic Daylight" was replaced by fast railcars with
refurbished interiors, built by Fiat. This was
successful, and New Zealand Railways bought several
brand-new stainless-steel railcars from Japan, which it
named "Silver Fern". With comfortable seats and
hostess service, these fast railcars ran the daytime
service between Auckland and Wellington from 1971 until
1991, when they were replaced by the "Overlander".
You can still see Silver Fern railcars around as at least
one has been preserved and runs occasional charter trains.
In 1971, the
"Night Limited" was replaced by the "Silver Star", a
prestige sleeping-car train which used brand-new
stainless-steel sleepers and dining-car also bought from
Japan. Unfortunately, airline competition forced
this service to close before the decade was out, and in
1979 it was replaced by the "Northerner". You can
still travel in the stainless steel "Silver Star" coaches
between Singapore and Bangkok, as they were bought and
rebuilt for the luxurious Eastern & oriental Express
tourist train.
The
"Northerner" had both seats and sleepers until 1987, when
the last sleeping-cars between Auckland and Wellington
were withdrawn. The Northerner continued with seats
only until it was withdrawn in 2004. There is now no
convenient overnight train between Auckland and
Wellington.
The
"Overlander" was introduced in 1991, increasing capacity
compared to the Silver Fern railcars it replaced.
The
Overlander was almost withdrawn itself in 2006, but was
saved, albeit reduced to 3 times a week (as opposed to
daily) in the off-peak season. It now remains as the
only train between Auckland and Wellington.
Watch the
video - The Overlander on the Raurimu Spiral
The video was taken from the Overlander's tail-end
observation lounge, and some shots from the open-air
viewing platform, as it climbs the famous Raurimu
Spiral.
The 'Goodbye' in the title is no longer necessary, as
the Overlander has been saved. Take it the next
time you need to go from Auckland to Wellington!
There is an
excellent Tranz Scenic Railpass giving unlimited travel on
all Tranz-Scenic trains, and (if you buy the ferry-inclusive
version), the Inter-Island Ferry between Wellington and
Picton. If you're going to travel on all 3 trains from
Auckland to Wellington, across on the ferry and down to
Christchurch and on to Greymouth, the 7-day pass makes a lot
of sense. To buy online in the UK, see
www.internationalrail.com. For more information, see
www.tranzscenic.co.nz.
Once you have a railpass, it's easy to make seat
reservations to go with it simply by calling Tranz Scenic on 0800
TRAINS(0800
872467) or from outside New Zealand, 00
64 4 495 0775.
Thomas
Cook Overseas Timetable
It's probably
the most adventurous timetable ever produced... The famous Thomas Cook
Overseas Timetable has train, bus and shipping services for all of New
Zealand, Australia, Asia, America and Africa. It is published
every two months. No serious traveller should be without it!
It costs £13.99 from the bureau de change section of any branch of Thomas
Cook, or it can be order by phone on 01733 416477 (+44 1733 416477
from outside the UK).
Make
sure you take a good guidebook. The Lonely Planets
and Rough Guides are easily the best out there for the independent traveller.
Both guides provide an excellent level of practical information and historical
and cultural background. You won't regret buying one of these
guides..!
Never travel overseas without travel insurance from a reliable
insurer, with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover. It should also cover
cancellation and loss of cash (up to a limit) and belongings.
An annual
multi-trip policy is usually cheaper than several single-trip
policies even for just 2 or 3 trips
a year (I have an annual policy myself). Here are some suggested insurers.
Seat61 gets a small commission if you buy after clicking these
links.
Mobile phones can cost a fortune to use abroad, but if you
buy a global SIM card for your mobile phone from a company
such as
www.Go-Sim.com you can slash the cost by up to 85%. It
cuts call costs in 175 countries worldwide,
and you can receive incoming calls and texts for free in 75 countries. It's pay-as-you-go, so no nasty bills
when you get home. It also works for laptop or PDA data
access. A Go-Sim account and any credit on it doesn't
expire if it's not between trips, unlike some
others, so a Go-Sim phone number becomes your 'global phone
number' for life.
If you're a UK resident, try
If
you're resident in
Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or the EU, try
If you're resident in the USA or Canada, try
