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Spirit of the Antipodes Day 9

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Today was an on-train day. It was to take us all day to travel from Tauranga to our overnight stop in Ohakune.  Having loaded our luggage onto the coaches, we all walked the 300m to meet our train on the Tauranga water front. Today the diesel locomotives would haul our train all the way to Hamilton to be reunited with the steam engine, which had spent the day running tourist shuttles to National Park yesterday.   We were away on time at 9am and I settled in to listen to my audio book as I watched the coastal scenery flash by. The listening was frequently interrupted by the train whistle, which the driver was very keen on sounding at great length, much to the delight of the trackside watchers, and the horror of the livestock along the way.  The first attraction of the day was the 8.8 km long Kaimai tunnel connecting the Port of Tauranga with the rest of the North Island by passing directly through the Kaimai Range. No longer open to passenger trains, it is only the Glenbro...
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Spirit of the Antipodes Day 8

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 Today was an off-train activity day, and while we did spend some time on the rails, it wasn’t on a train, but more about that later.  First, after we had breakfasted and packed our cases again,  we piled onto our allocated coaches and set off at 09:00.  Wallsy and I were in Coach B and assigned to visit the Redwoods Tree Walk this morning. Our driver took us via the scenic route, passing through the Government Gardens, a 50 acre manicured parkland on the edge of Lake Rotorua, gifted by local Maori iwi in the late 1800s.  A recently refurbished tudor-style building, houses the Rotorua Museum. There is also a historic teahouse and band rotunda. It looked like a lovely place for a leisurely stroll, but we will have to come back to do that, as this morning we had a schedule to keep.  Arriving 20 minutes early at the Redwoods Tree Walk we soaked up the atmosphere of the towering forest before entering the 700-metre-long canopy walkway featuring 28 swing bridges...
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Spirit of the Antipodes Day 7

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 We checked out of the hotel early this morning and were on the coach ready to depart at 08:00. As this was the first day of the 11 day rail tour called Spirit of the Antipodes, those of us who had enjoyed the pre-tour were now joined by some new travellers, with more to be collected along the way.  The coach took us back to the Glenbrook Vintage Railway Station where Steam Locomotive Ab608 ‘Passchendaele’ was all fired up and ready to take us on our first trip south to Tokoroa.   We initially travelled on the historic Waiuku Branch Line before joining the North Island Main Trunk Line, stopping at Pukekohe to pick up passengers. The scenery was that of lush farmland before we reached the Waikato River where we passed through significant swamplands.  At one point we were delayed in a passing loop by a passenger train. The delay was prolonged by the train driver who had been using his iPhone to measure speed, the speedometer cable on the train having broken on a recent...
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Spirit of the Antipodes Day 6

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 Today was steam train day - a taster for what is to come over the next few days.  We had a leisurely breakfast and loaded our luggage onto the coach at 10 before travelling south of Auckland to Glenbrook.  Here there was a steam train waiting for us to jump on board and feast on a delicious high tea.  While we ate and sipped our teas and coffees (not an easy feat on a moving steam train!) we travelled some 7.5 kms to the end of the line at Waiuku, where some of us chose to stay on board in our warm, sunny seats in the Parlour Car, and enjoy a second cup of coffee,  while the train was stationary. Others hopped off and listened to a talk about the heritage railway from one of our tour leaders, Sean.   On the way back to the station we all disembarked and stood near the line as the train backed up and then flew past us at full speed for a photo/video opportunity. Very impressive.  A little further on we again stopped and disembarked, this time for a bri...
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