Chiclanagir

Has anyone done this? Is it worth it or should we just fly.

lapsed kiwi

It's a long trip - half a day to Picton, across the ferry as foot passengers then another long day to Auckland. I have done the ChCh-Picton leg and it is a great trip. I would like to do the North Island leg too because there are some interesting places you see that are not accessible by road. Not sure if I'd do it in one go though

TeamEmbo

I didn't know there were any passenger trains - thought they were all freight, apart from the Trans-Alpine scenic tours

Chiclanagir

I think it is called the Overlander.

nelsonpom

Have done this journey but not on one day. South island train is much more interesting. North Island ok but 12 hours was far too long for us. Glad we have done them but def would not do it in one go.

Chiclanagir

Is it worth than looking at getting the train and ferry to Wellington and then flying from Wellington to Auckland?

Chiclanagir

Well I have answered my own question. I looked at the website and there are no trains running from Wellington to Auckland on the day we need to travel. So think we will do the Christchurch to Picton train and then the ferry across the Cook Straights and stay overnight in Wellington (any hotel recommondations) before flying to Auckland next day.

nelsonpom

Good plan, fantastic scenery on journey. Many hotels in Welly try Wotif should get some bargains

Chiclanagir

Thanks Nelson.

teambwr47

We did the trip the other way around and I thought the Overlander was good even if it was a little bit long at 12hours.

We did the trip with our 2 and 7 year old and they got on ok with it. We did the Overlander to Wellington on the first day then the ferry trip to Picton the next day where we spent a day. The next day was the trip to christchurch and then the next Greymouth via the superb transalpine. We lastly hired a car in Greymouth and drove back to Christchurch before flying home on our last day.

Great way to see a lot of NZ in one trip.

Chiclanagir

Just found out you can get a special ticket from Christchurch on the train including the ferry to Wellington for 125 NZ dollars. Good value.