Welcome Aboard Dears

March 7

Friday was a very early one, with a 5:00am start to be packed and checked out and heading off to the train station to catch the Northern Explorer train that would rail us down the island from Auckland to Wellington. 

Despite the early hour, our taxi arrived on time, our driver was smiling and friendly and we were motored down to the train station, where we dropped our bags with the friendly and smiling attendant and then walked across to collect our boarding passes.  

“Good MORINING,” said the utterly lovely, smiling and cheerful lady who saw to our boarding passes.  “Now you are in carriage B, the second carriage behind the driver and we have you sitting together. Enjoy your trip dears and I’ll see you soon.” Her cheerfulness continued as she described clearly where we were sitting and how to find our seats. I tell you, these people surely do give me a warm glow! 

An eleven hour trip was ahead of us, so I wasn’t in any hurry to be sitting on the train, so I walked a few laps of the platform, looking at the signs and information boards until it was time to board and settle in for the journey ahead. We were greeted again by the delightful lady who had checked us in, who we learnt was Simonne and her team of Matthew, Dawn and Caroline, who were all first class in the friendliness and customer service. 

Daunting as it sounds to be sitting in a train seat for half a day, it was actually quite bearable. We had speccy scenery, some interesting commentary and an absolutely first class service team looking after the passengers. There was also an open air carriage we could stand in to get some fresh air, stretch the legs and get some open air photos. The utterly gold Simonne gave announcements throughout the trip that were utterly brilliant in their friendliness and unscripted chattiness. New Zealand has certainly had top marks for friendliness so far.

We rocked and rolled along the rails, past rolling hills, then through King Country with lush greenery, ferns and rain forest, then up and over the volcanic plateau. We hovered over deep ravines and rivers as we chugged across viaducts, wheeled through small towns and past snow capped mountains.

The time whizzed by and we eventually rolled past the spectacular Wellington Harbour and we’d made it down to the bottom of the top island. As we got off the train, I found Simonne in her small office from where she was delivering her five star announcements.

“Thank you so much,” I said, “you were brilliant and your announcements were pure gold.”

She smiled almost sheepishly and said, “Sorry.”

“No, no,” I said, “I loved it  and the whole team were just awesome. Thank you so much, it was all brilliant.”

“Oh, thank you my love, you’ve just made my day,” she replied with a broad smile, “enjoy your stay dear.”  

I love the way the “dear” and “dears” roll off the tongue. I remember when I watched that delightful NZ TV series ‘The Casketeers’ that calling people “Dear” was in common use and was a lovely term of endearment, so to be on the receiving end of it felt kind of cosy. Louise had stepped off the train and then knocked on the window to say a “Thank you!” to Simonne, who immediately blew Louise a kiss through the glass in reply. What’s that I was saying about the people being five star charming!? We left the station with smiles and our heart cockles warmed!

Once again, it’s the people you come across that make travel that extra special experience and we were certainly coming across some folk that really did put a smile on the dial. As Pop Larkin would say… “Perfik!” 

With a couple of days in Wellington to explore, we’ll see what the capital has to offer.  I’ll leave you with some more images of the North Island by rail. Enjoy the journey dears!