Spirit of the Antipodes Day 7

 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 trip. This was working well until the driver’s phone flew out the door, so a long walk back along the tracks to find it ensued. 

During another stop to take on water and passengers at Frankton Station one passenger took a tumble off a large pile of ballast he had scrambled up in order to photograph the train. When last heard of he was recovering well with water, lunch and a rather large bandaid on his forehead. 

We also dropped a set of wooden carriages behind the diesel engines at Hamilton, to be used for some local excursions while we are doing off-train activities tomorrow. 

Departing Frankton, we joined the freight-only East Coast Main Trunk Line and travelled through the old Hamilton Underground station, before crossing the Claudelands Bridge over the Waikato River. 

The countryside again became green rolling farmland with considerable numbers of dairy cows, many scattering at the approach of a noisy steam train, others simply staring in consternation at the intrusion. 

It was cosy on board and the sunshine coming through the glass combined with the rocking motion of the train was almost putting me to sleep, but the delivery of a delicious packed lunch quickly revived me and any possibility of nodding off was briefly forgotten. 

At Putaruru we waited for another freight train to pass and following a complimentary post-lunch glass of wine, I again struggled to stay awake. Luckily there wasn’t much further to go to complete our first day on the rails. 

We arrived at Rotarua at 4pm and just had time to find our way to our rooms (68 people all vying for two lifts at the same time causing a bit of a bottle neck), and enjoy a quick cup of tea before we were getting back on the coaches to be ferried to the Te Puia Maori Cultural Centre where we were entertained with song, dance and stories before being taken to the geo thermal area to view the bubbling geysers. 










Following this experience, the most active geyser treating us to an eruption before we left, we returned to the restaurant where we were treated to a buffet of meats and vegetables cooked in traditional hangi style. The food was delicious and overall it was a very interesting and informative few hours to top off a relaxing day. 

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