Mike's Day 13: Christchurch to Wellington

We had our 5:40am wake-up call and waited for the 6:10 shuttle to the train station. The shuttle itself was packed. So packed that we had to turn away a sweet old lady at the next hostel. (Don't worry, she made the train and sat near us, and was actually a fascinating woman with tons of travels and stories under her belt).

Got to the train station, and this was our little train:


Another view of the train, with a beautiful sunrise in the background if you squint really hard...

Me on the train.

Our comfy and virtually empty carriage. Weird, as the rest of the train seemed packed.

Taking off!

We had a 5-hour trainride ahead of us, so we sat back and just watched all the lush, gorgeous, stunning scenery pass us by...

Morning mist and sunrise

Little white specks are sheep. You'll see more soon enough.

One of the really cool things about the Tranzscenic is the viewing platform at the front of the train. Any time you feel like getting some air and some amazing scenic shots, you just make your way to the viewing car.

Me and cow.

little lambies

Approaching Kaikoura:

giant salt pile

After our long train ride, we had to hoof it over to the ferry terminal to catch our ferry from Picton, at the tope of the South Island, back to Wellington in the North Island.

in the ferry terminal

our ferry

top of the ferry, still moored in Picton

Mike with Picton in the background

Picton

Me as we leave Picton

Marlborough Sounds

Keeping priorities straight

3 hours later we arrived in Wellington. On our walk across town from the ferry terminal to my house, we passed the Beehive: Wellington's Parliament building.