The Night Train to Mundo Fine

The actual train we took.....or something like it

My dearest loveliest friend Karina requested that I write a story about one of our adventures in NZ, so here it is.....

Karina and I had decided to take a much needed break from school and go to Wellington (a one hour flight from Auckland) Karina, who is so skilled in the ways of travel bookings, decided that it would be significantly cheaper to take a train back to Auckland rather than a plane, besides it was only meant to be 8 hours, and wouldn't it be fun???

We had a great time in Wellington. We stayed at a great hostel on the beach called Moana Lodge. We had one rule, that the windows must be kept open at night so that we could hear the surf. The train stop was quite a distance from our hostel but the walk was so beautiful. Everyday we'd pass the house of "the childhood we never had" where the happy blonde children played in the yard whilst Daddy worked in the garden and Mummy made dinner (10 bucks says the dad left the mum for another woman and one of the kids is on P) On our journeys along the coast we also got to encounter the FBI agents who were suspiciously walking in front of us, on the beach, in full suits, shades, ear pieces, the whole deal, talking to themselves in wispers and who also suspiciously disappeared within a few moments of our attention being diverted from them......hmmm strange things indeed.

Another great part of our trip was going to The Lord of The Rings set. Karinas brother-in-law works with Peter Jackson as a gaffer (is that the term?) and got us onto the set for a few hours of delicious snooping.....I have the same bra size as Liv yeah! Our trip however was nearing an end and we were both sad to say goodbye to Wellington. However, we still had our exciting trip back to Auckland by train, oh how we waited in anticipation.

Ahhh yes, we rose early on our last day and wearily made our way to the train station. But spirits were high as I munched on my sausage roll (damn you canada for not selling them) We got on board our home for the next 8 hours and were please to find that we were in the last carriage and the back of it was a giant window with some nice comfy sofas. Oh yes Karina, your decision was looking fine indeed.

Now one would think that a train carrying many people for many hours would sell beaucoup de nourriture but alas, the cafeteria was pretty much sold out. Hmmmm, this did seem a little odd. However, we bought what we could, and Karina defied her Atkins diet for the day (and thankfully defied the whole stupid diet soon after). As we settled back into our seats we overheard a conversation happening in the aisle next to us. A lady was making friends with some of the passengers, nice right.....well no, in fact it wasn't nice. It was damn well torture! Do you know what we learnt on our 13 hour trip on the train, oh yes, 13 hours, not 8! We learnt that she was a teacher and liked the colour green........because thats the only damn thing she spoke about, for 13 hours!!!!

Did he just say we have to take the train home?

By hour 4 we were already going a little crazy.....as we approached hour 8 we were clawing at the doors. For some reason we believed ourselves to be Gollum and we continued our journey in this manner.....yes precious it was a long insane journey for sure precious. By hour 10 we had grown such deteste for our fellow passengers we started giving them evil looks (if the erratic behaviour hadn't tipped them off already this would do the trick) All I can say is that after 13 hours when we finally got off the train I had made a personal vow to never enter one again.

So whilst Karina does have a talent for travel bookings, she has learnt a tough lesson on taking financial shortcuts. And the moral of the story? Is it to take the plane instead? Or perhaps it is to pack your own lunch when travelling on a train.....no, these are simple suggestions. The actual moral of the story is that if you do happen to find yourself on a long distance travel with Karina and I you had better beware, gollum is not the only character we like to take on!