Planes, Trains, Automobiles, and a Ferry too

As previously mentioned, we rented a car to travers the North Island. Our trip from Rotorua to Christchurch to Queensland was a series of one night stays and involved planes, trains, automobiles and a ferry. We watched our beloved Packers lose from a comfy guesthouse in Taupo, which is a gorgeous area similar to Lake Geneva. Next stop was Waikanae, situated along the North Island’s west coast. The beach area was spectacular and unspoiled.

Our Airbnb was a former garage converted into a nice studio room in the host’s backyard. We had access to the main house’s covered deck. So we picked up a pizza and a bottle of wine and had a nice outdoor dinner. Evenings like that remind us how we often miss the veranda at our Brookfield house.

We made our way to Wellington where we dropped off our car. Driving on the left side of the road was not as nerve wracking as we thought it would be, except for the handful of narrow mountain roads. While in Wellington, we checked out New Zealand’s national museum, Te Papa Tongarewa. Excellent presentation on the history of New Zealand and FREE. We are getting a bit “museum’ed out”, so going forward we plan to duck into anyplace that’s free for a quick look. If it’s interesting, great! Otherwise, we don’t feel bad since we haven’t spent any money. And for the first time in our adult lives, we aren’t in a hurry, so a bit of wasted time is ok. A very strange feeling.

Wellington is the capitol of New Zealand. Keep that in mind for trivia night. ? It’s a relatively small walkable city (population 418,000), very hilly, and has a climate like San Francisco – ranging from really nice to damp and cold, all in the same day – and windy.

We took the cable car up to the top of the Botanical Gardens and strolled down the mountainside through beautiful sculptured gardens and headed back to our hotel to pack up for the ferry ride to Picton on the South Island. The Interislander ferry is like the S.S. Badger that crosses Lake Michigan, although newer and much nicer. The crossing takes about 3.5 hours, with the last hour passing through spectacular mountainous islands before arriving in Picton. The weather was ideal and the crossing was very smooth.

Upon arrival, we were picked up by Gary, owner of the Tombstone Backpackers, our home for the night.

A “backpacker” is another name for hostel. We assumed we’d never stay at a hostel. However, we had their sole apartment unit, which consisted of a kitchen/sitting room and separate bedroom with private bathroom. The rest of the place had multiple rooms with bunkbeds and shared bathrooms. The common amenities were extensive and homey and not at all what we thought a hostel would be. It was clean, orderly and the owners made fresh baked scones every morning. As expected, most of the other guests were 20-something foreigners living out of backpacks. We were able to chat with several of the other residents. Man, we missed out when we were in our 20s.

Central Picton is what you would expect in a touristy port – restaurant, bar, store, restaurant, bar, store – repeat. Absolutely, the most interesting thing we experienced in Picton was its public bathrooms. You just have to watch the following video.

These rooms are super clean and free. We didn’t test the 10 minute limit, but it probably included a very polite reminder that time was up. When you turn on the faucet to wash your hands, the toilet automatically flushes, the door unlocks, and you are on your way. It just doesn’t get any better than that. We love New Zealand.

The Tombstone Backpacker is perched on a hill overlooking Picton and the harbor. After a pleasant night sleep, we woke up, looked out the window, and saw emergency vehicles blocking the streets to the port and all adjacent streets. A quick check with Uncle Google revealed that a 25,000 liter natural gas rail car, attached to 8 other tankers, was leaking. The fire department, police officers and port personnel weren’t panicking so we would normally not have been particularly concerned. However, we had tickets to take the 2pm Coastal Train to Christchurch. If the rail yard was closed, we would be out of luck and that would have screwed up the next day’s plan to fly to Queenstown. A chat with the fire captain did not assuage our concerns. When asked how long it would take to reopen the rail yard, he replied, “how long is a string?”. NOT ENCOURAGING. Ultimately, the train left on schedule.

The 7-hour ride to Christchurch was packed with great scenery. Are you noticing a theme here? Top to bottom, New Zealand is a beautiful country. Mountains, meadows, forests, coasts, rivers, vineyards – everything you could want. The train had an observation car with unobstructed views of the countryside. Below are some pictures we took along the way. Click on a picture to see larger view.

We arrived late into Christchurch and had limited time the next day before our flight to Queenstown. We tried to pack in some sightseeing. We passed on the huge beerfest in a nearby park. The set-up was exactly like the beer festival in Milwaukee during the air and water show last summer. BTW-We didn’t go to that one either. We continued on to the Canterbury Museum, which was free (score!) and had some interesting exhibits. We particularly enjoyed the Streets of Old Christchurch exhibit, which is remarkably similar to the Streets of Old Milwaukee in our museum back home. 

We continued to walk and stopped to watch some acrobatic buskers, plying their trade. We also popped into Christchurch’s Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū (guess what – free!). The building was new and beautiful. However, we have decided that we are not big art museum people. Often times, we just don’t get what the artist was trying to communicate. If anyone can explain this piece, we would appreciate knowing what this $1 million sculpture is all about.

We left Christchurch for our flight to Queenstown, which was a strange experience. We walked up to the kiosk, entered our reservation number, printed boarding passes and baggage tags, loaded bags on a conveyor, and walked to the gate. No agent, no security, no scanning. We never even had to show an ID. We did not know what to make of this. In the U.S., TSA wants everything but a blood sample. Turns out, in New Zealand, a domestic flight below a passenger threshold count doesn’t need security. Interesting.

The flight to Queenstown was uneventful with more amazing scenery. The journey continues.