New Zealand 2011

When it was time to depart from Tauranga with Yvonne & Nick and head south to Simon and Phen in Christchurch, we had difficulty finding convenient flights ... then came the suggestion from Yvonne of going by train and ferry ...

So that's exactly what I did in the end ... and here's a pictorial account of the 2-day trip, with plenty of 'embedded text' from brochures and posters en route!!!

Luggage is booked in like the airports [but quieter!] and put on board in the goods car for you.

During the construction of the central section of the North Island Main Trunk railway between Wellington and Auckland, a major obstacle was faced - how to cross the steep slopes between the North Island Volcanic Plateau to the east and the valleys and gorges of the Whanganui River to the west.

South of Taumarunui the terrain is steep but not unmanageable, with the exception of the stretch between Raurimu and National Park, where the land rises too steeply for a direct rail route. A direct line between these two points would rise 200 m in a distance of some 5 km, a gradient of 1 in 24.

The area was thoroughly surveyed during the 1880s in an attempt to find a route with a lesser grade, but the only viable possibility seemed to require a 20-km detour and nine massive viaducts. Even then, the gradient would have been over 1 in 50.

The problem was solved in 1898 by R. W. Holmes, Public Works Department engineer. He proposed a line that looped back upon itself and then spiralled around with the aid of tunnels and bridges, rising at a gradient of 1 in 52. Though costly and labour intensive, the scheme was still cheaper than the previous plan by Browne and Turner which required 9 viaducts down the Piopiotea. Probably the most remarkable feature is that, even today, there is no place to view the complete line. By all accounts Holmes visualised the layout in his imagination.