Sojourn through Kiwi country
Stunner of train ride traverses North Island in New Zealand
On a bright, clear fall morning, the train from Wellington to Auckland clatters away from the rail station precisely as scheduled at 7:55. The temperature hovers in the mid-50s, not at all cold, and typical for a Southern Hemisphere fall morning.
On the 423-mile journey northward through the rural heart of New Zealand’s North Island, the Northern Explorer train, which is owned and operated by Great Journeys of New Zealand, will make several stops, including Ohakune, Tongariro National Park, Otorohanga, Hamilton and finally, some 12 hours later, Auckland.
The Northern Explorer is New Zealand’s longestrunning passenger train, tracing its beginnings to 1883, and one of the world’s greatest rail journeys. The ride is spectacular, simply breathtaking, and arcs across a swatch of one of the world’s most captivating and isolated countries.
The spotlight is on flower-filled meadows, rushing rivers and Tongariro National Park with its snow-cloaked volcanic peaks of Ruapehu, Tongariro and Ngauruhoe. “Lord of the Rings” fans will recognize Ngauruhoe as Mount Doom in the film trilogy, the picturesque lands of Tolkien’s Middle Earth. The views are dramatic, the impetus for fiction, poetry and song.
Impelled by my heart to get away from it all, and by my unrelenting human quiddity of wanderlust, I have come by myself to New Zealand from Brisbane to ride the Northern Explorer to grandly end a work trip. I love the splendor of train travel, especially when I sojourn alone.
One of Great Journey’s options is a tour guide to accompany you, and in Wellington I meet Mark Hockley, who will ride with me to Auckland.
I’m excited as we climb aboard and find seats in the comfortable, well-lit cabin.
“We don’t have Wi-Fi on the train,” he says. “We don’t need it. There’s so much to see that you won’t miss it.”
Instead of traveling straight on into Auckland, I break up the trip with two nights, one at the Powderhorn Chateau in Ohakune with the other at the Park Hotel Ruapehu, the gateway to Tongariro National Park. That’s the wonder of the Northern Explorer: It gives you the option to get off the train and explore.
As the Northern Explorer leaves Wellington, I find the aria of the train cozy and warm inside, a soothing blend of wheels whirling rhythmically against the track, sort of iambic pentameter on rails, and complemented with the laughter of other riders.
As the miles jangle away, the riveting, geographically diverse landscape that stitches together Wellington and Auckland is ever-changing as it slides by through the windows. Outside of Wellington, we near the vast, jeweltoned water of the Kapiti coast of the Tasman Sea before passing over streams glissading through gorges.
Ancient hills of green fly by, their steep slopes kept neatly mowed by countless sheep munching on sweet grass, their white and black coats of wool providing splashes of vibrancy against an emerald background. Nary a ram, ewe or lamb, used to the clacking of the rails, is disturbed by the train’s presence.
“No mammals are native to New Zealand except for two little bats,” Mark explains as we watch sheep scamper. “There are no predators or primates or native snakes.”
Among the other creatures that share the meadows with the sheep are the iconic kiwi, wild turkeys, horses, cattle and ducks.
It is the sheep that rule, though, as the general consensus is that six sheep exist for every person in New Zealand.
Several times, Mark and I brave the chilly air and wander to the open-air carriage to get an unobstructed view of the countryside. Mark has made this journey hundreds of times, but he seems as enthralled as I with this magnificent place that is his homeland.
After passing through Taumarunui, we enter the engineering marvel of the Raurimu Spiral, a part of the track that glides over a series of hairpin turns, loops and tunnels as the train twists, turns and then amazingly doubles back on itself. Some five hours since Wellington, the train stops at Ohakune Station, where we disembark for an overnight stay at Powderhorn Chateau.
Great Journeys partners with Visit Ruapehu, a sort of chamber of commerce, for local sightseeing adventures, and we’re met by
Visit Ruapehu’s Mahalee Guieysse, who will also accompany Mark and me for the next two days.
Among the sites we visit are Ohakune Railway Museum, where curator Ian Heappey tells us the story of the railroad with a display of the Tangawai disaster, New Zealand’s worst rail catastrophe, when on Christmas Eve 1953, the Wellington-toAuckland night express plunged into the flooded Whangaehu River, killing and injuring dozens.
Mahalee, Mark and I then pop next door into Opus Fresh to peruse the stunningly soft outerwear and blankets handmade of merino wool and possum fur. Don’t cringe at the thought of possum fur. New Zealand’s possums have longer, silkier fur than their American cousins.
On our way to Ohakune Carrot Adventure Park, a park, playground and garden complex, to see what is probably the world’s largest carrot sculpture, we stop for pastries at the Chocolate Éclair Shop. After we see the goliath carrot, we stop in for a tasting at Big Mountain Mead, where local ingredients create a light, dry sparkling version of honey mead.
Later that evening at Powderhorn Chateau, we dine at the Powderkeg, the hotel restaurant that serves New Zealand lamb and beef, spinach- and ricottafilled ravioli, and pork ribs known far and wide for their flavor. We toast to the end of the day.
The next morning, Mahalee drives Mark and me to Forgotten World Adventures for a rail cart journey along an abandoned railway line. It would be impossible to count the herds of sheep and cattle that graze these serene hills, but the highlight for me, as a birdwatcher, is a dozen or so wild turkeys prancing on a hillside, their black feathers glittering like diamonds in the morning sun.
Our next stop is Nevalea Alpacas, where we are each assigned an alpaca to walk the verdant pastures. My furry friend’s name is Musty. I call him the reluctant alpaca, as he is an aggravating cuss who wants to stop every moment to eat grass and needs a firm rope tug to get going again.
Afterward, we visit Lauren’s Lavender Farm in Aukopae and Bradley’s Garden, a peaceful, tranquil garden comprised of nine separate “rooms,” including an olive grove cathedral, an Italian garden and a lane of lavender that is a pretty as a melody.
For the second night off the train, we stay at Park Hotel at Tongariro National Park. The spot is low-key and comfortable.
The next morning, Mark and I board the Northern Explorer for its final leg into Auckland, from where I would begin the journey from halfway around the world back to Georgia and Mark would return to his home in Christchurch.
Mother Earth has always called me to her heart, her soul, and traversing New Zealand by train is the idyllic if not romantic path to savor her unending natural beauty. And if you gaze across the dazzling vistas long enough, you may, as I did, see all the way to Creation itself.