Train/road trip
Trip Start
Jun 06, 2010
1
Trip End
Jun 06, 2010
Kaikoura, South Island, New Zealand
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Well thats what we did,that is the Lincoln Pine family and Neil and Annemieke did on Sunday morning.Mass exidous to get to the train station at 6.40 am.
Having boarded the train we went to claim our designated seats.So here is a 3 year old and a 53 year old, who find their forward facing seats nabbed by some fat social club members.So we take the rear facing seats hoping for an opportunity to claim our seats when the fattys go yo have breakfast.Got to have a plan,like we just pinch them back, and show them our tickets!!!
So then we start unloading lincolns bag on the table,like just beeing considerate ,not!!! and along comes the conductor.Tickets please he asks,may be he will sort them out. Are you with the social club? he asks.NO wre not that fat I reply.LOL-ROR!!!
Ok then would you 2 like to go to the rear carridge where there is more room. (and not sit with these 2 fattys??)Yip that will suit us Fine I said.
heres the thing, after parting with our two new best friends we negotiate the wobbly carridge.After walking drunkenly down the aisle inbetween fat social club people we arrive at the JUNCTION ot the two carridges. To my amusement I notice the joining floor is twice as wobbly, if not thrice!!! Oh how will I get lincoln through that ? I ponder ,as my hands are to full to help the little man. However i manage to hold his hand as we traverse thewobbly bits without any sign of protest from Lincoln,then as we enter the rear carridge I notice its vrey comfy, infact we were upgraded to the 1st class carridge.
As it is still dark we couldnt see that the rear of the carridge has a huge glass window to view lincolns favourite thing... TRAIN TRACKS!!!
Soi here we are in first class luxury looking out the window at a grey dawn finding things kike flying pigs and purple propellors. Suddenly a nice grand mother interupts do you know there is a big viewing window at the back of the carridge?
KPOW like a rocket we were there,leaving our books and uneaten food on yhe table. Like a magnet Lincoln is drawn to the train tracks!! on his elbows looking ot the parrellel lines dissapearing into the horison.he is fixed as a rivet to the spot,centre rear of the train.Occasionally he shrieks POINTS or DING DINGS!!! as we encounter them.
The view is a full 270 degrees from the u shaped couch which is surprisingly un populated.We see some amazing landscapes of snow capped mountains,braided rivers farm animails and lots of geen stuff like trees and grass.
Mean while Im texting the rest of the family following us in the kombi.They are about half an hour behind us,
As we pass through the towns a informative commentry is given by our friendly conductor.
We saw many of the usual sights like a concete truck ,road bridges,trucks and trailers and of course cars who over haul us mostly.There were sheep and cattle but no Lamas to be seen!!
The scenery stepped up when we reached the coast line just North of the Conway river,with fine views of the kaikoura coastline and associated surf and rocky coast line.Some saw a seal but we could only see rock look a likes!!
Then just as suddenley as we hit the coast we were tunneling,I guess thats what its called.As we passed through a dozen or so tunnels of varing length ,one was 1 km long apparentley, Good fun for every body to experience the darkness inside the tunnels.
Then before we new it we had arrived at kaikoura station,with no sign of the Kombi we decided to admire the engine which according to lincoln was very powerful diesel in yellow and black.
Then we just had time for a hot drink as the family consisting of Annemieke,Anneke; and Elanor:Lincolns little 2 year old sisterall arrived.
After our reunions we all climbed into the kombi for a trip to the seal colony, As we drove there it was still raining and blowing a gale at the point where the seals hang out.So no sooner than we arrived we departed, stopping for a view of a posing seal without leaving the van.The bast way to view a sael collony during a storm,thats for sure.
As it was now lunch time the most obvious choice is the best local fish and chips!! This warmed us up nicely and gave us a nice meetng with some ex neighbours and to catch up with off spring arrivals. score 2 all.for now at least.
Off to the beach which was comparitivley sheltered,for another hot drink (this time from the kombi kitchen)and a run around to stretch our legs before the final leg of our journey.
We then headed for the hills back to christchurch, The kombi performed as kombis do, slowly ,despite annemiekes best efforts the 50 hp engine wouldnt perform like her corvette!!
The only problem from the volkswagen was the retrofitted gas heater stopped working due to lack af gas!!! The secondary bottle was not connected properley leaving us with the factory heater which does little more than demist the windscreen And the blankets which were most useful on the 3 hour return trip.
We reached Christchurch to more rain and pondered what else would you do on a wet winter day??
Comments
Enjoyed the blog dad, well written.
thanks. It was a big day out for all of us. Thanks for coming along to colect us!!Neil