Ride the rails and hit the Sails
After a spectacular journey through the North Island, with views to die for and cleaning up at backgammon, Bess Manson sets out to have her fill of Auckland’s best food and drink.
The journey started with a dad joke: can say we don’t make the best of what we have. Mangaweka. Poplars pointing accusingly at the ‘‘There’s no wi-fi, but we do have ‘windows’ It takes in the central North Island’s Tongariro grey sky. They should tell it to stop raining. available, no password needed.’’ It took a National Park, and if you’re lucky with the The Rangitı¯kei is next and our first massive beat before the passengers onboard the weather you’ll get to see its three volcanic viaduct over the Rangitı¯kei River with its
Northern Explorer looked out the massive mountains – Tongariro, Nga¯uruhoe and Ruapehu. enormous sandstone Papa cliffs. windows and got the gag. Just before 8am we are masked up and heading This part of the journey is best viewed from the
Through these panoramic portals we would up country. open-air deck at the back of the train. experience the wild and changing landscape of the Travelling with my husband Eric, our journey Awhite-knuckled experience for those with central North Island for 11 hours, which was a is peppered with some savagely competitive height issues but pretty spectacular nonetheless. pretty appealing prospect, not just for the scenery backgammon, the obligatory card games, and We pass through New Zealand’s highest railway but for the fact that for awhole day we need do plenty of good grub – the licensed cafe does a station at Waio¯uru, the Kaimanawa Range. nothing but sit, eat, read, watch, and learn about roaring trade. Richard is at the till, and amore We climb to 800 metres above sea level, and this our own backyard. effervescent and pleasant chap you’d be hardis where we hit more viaducts – the Makatote is the
We mused that in the time it would take to take pressed to find. highest at 79m high but the others – Manganui-o-teus from Wellington to Auckland, we could be in The cafe serves Wishbone food, including Ao and Hapuawhenua – are pretty vertiginous at Bangkok, Singapore, to Sydney and back twice. wraps, salads and hot food. We ordered the smoked 34m and 45m, and each one bridges deep, twisting But, of course, there’s the rub. No-one’s going salmon and soba noodles, followed later in the day gorges. across the border, so we can finally live up to that by a generous cheese platter with walnuts, fig Peppered between the viaducts are huge advertisement’s advice: to see the country before chutney and dried apricots, washed down with a waterfalls dropping out of the dramatic landscape. leaving town. shiraz. Here was the Aotearoa I thought I knew but had
Masks are obligatory on the journey (we’ve The commentary on individual headsets is full never seen, certainly not from this perspective. learnt to see the smiles in people’s eyes) but as we of frantically interesting history, and some By National Park, we’re two-all in the all know, we’re all in this together and sticking to dynamite titbits of trivia. If it’s awell-known fact backgammon stakes. We’re looking forward to our the rules is what we do pretty well. that former All Black Colin ‘‘Pine Tree’’ Meads wine and cheese snack, but trying to hold out for
Even before we board the train, two helpful used to run up and down the hills in Te Ku¯iti (the 5pm. No sense in peaking too early. staff, both called Rob – a job requirement? – offer to sheep shearing capital of the world) with a sheep Ruapehu was mostly shrouded in cloud on the help with our bags and give us the info on our under each arm to keep fit, I’ve been hiding under day of our travel but no matter, up next is the journey. a rock. completely miraculous Raurimu Spiral, known as
In a nutshell, the Northern Explorer is New Once out of Wellington, we meander up the the engineering masterpiece of its time.
Zealand’s longest-running passenger service. It Kapiti Coast. As we pass banks of spring flowers – It was designed in 1898 to negotiate a 139m runs between Wellington and Auckland, stopping wild sweet peas, blackberry patches, nasturtiums, escarpment between the plateau and the valleys at Palmerston North, hakune,O¯ National Park, and orange blossom, and lupin – I’m one up in the and gorges of Whanganui. The unfathomable Hamilton. backgammon stakes. single-track railway is a series of engineering feats,
We will pass through various capitals, we’re We pass paddocks of sheep, cows, pu¯keko. with horseshoe curves and tunnels. told: Taihape, the Gumboot¯toOCapitaloftheWorld;ThelushplainsbeyondPalmerstonNorthgiveUpon torohanga, home of the Waitomo hakune, the Carrot Capital of the World. No-one way to the green volcanic peaks of farmland in the Cave system and all its millions of glow-worms.
We carry on at a ferocious clip, racing up hill and down dale, passing aquamarine rivers crisscrossing the landscape. The mists hang low around tiny settlements. Tributaries leading to
Whanganui River snake this way and that.
We pass through Nga¯ruawa¯hia, once considered as a potential capital of Aotearoa and home of the Ma¯ori King Movement.
The commentary offers a great plotted history of kı¯ngitanga.
On to Huntly, home to the largest thermal power station in the country.
Then, finally, the Bombay Hills are in sight. We wend our way through the lush market gardens of Pukekohe and we can sense the city ahead.
I’m up 5/4 on the backgammon boardwhenwe roll into Auckland’s Strand, on time.
It’s been a great day in the backyard.
Auckland
Our first stop on day one is an ascent up the Sky Tower. At 220m we ponder the possibility of a Sky Walk on this perfectly clear morning in the City of Sails.
Eric says the view from indoors is enough. In fact just riding up the super-duper lift is a bit of awild ride looking through the glass floor at the ground dropping beneath.
You can start the day with a sunrise yoga session up there, and finish it downstairs with a flutter at the Sky City Casino.
Our mission, we decided, was to eat our way around the city for the next 48 hours. That’s as good away as any to get a feel for the place.
The heavens opened while we were down by the waterfront, sowe ducked into the first place we could find.
It turned out to be a happy accident because The Shucker Brothers in the Ferry Buildingwas serving some great kaimoana.
Oysters, octopus a la plancha, trevally ceviche and a glass of rose. Just the thing.
We moved on by way of an electric scooter, which I’d recommend, but advise against riding shotgun. Our spectacular tumble was observed and roundly ignored by the good people of Auckland. My ego and knee are still stinging.
That night we headed Sky-wards to The Sugar Club for a pre-dinner drink.
We mooch across Queen St to O’Connell Street Bistro, a bijoux joint with only seven or eight tables.
Dinner was something special – puka, Moreton Bay bug ravioli, celeriac, vanilla and shellfish bisque, rib eye, mushrooms, onion, wasabi butter, and oxtail jus.
On to gamble away the family farm, or at least the $50 we had allowed ourselves.
I have no blackjack experience to speak of, but it’s a frightening thing to learn quickly and lose fast. Even scarier to win.
We were $80 up before the inevitable happened. Kenny Rogers’ The Gambler was playing loud in my head as we stood to leave – ‘‘know when to walk away, know when to run’’.
On day two, it’s cinnamon buns from Federal Delicatessen downstairs and off to the Waiheke Island ferry.
During the 45-minute sailing, we see the Team NZ America’s Cup boat heading across the harbour in training. That thing can fly.
On Waiheke, we take a cab to Stonyridge Vineyard.
The vines at Stonyridge are from Bordeaux. People said Stephen White, who bought the place in 1981, wasmad for planting that grape there but the microclimate and his perseverance proved them wrong.
White also produces olive oil and olives and, in summer, the vineyard opens its Tiki Bar on the terrace overlooking the vines below.
As we eat our sharing platter a helicopter lands in the paddock below. A waiter heads down with a tray of wines to greet the new arrivals.
Butwho needs a chopperwhen there’s a perfectly good bus service?
That said, the mood struck us to hitch our way back to the ferry via Ostend for a coffee at the excellent Timbuktu Nomadic Deli, and on to the town of Onetangi, a bustling hive of surf shops, bars and eateries.
From there, we walked the last kilometre to the ferry terminal along a quiet road flanked by lush bush and bright bougainvillea.
Back in the big smoke, Al Brown’s Depot had been recommended, so we went there for dinner.
We had kingfish sashimi with oyster cream, apple and fennel seeds, followed by pork hock with apple and horseradish salsa verde, and some potato skins with manchego, truffle oil and porcini salt. Forty-eight hours goes by quickly. Too quickly. Auckland, you barely touched the sides.
The deal
The Northern Explorer train operates from Auckland to Wellington on Monday, Thursday and Saturday, and from Wellington to Auckland on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
The Great Journeys of New Zealand is offering a three-night package from Wellington to Auckland, from $957, including return train travel, three nights’ accommodation (including transfers), a Sky Tower viewing experience, and a half day wine and dine tour of Waiheke Island.
Based on share twin until March 31.
See greatjourneysofnz.co.nz/packages/ auckland-city-break.