BLOG POST 15
From
Bay islands after seeing a helicopter at close quarters doing coast guarding we travelled on our
way south via Whangarei to Auckland's
north shore, the trip which lasted for 3 and half hours, tired after the
exciting cruise we all had a good nap interspersed by Tony and Megan’s jokes.
Tony produced lollies unfailingly
every single day of our tour, after half an hour he would come back with an
empty cover to take back the rubbish . As we travelled back to Auckland we got
to see stunning views of Rangitoto Island, Auckland Harbour and the Hauraki
Gulf.
Our accommodation was the Spencer on Byron,
Takapuna, Auckland.We were very impressed by the hotel which had unsurpassed panoramic views of Rangitoto
Island, Auckland Harbour and the Hauraki Gulf. Our hotel was located just 500
metres from Takapuna a central, coastal suburb of North Shore,
Auckland .
Our room was a single bed room suite with
suite lounge , sitting area with section sofa and
TV , with wonderful views over Takapuna to Auckland CBD, the views were
panoramic and at night the sky gave glittered with splendid and sparkling night
views of Auckland .
There was
a Suite Kitchen,separate bed room, very
comfortable beds, large mirror door closet and good selection of complementary
toiletries. We were able to do our washing in the well equipped living area
fitted with a washing machine and dryer and had complimentary washing powder,
while relaxing in the lounge, both the lounge and bedroom had picture windows
maximising the views.
The hotel
had a club bar – breakfast room with adjoining room having frames with all VIP
signatures, the lobby had a vertical garden and a lovely library.
The
restaurant was the famous thyme restaurant. We had one of
the best breakfasts on our tour at this hotel and started to Rotorua
On the way we first went to the Glenbrook
Vintage Railway (GVR) which is a heritage steam railway in Glenbrook We felt a special attachment to GVR as my
husband’s initials are also GVR ,Godha Venkata Ramana .
The GVR is run by a trust board of three
trustees elected and appointed from Railway Enthusiasts Society (RES)
membership.
It is dedicated to the one of the world's
leading working preservation railways with some of New Zealand's best examples
of great Kiwi Locomotive designs that made the world envious.
It houses many
different types of unique locomotives ranging in size from 3 tonnes to 110
tonnes, both steam and diesel. GVR prides itself for an extremely high standard
of restoration, frequently winning special awards for locomotive, rolling stock
and building restoration work.
We found out that all
this is carried out by volunteers from as young as 8 to as old as 80, these volunteers freely donate their time and efforts to
ensure the success of this rewarding and historically significant project
.
Newcomers
are trained by experienced people and standards are high with a quality of service
and safety second to none, any one willing to spend time from just a few days
to weekly or more often, throughout the year are said to be welcomed here.
Various jobs are done by people from all walks
of life in their spare time volunteers carry out a wide variety of tasks -
ticket sales, souvenir shop and refreshment shop sales and preparation, motor
and hand jigger operation, crowd control, assisting disabled passengers,
ensuring tidiness of the station and facilities, public announcements and other
mundane jobs
Guards
travel on all passenger trains to look after the passengers, help them on and
off the trains, check their tickets, answer any questions and make them
welcome. Guards assist in testing the train brakes, signal to the driver when
the train is due to depart helped by an Assistant Guard
The Glenbrook Vintage
Railway (GVR) operates over 7.5 kms of track from Glenbrook to Victoria Avenue
in Waiuku with a further 500m extension onto Tamakae Reserve in Waiuku in the
pipeline. They operate every weekend and most public holidays ranging from Labour weekend to Queen's
birthday weekend.
Since the opening of the Glenbrook Vintage
Railway in 1977 the entire track, which formed the original Waiuku Branch, has
been replaced, in many places more than once, and extensive yards and sidings
have been laid where none previously existed. This has all been the work of a
well equipped, enthusiastic group of volunteers.
Trains depart from
Glenbrook every 90 minutes starting at 11:00 with the last train at 4:00pm.
We were in time for
the 11 am trip and we were greeted by the station master as soon we went into
the station. The train came into the station huffing and puffing ,we got in and
came to know normally passengers are welcome to alight at Victoria Avenue and
explore the township of Waiuku and catch a later train back to Glenbrook but we
were on a tour package so we travelled
only part of the trip.
After travelling for
some distance where we could see the country side and houses lining on both
sides of the track, we went to the workshop at Pukeoware where the railway
society has its workshops and several other engines are stored.
We found the
volunteers maintaining their running locomotives
in top condition and restoring others to operation. Workshop was well equipped and
ensured that most repair and restoration work on locomotives could be completed
on site.
We also could get to
see the Thomas engine which the kids really loved apparently
The railway had a number of historic station
buildings in its care, interestingly all being from former New Zealand Railways
stations.
Glenbrook Station's
terminal building is made up of the original Waiuku Branch
line Glenbrook station and Patumahoe station buildings.
Glenbrook Station's
picnic area shelter (and eventual platform 2 building) is the
former Kingsland suburban station shelter, moved to Glenbrook in 2003
to make way for the double-tracking of Auckland's Western line
We found that all
these buildings have been restored with so much love and care that they looked
brand new
Special Events are often held, such as
"Friends of Thomas" (the tank engine) weekends, Rail fan Days (with
display freight trains and double decker buses), Country and Western days and
night steam runs
After the ride in the
train which had seats which could be twisted both ways both onward and return
journeys, we went and stood on the outdoor covered viewing platform to get the real
feel of the train journey .
We
finally got down at the station where we were given tea, coffee and snacks by
the lady volunteers,tea and coffee was served in pots covered with dainty doilies
we could also see the display of age old luggage of passengers stored and displayed so carefully for posterity.
GVR went that extra mile to recreate the
"Steam Theme" and helps people understand and enjoy the sights,
sounds and smells that could only be found the golden age of steam.
Specially the young
generation which never experienced the steam engines really enjoy this trip.
All volunteers working as staff greeted us wearing the exact uniforms worn in
that era.
We felt as if we had
travelled back in time, as all of us had experienced the steam engines in our
childhood, gone through the coal engine days, when sitting by the open windows
we could feel the soot settling on our faces and body and by the end of the
trip we would become as black as crows and would wear out the soap clearing the
soot after going to our respective destinations.
We departed Glenbrook thrilled with happiness, having experienced the steam rail journey,memories of which we had long forgotten and began travelling through
magnificent countryside of rolling hills and green pastures famous for
dairying. We found all through our New Zealand tour the cows and sheep busy nibbling the amply found
grass and never had a moment to look up and see the the nosy and noisy tourists.
We continued to Rotorua to visit Paradise
Valley Springs,
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