Saturday, 23 January 2016

Choo Choo!

this is a little bit of the trip i'm excited to upload - not to diminish other parts of the adventure - the train part. a KiwiRail Scenic Journey from Picton to Christchurch, the Coastal Pacific. i'm a fan of train travel abroad, but certainly not a fan here in the UK. i have a fond memories of travelling up to Scotland along the East Coast Main Line, close to the North Sea, through towns we avoided or bypassed in the car. but most of my train trip in this land have been on cramped, smelly, low quality trains, that are generally populated by dower people, wishing there were anywhere else. a bit like me.

train travel in a foreign countries is exciting, usually spacious, full of character, and characters. most people are on holiday too, or simply out to enjoy themselves. take a massively delayed train from Dallas to L.A. back in 2004, for example. we (my brother and i) spoke to lots of people on board, but the most miserable people (who we tried to ignore in the end) were from Britain. he and his son moaned about the delay non-stop. the Amish family just liked my tee shirt, and the basketball player was just so full of life it was fantastic! so is it British trains or British people?
The Ride
KiwiRail trains are the same gauge as UK train (i think), but spacious, sparklingly clean, and brilliant. the cafe bar was great, and the seats were comfy too, although i hardly used mine! they have a viewing car, where else would i be? this isn't the wonderful Amtrak style double-decker Sightseeing Car, with floor to ceiling windows and arms chairs. this is an open-sided car with no seats, lots of wind, a few diesel fumes, large amounts of dust, and quite a tiring place to spend an entire day. despite that, i did spend all day here, except for lunch, and i'm so glad i did - it was brilliant. seeing the South Island, Marlborough, and Canterbury rolling by, the vineyards, hills, rivers, lakes, sea, cliffs, towns, roads, and cars etc.. screw sitting down, i'm used to standing from London KX to Doncaster!

more on the trip on Flickr over the next week or so, but for more info on the trip click here;
http://www.kiwirailscenic.co.nz/coastal-pacific/?servicename=Coastal%20Pacific

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