Monthly Archives: January 2019

New Zealand update: pictures of trains, planes and automobiles – and even a couple of videos.

31 Thursday Jan 2019

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Despite the jet-lag I found a second wind after a couple of hours dozing, so I managed to  edit a few more New Zealand pictures and get them onto my Zenfolio website. There’s a real mixture – hence the title of this blog! You can find the gallery here.

There’s still many more to sort out. I’ll try and get them on Zenfolio over the weekend. I hope you enjoy them. Oh, if you want to see a couple of video’s of flying out of Queenstown and landing in Auckland, go and have a look at this blog I’ve just added them to the end of.

Rolling blog: Back in Britain…

31 Thursday Jan 2019

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06:20.

It’s a bit of a shock to the system but we’re back in the UK after flying in from Houston. We’ve actually had a very good flight. Our plane was well over half empty. The food was very good and crew were friendly and helpful, my only observation was that this was an 11 year old 777-224 (N69020 for the aviation geeks) so the seat-back entertainment system was rather clunky.

We arrived nearly an hour ahead of schedule after an easy flight. It’s the first time I’ve flown out of Houston and across Texas, so I was surprised to see just how green the state was. After a childhood spent watching cowboy films the last thing I was expecting was to see how green it was with huge tracts of pine forests, winding roads and arrow straight roads. We also crossed Louisiana and Arkansas only by then the clouds had rolled in. leaving little to see but this.

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Admittedly, US cities look rather spectacular when you fly over them at night…

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It was still night when we entered UK airspace and flew past Bristol and up the Thames valley before looping back on ourselves before lining up for our final approach to Heathrow, where we encountered mist and very low cloud. Now we’ve got to re-adapt to UK climate, which isn’t at its best. It looks like we’ll be returning to snow in West Yorkshire. We’ve a few hours to kill before then as our Grand Central service back to Halifax isn’t until 10:57…

09:16

We’ve braved the cold to get on the Piccadilly line tube to Kings Cross. In truth, it’s not a bad day to come back to. The sun’s shining and it’s a beautifully clear but frosty morning.

12:17

After brunch at the Parcel Yard in Kings Cross station we’re now speeding North through a Narnia style landscape courtesy of Grand Central trains (my first UK rail trip of the year). We ran out of sunshine North of Peterborough, swapping it for freezing with visibility down to a couple of hundred metres at most. Doncaster almost looked attractive in the frost (no mean feat) although the further West we get the more the frost’s fading. I don’t envy the guys we passed, working on the station platform extensions at Pontefract, they must be freezing – despite all their PPE.

19:17

We’re home, unpacked and knackered! Having travelled halfway around the planet on two flights, one of 12hrs 30m and the other of 7hrs 45m plus a layover of 2.5 hours as well as having crossed the international dateline has caught up with us. Now it’s time for bed and a chance to begin resetting our body clocks to UK time.
I’ve a favour to ask…
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Returning to the madness of Brexit.

29 Tuesday Jan 2019

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After a month in beautiful and progressive New Zealand it’s time to fly half-way around the planet to return to a country that’s busy trying to destroy itself: Britain.

We’ve been spared the daily madness of Brexit over here, although I have tried to keep abreast of what’s been happening. That’s been a challenge in itself as what’s been happening makes little sense. Today I checked the news to find that Parliament had voted to renegotiate the Irish border backstop in an utterly futile gesture as Parliament is without the power it up. The EU has made it crystal clear that the negotiations are over – as has the Irish government. The EU could be forgiven for asking “which bit of NO is it that you don’t understand”?

We look complete clowns who’re living in a dreamworld of their own creation. We’ve totally trashed our reputation and our standing on the world stage. All other countries can do is look on agog and feel sympathy for those of us who’re caught up in this madness.

Meanwhile, whilst our politicians fiddle, our economy burns. More and more companies are reaching for plan B and the lifeboats to get away from our sinking country before the clock stops ticking in 59 day time. Just 59 days – that’s all we have left now after our politicians (and quite a few voters) have wasted the past two and a half years pretending Unicorns exist, we’ve ‘taken back control’ and that ‘they’ really do need us more than we need them. Brexit is looking more and more like a death cult.

I dread to think what we’re returning to as the impression I’m getting out here and through social media is that many people haven’t got a clue what’s going on and don’t really care anymore (if they ever did). The cry of “just get on with it” (when they haven’t got a Scooby Doo what ‘it’ is) seems to echo around certain circles. My fear is when (far, far too late) the penny finally drops and the consequences of ‘it’ can no longer be denied, things are going to get messy – and possibly bloody.

The Brexit chickens are coming home to roost. Sadly, so are we – and I’m really not looking forward to it…

15:02 (USA time).

After a 12hr 30m flight we’re passing through the faff of US customs. Despite our baggage being checked in to Heathrow the Yanks insist you have to collect it and then check it in again, which is a bit stressful when your connection boards in an hour & the carousel breaks!

Rolling blog: New Zealand day 31. Auckland and the first flight home…

29 Tuesday Jan 2019

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10:15.

Our time in New Zealand’s finally come to an end – just as the heatwave arrives! We’ve spent the morning at Lisa’s packing our suitcases and working out what we can leave to create room for some of the things we’ve bought. Later we’re all going into the city for a farewell lunch at the Crab Shack before heading out to the airport. Neither of us are ready to go home – especially as we’ll be returning to a country that’s increasingly looking like it’s lost it’s marbles thanks to the utter shambles they call Brexit…

I’ll post some pictures throughout the day.

12:27.

All packed up and ready to go…

15:37.

It’s Crab Shack time!

18:20

We’re now at Auckland airport waiting for our Air New Zealand flight to Houston, Texas on the first leg of our trip home. Lisa was brilliant and gave us a lift after the meal, although it was an emotional parting as we don’t want to leave and I’ve not seen her for donkeys years!We’ve had a fabulous time here and I’ll sum up our experiences in another blog. Right now we’re drinking overpriced alcohol in the departure lounge, drowning our sorrows before catching our plane…

We’re on the plane now and trying out our “if we smile they’ll serve us wine” look…

See you on the other side of the pond!

15:55 (US time).

We’ve landed at Houston, Texas and gone through the faff of having to collect your luggage even though it’s checked in all the way through to London. When the carousel breaks down whilst you’re waiting it only adds to the stress levels! Now we’re on our connecting United Airlines flight 880 to Heathrow on another Boeing 777. Thing is – I thought it was always sunny in Texas?

New Zealand day 30: Auckland and area on our last full day…

29 Tuesday Jan 2019

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Yesterday was our last full day in New Zealand so we popped into the centre of town after Lisa dropped us at Papakura station where we caught a suburban train into Auckland city centre. It was my first trip on the local rail network. It wasn’t bad, the trains are comfortable, if a little slow and they’re certainly well used. Auckland traffic’s bad, so it’s no wonder people prefer to use the train if they can. Here’s the type we used, seen at Papakura.

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Once in town we caught the ferry to Waiheke Island which is a 40 minute journey. The weather was glorious – ideal for the trip – as you can see from this picture of the changing Auckland skyline and harbour which I took en-route.

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Waiheke is an attractive little island with lots of activities (cycling, walking etc) as well as less taxing ones like visiting wineries, lying on beaches or sampling some of the local seafood in one of the many restaurants.

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The place is popular with tourists. So much so that we were told that in the summer many of the residents rent out their homes and go and live on their boats! Ones bigger than this one, anyways!

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Our day  out ended when we met up with Lisa again and drove to Karioitahi Beach, near where she lives. It’s a black sand beach popular with locals as its great for beach activities.

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Rolling blog: New Zealand day 29. Wandering around Waiuku and surrounds.

27 Sunday Jan 2019

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We’ve had another slow start to the day due to the cloudy weather, but it’s given me time to catch up on some admin and picture editing, so it’s not all bad. Now the sun’s making a break for it so we’re off  exploring. Watch this space…

23:11.

‘Tis too late for blogging now other than to say we’ve enjoyed another day of changeable weather. We visited a lighthouse which was witness to New Zealand’s worst maritime disaster when HMS Orpheus sank with the loss of 189 lives in 1860 (link). It was just a shame the low clouds gave us less visibility than the Commodore of the ill-fated ship when he preferred to rely on old charts.

Afterwards we headed over to the other side of the Peninsula and enjoyed a couple of hours sunning ourselves on a sandy beach. Pictures will follow soon but right now it’s bedtime as tomorrow is or last full day in New Zealand before flying back and we’re off into Auckland…

New Zealand day 28: Waiuku (near Auckland).

26 Saturday Jan 2019

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We’re having a slow start to the day here in Waiuku, where we’re staying with an old friend of mine from my teenage years in Southport. It’s the first time Lisa and I have seen each other since my sister Ruth’s funeral nearly 15 years ago. How time flies…

We’d actually got a full programme planed for today but the early sunshine soon deserted us and the day was mostly cloudy with a few spots of rain. One thing we did manage was to visit a few local sights. I’m still amazed by how many preserved railways there are on New Zealand and I was delighted to find that Lisa had one on her doorstep – the Glenbrook Vintage Railway. We paid a visit earlier this afternoon and I was impressed by the size of the operation. Not only do they have a lovely little railway, they also have impressive workshop facilities where they’ve a number of locomotives being restored. The line’s only 7.5km in length, but it makes for a relaxed trip – especially if you travel in the Parlour car where you get coffee and cakes included in the fares. Here’s a few shots from our visit.

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Travelling in style in the Parlour car.

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This locomotive was built as WG 480 at the hillside workshop, Dunedin for the NZR in 1910 as a 4-6-4 tank locomotive. The Wg class was designed to meet the need for a more powerful locomotive for the haulage of suburban trains chiefly at Auckland and Wellington. Twenty were produced at the Hillside workshops between 1910 and 1912. The Wg class proved to be very useful locomotive and soon saw a wide variety of duties including haul-freight trains and mail trains.

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Ja 1250, a 4-8-2 express locomotive undergoing a boiler overhaul at Pukeoware Workshop.

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480 running round its train at Glenbrook

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A lovely old signalbox and a fine collection of somersault signals at Glenbrook station

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480 waiting to run a service from Glenbrook to Waiuku.

 

New Zealand day 27. Queenstown to Auckland

25 Friday Jan 2019

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Our time on the South Island’s come to an end today. We’re currently sipping coffee in the “Fat Lamb” cafe in central Queenstown before heading out to the airport ready for our Air New Zealand flight to Auckland this afternoon. I have to admit, there’s hardly anything I recognise about the town since my last visit in 1999. The place has grown and changed that much! As well as being a magnet for adrenaline junkies thanks to all the extreme sports activities based here, it’s also a magnet for a lot of young English people who’ve found jobs. Last night we were sat outside the 1876 bar having a drink and watching all the tradesmen (carpenters, builders etc) having a drink at the end of the working week. The range of regional British accents was quite entertaining! They mingled with others of their generation who were working in the hospitality industry. Tourism obviously generates a lot of money here – not to mention traffic jams! This is the only place we’ve seen on the whole of our trip where traffic is queuing to get in/out of town…

13:30

Now we’re sat at the airport, all ready to go. For an ‘international’ airport it’s a small place where you hang around in the terminal to eat/drink/shop rather than doing so airside.

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Killing time at the airport. Every so often things are enlivened as a domestic flight lands and passengers wander into the terminal off the tarmac to the right of the picture…

Last time I flew from here the turbulence was so bad the plane was like a bucking bronco, which meant the staff weren’t allowed to serve any hot drinks due to the risks. Hopefully today will be a little calmer when our Airbus A320 takes to the skies…

UPDATE (31st January).

Here’s a couple of camera-phone video’s for your entertainment. The first is taking off from Queenstown and heading for Auckland.

The second video is approaching and landing at Auckland on the same flight.

 

 

 

New Zealand day 26. Te Anau to Queenstown.

25 Friday Jan 2019

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Rather frustratingly, yesterday’s blog failed to load due to poor Wi-Fi where we were staying in Te Anau. I’ll finish it off today, then blog about our trip to Queenstown (where we are now). We’ve dropped off our hire-car so we’re on foot again now. Not that it’s a problem as we fly back from here to Auckland tomorrow.

Neither of us are adrenaline junkies, so Queenstown’s extreme sports are wasted on us. Instead, we’re enjoying the scenery and exploring. Right now we’re enjoying a drink outside a bar in central Queenstown. It’s “poets day” here (Piss-Off Early, Tomorrow’s Saturday) so the place is full of builders and hospitality workers – most of whom are English!

Rolling blog: New Zealand day 25. Milford Sound to Te Anau.

23 Wednesday Jan 2019

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Wow! What a fantastic 24 hours that was. I’ll pick up from where we left off yesterday when we ran out of wifi and phone networks after passing through Te Anau.

Our journey from Dunedin met with a variety of weather including heavy rain at the start but picked up for most of the way – until we left Te Anau for Milford Sound. We could see the mountains ahead were swathed in cloud, but we weren’t too bothered as this had been forecasted. Although we didn’t realise it at the time, this was to lead to a fantastic experience as we saw the Milford area at it’s absolute best – in a range of weather. A picture is worth a thousand words, so I’ll describe much of the rest of the trip with them, using captions…

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On the Milford highway en-route to Milford Sound. The torrential rain had produced waterfalls from nowhere.

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This was the view of the road to Milford Sound once we’d passed through the 1930s-50s built tunnel. The weather made it look more Mordor than anything else.

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The passenger terminal at Milford Sound’s been rebuilt since I was last here. The new building and facilities were opened in 2012.

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We were very lucky to see these waterfalls. They would only last a few hours and be gone by the next morning. The non-porous rock in Milford Sound and lack of soil and vegetation means that in many places the rain runs straight off the tops of the mountains and creates effects like this.

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How’s this for a sense of scale?

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This evening we’re taking it easy in Te Anau, which is a small town on a pretty lake. We’re only here one night so we’re staying in the Lake View backpackers where we have a chalet room out in the rear with a new shared toilet and shower block we share with the people camping in the small grounds. The chalets are new and very comfortable for what they are. The place itself is very well organised and maintained, with plenty of communal and kitchen space. It’s popular with people of all ages and nationalities, especially outdoor types who’re here to walk the various trails in the area or visit one of the Sounds.

Tomorrow we move on to Queenstown, our last port of call on the South Island. From there we fly back to Auckland for our final few days before returning to the UK…