Early start as the train leaves Christchurch at 7am, so we caught the free shuttle bus from the YMCA in Christchurch to the station at 6:10am. Check-in was all very smooth and we checked our luggage all the way through to Wellington.

The journey covered a lot of the same ground that we’d done in the van, at least the Kaikoura to Picton section, but it was nice to be able to gaze out of the window and spend a bit of time catching up with the blog. The train was delayed a little due to a mechanical failure and we made it to Picton with only minutes to spare before the ferry left. We hurried over and boarded the ferry, which was previously a cross-channel ferry known as “Pride of Cherbourg”.

The crossing was very smooth and the sun shone all the way to Wellington. We had some food and relaxed after the mad dash from train to ferry.

On arrival in Wellington we picked up our luggage and caught a shuttle bus to the Wellington City YHA. It’s a very nice hostel, well situated close to the Te Papa museum and a large New World supermarket, and just around the corner from the Embassy Cinema where “Return of the King” had its world premiere in 2003.