DOWN UNDER with TT-ONR-NRN (+ other overseas ventures)

[TheBigD]

Thanks for the review of the Northern Explorer, hoping to do it myself next year. The "food" in the cafe was also mentioned in a youtube video of it I watched a while ago.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Good to hear the recommendation on Wellington, and just to make sure: Rotarua

I enjoyed the read, I had to do it fast due to limited time on break at work. That stopover thing sounds intriguing, I'll be making a note of that. I'd heard the cafe is not great on that train, I'll 100% be stocking up on actual food to picnic with on the train when I eventually get there!

Thanks for the review of the Northern Explorer, hoping to do it myself next year. The "food" in the cafe was also mentioned in a youtube video of it I watched a while ago.

Yes, please don’t get your hopes up for the food. The nibbles were nice enough, mind. It’s 8am and I’m in Starbucks in Central Syd desperately trying to keep myself awake with coffee after unexpectedly pulling an all nighter. A 12:30am (our time) phone call to discuss a holiday plan turned into six hours of tedious “looking and booking,” as I call it. We now have ten days in Faliraki Rhodes booked for September but I have not been able to go to bed

If I don’t die of exhaustion after class, I’ll see if I can get the next report up by British time morning

 

[Techniquest]

Ooh I do love a good holiday planning session, sometimes the longer it goes on the better as you find so many things you'd have not considered otherwise! Mind you, even then it gets to a point of 'let's book something before I go mad'!

I'll be visiting a supermarket and taking a big bag of food and drink with me on the train when I do NZ. I'd imagine vegan is easier there than it is in the USA at least!

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Day 74: Exploring Wellington's city, freaky fruit and British Rail Mark 2s

Part One

I had a very comfortable night in Wellington and slept well, almost too well as it came close to me sleeping through the alarm I'd set for 7am. Ugh, what a disgusting time to be up at, but if you read my previous report (and if you didn't, have a bad day ) then you'll know I was a stupid thing that left his suitcase on the train, and I had to get back to that train before it ran 650km back up to Auckland with my luggage aboard. I slipped out of the house and onto a double-decker bus that appeared almost immediately at the top directly outside the house.

This might have been my first time getting a double-decker outside of the UK, where of course they're commonplace, but I can't quite remember, and it took a bit of a convoluted route all round the houses to get to Central Wellington but did make it in the end. Well, to make a long story short, they had put my suitcase in a little cupboard on Platform 9, so I could've rocked up at any time rather than stupidly early to meet the train, but at least I had it. You're very much mistaken if you think I was willing to drag that wonky thing around all day, so I resolved to return to my great aunt's house to drop it off before doing some exploring, although first I couldn't resist quickly jumping on the next train to depart to check out Wellington's commuter trains. They're funny things, which look like they've got a gangway but haven't, and I actually think they look quite good. I don't know if you've ever seen or been on the little 150-esque DMUs in Ireland that work branches such as the Cobh line, but I thought these Wellington EMUs were rather reminiscent of those in terms of external appearance. I haven't been on one; I haven't even been to Ireland at all.

(Thankfully the clouds cleared pretty fast!)

The train I boarded left the large Wellington station - which, by the way, had no less than thirty seven of these two-carriage EMUs parked there, either single, coupled to another one, or coupled to two others, and either parked in a platform or in the many adjacent sidings - and almost immediately the track aligned with the sea. Ngauranga station is the first stop, and it's a beautiful station, a remote and unstaffed island sandwiched between the State Highway and the ocean, which looks really vast and impressive from on the platforms. Unfortunately while waiting here, my throat really started to play up with the unusual sharp stabbing pains, but there was a New World supermarket at Wellington station, and on returning there I grabbed some paracetamol and throat soothers. That solved it for the time being.



Back on the bus and back to my great aunt's house to drop off the suitcase, and we both had a nice cup of tea before I headed out to catch the bus again. The public transport card for Wellington is called Snapper, and the night before my great aunt had handed me one she'd got for me specially, so that I may explore the place with ease. She'd loaded it up with $20 as well, and insisted I take it to get around, which was really very kind and so helpful; I had no trouble with this smartcard at all. Getting the bus back to the centre, I jumped off at the foot of potentially Wellington's most famous tourist attraction, which is the cable car. Not cable car as in gondola lift, but as in funicular cableway. It's a very famous iconic part of Wellington that one simply must ride when on board. Snapper is valid for a trip in this quaint elderly carriage, which is doubly helpful, there are three intermediate stops served only by request. There are two long tunnels, and a recent addition is strobe LED lighting, which actually is incredible. I can't explain it. It's like a train passing through a silent nightclub.

Club in a car.

The view from the summit is really, really nice. Wellington is famous for its "boxes in the hills" backdrop, aka the houses dotted all up and down the mountains that surround the city. One must take a photo here. The cable car as it begins to descend, with the beautiful harbour and city scenery in the background, is a famous and iconic Wellington photo shot, and it's where everyone comes to get a photo.




At the bottom of the cable car was a Starbucks, and much as I favour Italian culture (and pride myself on maintaining a predominantly authentic Mediterranean diet, DM me for my pasta sauce recipes which outdo the restaurant that I used to chef for's ) I am a fan of this hated-by-Italians chain, and so picked up a delicious vanilla latte. Hot, of course. I seem to be the only person under 25 I know that doesn't find iced coffee appealing. It's not bad, but I love how warming and comforting a hot coffee is. I enjoyed this walking through the city and along the beautiful harbour.




Next up, I wanted another random jaunt to a mystery location on the local rail service, so I jumped on the first service I saw at Wellington which took me to this extremely high up station on a tight curve overlooking a cliff, Crofton Downs. Immediately adjacent was a large Woolworths, only it's not called that in N.Z, it's called Countdown, though it retains the same identical branding and colour scheme, etc. Here, I was instantly curious upon noticing a rather peculiar spiky orange fruit I'd never seen before, called a Kiwano. Well I just thought, can there be anything more New Zealand-ish than a local fruit called that? (I believe it's originally from Africa) I bought it and cut it open, to reveal a rather curious gelatine-like filling which tasted faintly of very green banana. It wasn't nice, to be honest, it was a gunky mess with a bad aftertaste and left my tongue feeling very odd, but I regretted nothing I love to try new foods, especially ones that sound as quintessentially New Zealand as "Kiwano" so I was glad I bought it.



Squidge.

Continued in Part Two

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Day 74: Exploring Wellington's city, freaky fruit and British Rail Mark 2s

Part Two:

Right, forget the Kiwano and it's gross goo... Time for some REAL food now, I thought, so back over to Wellington Harbour and to a beautiful restaurant with an open air terrace on the top floor, with beautiful views on both sides - of the harbour to the front and of the city to the back. They served steak tartare here, which is one of my absolute weaknesses. I can never resist. Yes, for those who don't know, this is raw steak (yes, it's 100% raw, but it's prepared very safely) cut up and mixed with capers, shallots, Worcestershire sauce, etc. and served usually either with artisan bread or potato chips. In this case, it came with some good quality crusty sourdough. To the left of me, a couple were sharing a bowl of what looked like the crispiest French fries I'd ever seen, so I ordered some of those too, but this proved to be a mistake as they came and there were KILOGRAMS OF THEM, a truly ridiculous portion size. And indeed, they were incredible, so crispy that they were practically hollow as the inside had practically been fried away. I squeezed lemon all over them (trust me, it really elevates them) and dipped them in mayo, which traditionally I never liked but since going to Belgium I've began to appreciate chips and mayo, but there were just so many and they were so crispy and fried I began to feel a bit sickened eating them. So I ordered a load of sourdough, and figured I'd squeeze more lemon over the fries and have them in the bread. Most fancy chip butty ever known to man.



It was absolutely delicious, but it quickly transpired that ordering more carbs to help me eat the carbs I already had was a bad idea. I was so, so stuffed

Carbohydrate overload

Back to the station again, I know I sound comically back-and-forthish in this report but the station is immediately next to the harbour, so I wasn't really running about like a yo-yo at all really, for the Masterton train. While 95% of MetLink services are operated by the EMUs as ridden on earlier, the exception are Masterton (5tpd, 2tpd weekends) and Palmerston (2tpd weekdays only) services, which run beyond the limit of electrification, so a very small proportion are operated by locomotives. And these 7tpd really do make up a small proportion if you think about it, because there are nine to ten commuter departures from Wellington each hour off-peak. I wasn't interested in riding this for the locomotive itself, which looked pretty much identical to the KiwiRail one that had hauled me down from Auckland. I was riding this train for the carriages. Why? Because they're British Rail Mark 2s! Yep. Not based on MK2s, like how the XPT in New South Wales is based on the HST, but actual physical British Rail Mark 2s which once upon a time would have carried passengers in the UK. And I mean look, you can tell immediately. They have fitted them with power doors like current operators of the HST have done with the MK3s, but the interesting thing is these power doors look absolutely identical to the original slam doors of the MK2. Maybe they are the same doors just fitted with hinges, who knows.

Familiarity.



Anyway, I got on board. The vast majority of the MK2s in New Zealand were heavily refurbished and fitted with plugs, Wi-Fi, a modern PIS and really nice high-back, winged seats - these are referred to as SW carriages - but for fanatics of hauled stock who want ultimate nostalgia, there is a handful of "SE carriages" which feature seats far more reminiscent of the original low back, fixed armrest seating of MK2s from their days in the UK. These used to be all put together into one set, which was apparently very unpopular with Kiwis due to lacking the Wi-Fi, curtains, tables and charging points of the SW carriages, but now they're all mixed in with the refurbished ones.

An unpopular "SE carriage" which has a more traditional MK2 feel.

Most of NZ's MK2s are refurbished "SW carriages" like this one, with the nice winged seats.

I decided to travel in a refurbished carriage because they were indeed much nicer, and I wanted to charge my phone. I took a table seat and went for a forty-five minute or so ride to Upper Hutt which is the limit of electrification. From here, it was back on a commuter train all stops for an hour back to Wellington, and upon arrival it was dark, so I decided to take the cable car once more to admire the view in the dark before returning to base on the bus. My lovely great aunt made a nice dinner, and we then drank copious cups of tea in her living room while I told her about my day.



It was a lovely day, and if you may be thinking - that's didn't appear to be as scenic as Auckland (partially my fault as I didn't take many pictures in Wellington that day) - AHO! Just wait until the next day. The next day will change your opinion, trust me.

It's 03:40 in Sydders right now. I need to go to beeeeddddd fam. GN.

 

[Techniquest]

I like what I see so far, bring on Wellington's more scenic views in the next bit!

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

I like what I see so far, bring on Wellington's more scenic views in the next bit!

Yes, if anything that first day was an excuse for me to go on trains and eat food The next day was a lot more special.

 

[daveo]

Yes, if anything that first day was an excuse for me to go on trains and eat food The next day was a lot more special.

Being an apparently fairly comfortably off atypical student why don't you just invest in a new suitcase???

 

[Techniquest]

Yes, if anything that first day was an excuse for me to go on trains and eat food The next day was a lot more special.

Fair enough! Wellington does look worth investing time in, and I have delayed somewhat the planning of New Zealand for now. Making the most of the UK, and ideally knocking down my wants list, is crucial right now. I usually get a bit homesick by the end of an adventure, but that trip to the USA really opened my eyes to how much better things are here. So for now, New Zealand is on the backburner while I enjoy the UK Maybe next year for New Zealand!

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Being an apparently fairly comfortably off atypical student why don't you just invest in a new suitcase???

Hahahahaha. I have two suitcases with me but they're much too big for a two week trip away from Sydney, so I borrowed my friend's small case, which seemed perfectly fine at first!

Wellington does look worth investing time in, and I have delayed somewhat the planning of New Zealand for now. Making the most of the UK, and ideally knocking down my wants list, is crucial right now. I usually get a bit homesick by the end of an adventure, but that trip to the USA really opened my eyes to how much better things are here. So for now, New Zealand is on the backburner while I enjoy the UK Maybe next year for New Zealand!

Yes, my list of wants has certainly increased over the past four months.

 

[Westerndiesels]

I thoroughly enjoy reading your tales of travel. As well as the great pics of your destinations I love seeing the pics of, or you describing, the journeys. The space, for example, on various airlines or trains youve been on. It might not of interest to some but I enjoy travelling in comfort when I can and like hearing of others experiences.

I also like you talking about the food you get, good or bad. Its very honest and interesting. Hope keep it going.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

I thoroughly enjoy reading your tales of travel. As well as the great pics of your destinations I love seeing the pics of, or you describing, the journeys. The space, for example, on various airlines or trains youve been on. It might not of interest to some but I enjoy travelling in comfort when I can and like hearing of others experiences.

I also like you talking about the food you get, good or bad. Its very honest and interesting. Hope keep it going.

What a lovely comment, thank you. I’m so glad you enjoy the reports. I do like to go into particular detail about the food, probably as I’m such a foodie myself and actually was a chef at an Italian restaurant before I was forced to resign to go to Australia. Coming up very soon is the report of Emirates First Class, which featured SIX COURSES at dinner, so I can’t wait to write all about that one!

Unfortunately, not all food is good… if you read my Thirroul Pool and Bald Hill Lookout report from about a month ago, you’ll know I was floored by a mouldy fishburger

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Day 75: Incredible day touring round the mountains & coasts of Wellington

As you'll remember, I got up very early on Day 74 to collect my cursed suitcase from Wellington station, so it may not surprise you that Day 75 began with a lie in. I got up at 11am, which isn't actually that late at all by my usual standards to be honest, especially as travelling is tiring and the bed at my great-aunt's is very comfortable, and joined my great-aunt in the living room for a couple cups of tea. I'd developed a sudden craving for hot sweet tea over the past few days, don't ask me why because I don't know, and so we drank tea while I edited some social media videos and she read the papers. She actually reads the whole paper. I remember well that her sister only used to do the sudoko and crossword About forty minutes or so later, we set off to go on a drive around.

First, we drove up the rather dauntingly winding road to Mount Victoria, and I can tell you with confidence that the view is far more impressive than the view from Mount Eden. I got plenty of videos and panoramic recordings, but not a great deal of photos, although there is this.



I'm being concise today because I'm writing at approx. 4am and I'm really tired. But immediately after, we began a very long drive (I'd have liked it to be longer, it was fantastic) all around the bays that surround the city of Wellington, and let me tell you they're stunning. They're really reminiscent of something you'd see in Northern Scotland, oh - except there is a sign which is more reminiscent of Hollywood than anything A photo was necessary. What dreadful tourist behaviour, I know.



The speed limits are quite generous, and let me tell you, it felt incredible to drive fast along these beautiful coasts with the window open and the breeze coming through. Here's a picture from one of my particular favourite spots around the bay. It's really stunning.



As you know, many local houses in the hilly city are actually situated in the physical mountains themselves, hence Wellington's unique appearance of houses and lights dotted all over the mountains that surround it, and because many residents can't get a car up to the house, they walk up steep steps and send shopping and large items up PRIVATE FUNICULARS. And this wasn't just one house being quirky, I saw at least seven of them. According to my great-aunt, lots of the wealthier houses around the hilly coasts have them. How crazy is that?

Private funicular up to one's house

There were many, many beautiful parts of the bay, which by the way, see seals crawling over them at certain points of the year. I'm conscious of the 9 photo limit so I'll show you my particular favourite, Island Bay, which is only ten minutes drive MAX from my great-aunt's lovely house down the road.

LOOK at this.



The COLOUR of the water and stones! Incredible. And the photos don't do it justice; it's so much more beautiful in real life. It was such a great drive.



Overlooking Island Bay in a spectacular location - the above photos were taken from immediately outside - was a lovely cafe, which my great-aunt has been to a couple of times and is a fan of, so she suggested we stop there for lunch. It was just as beautiful inside and with wonderful views from the window, and very friendly staff. She opted for a hot chocolate and I had a latte, and then for lunch she had a bacon butty on ciabatta and I ordered the spiced lamb sausage roll. It was ENORMOUS, and came with very obviously homemade, really high quality pastry, really flavourful lamb and it was served with homemade tzaziki, aubergine puree, fragrant potato salad and some greenery. Aubergine is my favourite vegetable so the puree was delectable, and the tzaziki was so good paired with the lamb sausage roll that I simply had to ask them for some more Oh god, as I type here in Sydney at 4am, dying of hunger because all the food places don't open for hours, I can't tell you how much I'm craving it right now. It was a truly fantastic lunch. I tried so hard to pay for the meal because I wanted to get the lunch as a way of thanking my great-aunt for having me to stay, but she wouldn't hear of it and insisted it was on her, and added how much she was enjoying having me stay. Well, that made two of us, and I was especially enjoying having her show me around the bays today. My great-aunt is extremely knowledgeable about Wellington, having lived there for over sixty years, and she let me in on many interesting facts as we drove around.



This particularly lovely, rather tropical looking street was called Farnham Street, which as my family have lived in Farnham for over twelve years caught my interest. Don't get me wrong, Farnham Surrey is a pretty old market town (if devoid of decent shops and full of rather snobby locals) with an especially charming cobbled plaza in the centre, but I'd rather live at this Farnham Street in N.Z!



I'm so sorry if this report seems a little hurried, but I'm rushed beyond belief with the start of summer exams and remote work commitments, and I'm dead tired today, so it's a bit shorter than usual Besides, I waffled on for 3000 words on the report re. The Northern Explorer, so this will be a refreshing change for y'all I'm sure.

Just let me show you this though. After getting back to my great-aunt's house, and us both having a much needed sit down after such a long drive round, I popped back into town on my own on the bus, and jumped on the train to Ngauranga again, which you may remember I'd been to the day before. This is because having remembered what a lovely setting it was, I was keen to see it at sunset, and I was not disappointed. Very pretty.



Ooooh... you see those rocks there though? Not very clearly, but they are visible. These piles of rocks stretch the whole coastline and effectively separate the land and sea, obviously, but there were many fishermen sat on them despite there being no means of access to them. No LEGAL means, that is. I watched several of them just casually clamber onto the tracks and climb up on to the platform and exit when they were done fishing, and similarly in reverse one came to fish at sunset so entered the station, briskly looked left and then jumped onto the very same track as seen in the photo there, and climbed onto the rocks to fish. Very dangerous, and no, don't go thinking N.Z. is just lenient and allows it, as there are signs warning of mighty fines for trespassers. Hmm...

Anyway, back I went after to my great-aunt's house, and she made a nice dinner with homemade chips in the deep fat frier which were incredibly moreish, so much so that she put a second lot on for me It was a great day.

Join me for the next report that'll see me take the ferry to Picton (where I get my own private bedroom), have TWO restaurant lunches there because I'm fickle and greedy, take a glorious scenic train journey on the Coastal Pacific alongside pink sea and hundreds of wild seals down to Christchurch.

And then the day after that, I took a cable car that went physically into the clouds - I couldn't see for all the white - before flying out of New Zealand in Emirates First Class. Now THAT is a report and a half let me tell you. There'll certainly be no rushing THAT report. You can expect about 30 photos

Thanks as ever for ya time

 

[Techniquest]

I hope you got a good feed after typing all that up at 4am! That meal does sound incredible, bar the dead animal of course! Homemade chips, oh yes I am hungry now, mmm!

Definitely an enjoyable day there, clearly, and helped enormously by a local expert. Not many tourists that get such luxury!

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Day 76: Ferry to Picton, lunch at TWO restaurants because I'm a greedy so-and-so, & Coastal Pacific train - featuring SEALS

PART ONE

Despite the grossly early alarm time, my great-aunt insisted on setting an alarm for herself too so that she might see me off on Sunday morning, and at a scandalously early time at which the sky was still fairly dark, there was just enough time for a cup of tea together in the living room before my Uber came. It was sad saying goodbye, of course, especially as she lives so far away and is unable to fly to the UK these days as an elderly lady with a recent health scare, but I'd had a really lovely time staying at hers, and seeing her was probably the highlight of my trip to New Zealand. I actually got a bypasser to take a really nice photo of us at Island Bay in front of the rocky cove, which I won't post here for her privacy but was delighted with. It'd been a great weekend.

In New Zealand, I'd started in Auckland which is at the very top of the North Island, and made my way down (with plenty of sights and interaction on the journey there, so that I really got to SEE New Zealand, unlike if I'd flown) to Wellington at the very bottom of the North Island. Now, I would sail across to Picton at the very top of the South Island, and take the Coastal Pacific train down to quaint Christchurch towards the south-west of the South Island, though not the very bottom. If I were continue to the very bottom, I'd get to Queenstown, which I DEFINITELY want to visit as it's supposed to be incredible, but sadly time only allowed for either Queenstown OR Christchurch, and it was highly necessary to be in Christchurch as that's where the all-important grand finale flight of this Easter trip to Queensland/Adelaide/NZ took off from. I'll return and go there soon. My great aunt advised that Dunedin, however, is somewhat overrated, with little for young people to do.

The Uber driver was very friendly - pffff... most of them seem to be miserable little sh*ts in Cardiff in my experience - and got me to the Bluebridge Ferry Terminal in no time. Check-in was easy here, and I was able to drop off the wonky case for a few hours which of course would be joyous The sun was still rising as I boarded MS CONNEMARA. I believe the InterIslander is the more popular option for ferries to Picton, and I think the ferries are bigger with them, but they were sold out.... THIS ferry might well have been sold out, though. It was packed. There was an on-board cafe, with seating at tables. All tables had people at them. There was an on-board restaurant, with seating at tables. All tables had people at them too. And all tables at the main seating area had people at them as well. What was I going to do? This would be a four hour crossing, and I did not fancy awkwardly walking up to people sat a table, which sat 2 to 4, and asking to join them, but neither did I fancy sitting on the floor by reception for four hours.



Therefore, the only option I considered to be feasible was to enquire about a cabin. These ferries run at slower speed at night and provide overnight crossings for customers, and therefore have hotel room-style cabins, and they allow you to book these on the shorter daytime crossings too. Some have porthole windows but I think they're extra. Anyway, for me it was only NZ$40, and that is about £25. £25 for a private hotel-style bedroom when the alternative would be to sit on the floor, or awkwardly join a group of strangers at a very small table in the crowded passenger lounge for FOUR HOURS, seemed very reasonable indeed. Besides, I'd woken to catch this sailing at an ungodly hour and would very much appreciate a chance to catch up on sleep. I wouldn't want to be drifting off on the train later.

So I paid, was handed a key card, and went upstairs to my own little cabin, and here it is:

Blissful privacy... and even more blissful considering the alternative...

It was immaculate, and even came with a private en-suite bathroom with shower, which was spotless. What a luxury compared to sitting on a plastic chair among others in the crowded lounge! And the beds were very comfortable too, so I jumped in, cut the lights, and actually got two or three hours of interrupted sleep! When I woke up I just lazed about for a bit texting my friend as if I were simply sat in my own bed at home I felt far less groggy having napped, so I'm especially glad I made that decision. For the last hour or so, I hopped up on deck, which was quite crowded with people watching the Cook Strait islands go by, but I spotted a small, barely-visible staircase to the upper cabins and at the top was a completely empty balcony from which I watched the sailing get closer to Picton. It was a bit cloudy but beautiful, sort of mysterious looking.



And before long, the ferry had arrived at Picton, so I collected the wonky suitcase from the terminal and immediately strolled over to Picton's quaint little railway station. After checking in and obtaining my boarding pass for the 1:45pm Coastal Pacific, I was actually able to ditch the case again, and the station porters said they'd load it onto the train for me once it boarded. Glorious. In the meantime, I had about two hours to explore Picton, which was very pretty and looked especially impressive with the distant mountains looming over the Cook Strait.



I picked up a beautiful can of Red Bull for later, to solve the problem of KiwiRail not selling it on their trains, and then took an al-fresco seat at a very nice little cafe next to the waterside. A woman was singing cabaret - surprisingly well for cabaret - and I had a portion of green-lipped mussels and garlic bread there for a reasonable price. I've always been a big fan of mussels and so has my mother, although the rest of my family with their plain tastes aren't as keen. Mum and I are the foodies of the family, we're the only ones that can cook and the ones with a more refined palette



Well, I'd never had GREEN mussels before, but they were certainly good - and ENORMOUS. My god, they must have been about quadruple the size of the standard black ones. It was a very authentic dish to have as they are native to New Zealand. However, I was actually still peckish afterwards, and when I strolled around town and saw another nice restaurant did fresh homemade pate with artisan breads (a weakness of mine, homemade pate), and a longtime favourite dessert apple crumble, I greedily also stopped there and had those After all, I'd learned that the KiwiRail kitchen of microwaved muck wasn't exactly a dinner to rely on, and I had a six/seven hour journey ahead of me. I was pushing it a little for time though, what with the train due soon, so I ordered them to come out at the same time, which looked rather funny.



To say both dishes were delicious is a vast, vast understatement, and the raspberry sorbet that came with the crumble was by far the best sorbet I've ever tasted. I headed back to the station where The Coastal Pacific was waiting. It was a train identical to that on The Northern Explorer, the only difference being the configuration was Loco-Observation car-Carriage-Buffet-Carriage-Luggage car, whereas the busier Northern Explorer has an extra passenger carriage.

I was certainly happy to return to the AK Carriages, with the comfortable leather-topped seating, ceiling windows and beautiful wood furnishings. I was allocated an airline seat but was told a table seat nearby would be free for the first three hours of the six-and-a-half hour haul to Christchurch, so initially settled down in that. I hoped there would be plenty of scenery. Why? Well, unfortunately the limited data I had for the week on the New Zealand SIM had finally given up the ghost.



"Welcome aboard the Coastal Pacific..."
Want to join me for the journey? Scroll down for the (shorter) PART TWO.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Day 76: Ferry to Picton, two restaurant visits there because I'm a greedy so-and-so, & Coastal Pacific train featuring SEALS

PART ONE

PART TWO

The Coastal Pacific departed Picton slightly late but soon picked up the pace. What I didn’t tell you when reporting on my journey from Auckland to Wellington, is that the staff at the buffet told me to expect a far more scenic experience on this journey to Christchurch than on the North Island service, and almost immediately the views kicked in. I had taken out my Mac and started a trip report on the forum upon boarding (you may have seen the forum logo in the last picture of Part One if you have eagle eyes), but I pushed the computer aside to take them in.



I took out my Red Bull and sipped contentedly at my table-for-four while admiring the views. I was so glad that I managed to get some sleep on the ferry over to Picton, otherwise I feel as though I’d have began drifting off on the train, which would have been so unfortunate at is really was very pretty.



After only about half an hour of travelling, the line meets the sea. You can see just how close it gets (1ST PIC BELOW), and I loved that, unsurprisingly – who doesn’t love a journey parallel to the coast? Travelling along the Dawlish sea-wall, ideally southbound on a Voyager (which I consider to be the nicest train to run alongside it, even if it is famous for being the most vulnerable stock to the infamous big waves) in first class, or along the St Ives Bay line, are always favourite journeys of mine in the UK, albeit much shorter. The Coastal Pacific pretty much stays alongside the sea for a good few hours, and I took particular interest in these PINK stretches of sea (2ND PIC BELOW). Pink sea?!





I made my way out to the observation car to get an open air video along the coast, which was a great experience, and one could even smell the salty sea air. Forgive the blurriness of this photo, which is a still from a video:



After an hour or so I made my way to the café for a cup of tea and some anzac biscuits, and it was as I was sat here, the rocks returned alongside the sea – but this time adorned with some very special residents. Wild seals! They were everywhere, so of course I had to rush back to the open air car and film them. I even got a video of one waddling along the shore, flicking it’s head and rear up and down the way seals do. They were quite hard to photograph due to the train running at a decent speed, but here's a zoomed-in still from a video I took as we passed one of the many rocks covered in seals. Adorable things, although if you zoom out they look like slugs crawling all over a stone, which rather puts you off.



With about two hours to go, we left the sea and entered some very rural land. Here’s a still from a video I took from the open air carriage. Oh damn, how I wish we had some of these carriages in the UK, although god knows it’d never happen due to our health and safety laws, mind you – it’s perfectly safe even if you lean out due to the sloping bars I told you about, which means even if you lean out you’re still within the perimeters of the train and nothing will be hit. I can’t emphasise how incredible the experience of riding in these carriages is.



I did pick up a Smirnoff Ice like a teenager from the buffet then, just as I did on The Northern Explorer The sun soon began to set, and being in the open air, I was able to see dusk fall on New Zealand especially clearly. Speaking of clear, again, the picture below is a still from a video I took, so apologies that it isn’t very compared to the photos taken the normal way. Clear, that is.



Being six/seven hours compared to the lengthy eleven/twelve of The Northern Explorer, and having admittedly far better scenery, the journey passed far quicker than I’d have liked sadly, and the train soon arrived in Christchurch. This is the junction for The TransAlpine to Greymouth, which is said to be the most scenic of them all. I, however, wouldn’t be doing it, not only because I’d already done two scenic journeys in NZ on the same trains, and not only because there’s not really anything in Greymouth, but because I’d be leaving Christchurch in far more style Look forward to the report after next for that. My god, am I excited to write that up.

Dragging the wonky case a mile through the darkened Christchurch Common to the city centre hotel was a nightmare, especially as I had to be navigated by my dad trying to direct me by reading Google Maps down the phone to me (my data had gone, remember), but the hotel was very nice indeed and I had a fantastic meal at a fancy place – I can’t remember what now, but I remember it featured my favourite vegetable aubergine, and plenty of boiling hot rice. Then it was to the hotel to sleep for my final night in New Zealand. What a busy day it had been. Thanks for reading.


Next report – my morning in Christchurch, and actually standing IN A CLOUD. Yes. In a cloud.
Report after – Emirates First Class flight out of Christchurch. Best flight of my life.

-

I hope you got a good feed after typing all that up at 4am! That meal does sound incredible, bar the dead animal of course!

I had Japanese tapanyaki for dinner with my friends in Newtown, the chef sets the food on fire centimetres from you, and then a double scoop of gelato from the nearby ice cream parlour - one scoop bright purple Taro gelato, the other creme brûlée gelato.

Must you refer to my sausage roll as containing a "Dead animal" It somewhat ruins the memory of it HAHAHAHA.

@86247 it says below that you viewed the thread after I posted Part One, but before I posted Part Two, thanks for reading but be sure to check out this bit as it’s got better pictures

 

[Techniquest]

I was going to say 'slaughtered animal' but changed it. I doubt that sounds any better

I definitely want to do that train from Picton, it looks amazing

 

[Larkhall]

PINK stretches of sea (2ND PIC BELOW). Pink sea?!

Potentially the solar salt works at Lake Grassmere or some other natural salt pools along the way.

I haven't been up that way since before the Kaikoura earthquakes. They had to do a complete rebuild of both road and rail lines in places. For example, that last photo of the bridge looks shiny and new.

 

[railfan99]

TT, having done those NZ trips in the order you suggest plus Greymouth/Invercargill and the full tourist operation ex Dunedin , great report!

It's subjective but when using Auckland station (not for years), I thought it was a 'dump': nothing attractive.

Woolworths in Oz generally has ANZAC biscuit packets on the top shelf, so gorge...

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Mini report
Day 77a: Christchurch Gondola and INTO a cloud, with one of the best views I've ever had...

This is just a brief summary of my morning in Christchurch… as I had a few hours spare before I needed to get to the airport.

Christchurch is a pretty enough place, although I didn’t find it enormously exciting in the centre. The heritage trams are a popular attraction here, and these do a sort of figure of eight loop around town. I thought they looked rather picturesque going down this street, New Orleans ish.



As quaint and lovely as these trams look, oh dear. Only one ticket is available for them, and that’s a hop on hop off ticket in the vague region of about $60! PAHAHAHAH. No flipping WAY, thanks very much Christchurch, with all due respect you can take your trams and shove them where the Rangitoto Trees don’t grow at those prices. What an outrage. It isn’t even a scenic tram route in the slightest. Three quarters of the route runs alongside scaffolding and building works!

I didn’t have data as you may remember, so after I had a walk around the town I did actually pop into the local library and connect to their free, fast Wi-Fi, which is cheeky I know, but there we have it. It allowed me to work out how to get to the Christchurch Gondola, because god knows I like a dangle in a cable car over a nice view, so I made my way to the bus stop. Yet AGAIN, like with Auckland, Wellington, Adelaide, Brisbane and Sunshine/Gold Coasts, the buses did not take Apple Pay or Debit Card, but the driver told me she’d carry me to the Bus Interchange for free where it stood for a few months, and I could take out cash there. I did, and after a forty minute journey made it to the foot of Mount Cavendish.

WOW. I’ve done many cable car trips in my time, from the Great Orme at Llandudno and the no-longer-Emirates Air Line, to one in Barcelona, one in Cologne, one in Zagreb that went on for absolutely ages, and a great deal more, but this one really did go very high. When we were about two thirds of the way up, I was risky and stuck my phone out of the little window to capture us gradually reaching the clouds.



And then, at the top, well - I WAS in a cloud. No, literally. When observing the breathtaking scenery, suddenly a mass of cold, damp white mist washed out the view and left us seeing not much further than an arm length’s in front of us. What an incredible view it was. A fantastic way to complete my venturing through New Zealand.



And you could even see the coast, from way above:



Here’s a massive one, as it marks the end of my Easter break trip of Sunshine Coast - Brisbane - Gold Coast - Adelaide - Auckland - Wellington - Picton - Christchurch



Yes, I really do recommend the Christchurch Gondola, which if I remember was $40NZD so actually less than the rip off tram, it was the most incredible hilltop view I’ve ever known (Mount Cavendish) and it’s a shame I can’t attach the time lapse I took going back down, as that looked pretty cool.

Bus back to city, fresh berries and Red Bull bought from a small supermarket, and then it was on a bus to the airport for my flight home.
Now the flight will be a VERY detailed report that you can expect either Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning - both UK time - but to cut that down, we’ll put down the airport details here.

I went straight to the bag-drop desks and saw an enormous queue for Emirates economy/premium economy. There was one lady waiting in the queue for business so I politely asked her “is this the queue for all Emirates flights?” as I wasn’t sure whether both Sydney and Dubai customers dropped at the same desk or not - it’s a intermediate stop flight from Christchurch to Dubai, to convey Sydney passengers, else the A380 would be less than half full what with Christchurch being small.

Well, when I tell you this customer raised her eyebrows, they might well have disappeared into her thinning hair, such was the extent of it. She appeared to force a very patronising smile indeed and said to me very slowly.

“Yes, mate, this is a queue for Emirates - but perhaps you’re looking for a different counter? This is the Business class queue.”

I nodded politely, “Oh, I see, yes thank you - I am looking for a different counter. I want the First one.

And with that I marched over to the adjacent First class desk in full view of this woman, whose face was a PICTURE. Of course, I never had any intention of mentioning the accommodation I was in. But I decided, if she was going to make sweeping assumptions about me and then try to act all superior because she had a business class ticket, then I might teach her a thing or to about humility. Perhaps next time she won’t assume, and maybe she will have a little class and grace by not waving about her business class ticket in people’s faces.

Anyway, I looked forward to seeing her later as the gate, walking past her as I boarded before her

Unfortunately, that woman wasn’t the only person in the check in hall with age-based prejudices. The woman at the desk looked at me with enormous confusion and asked if I was lost! I told her coldly, “No thank you, I would like to check in and drop my case please.” She went to get her colleague! He actually bent down slightly (I’m 6’0 so this was all the more odd) and said VERY VERY condescendingly, “You can’t just cut in by coming down here mate. You’ve got to join the queue down there.”

I said, “That’s the queue for Economy and Premium check in, no?” and he said, “Yes, that’s correct.”

Well, by now I was losing patience, so I said “Exactly.” and showed him my booking with very subtle impatience. HIS SHOCK. He straightened up immediately and apologised profusely. I said with a sickly sweet smile: “I may not look the part, but I can assure you it is my ticket. I haven’t stolen it.” He blushed bright red and said “No…no… not at all, sir, let me get those checked in straight away.”

Security was a breeze, but passport control wasn’t. I was told “Follow me,” by a very unpleasant (both outwardly and inwardly) border force woman at the e-gates who marched me to the chairs outside of her office and demanded to know why I was flying first class and how I could afford it. I won’t bore you with the details of the conversation. She told me to “wait” and left me there for twenty minutes before finally arriving and simply waving her hand at me, saying “Okay go through.” Cow.

To the lounge I went, which is only a small little lounge as Christchurch is predominantly not a busy airport catering only for short-haul flights, but it was fine. I preferred Adelaide’s, mind. I had some ginger ale and a large bowl of pretzels. A staff member passed and said “Ooh, someone’s hungry!” in a very passive-aggressive way, no doubt looking at how full my bowl was. This annoyed me, not only because there’s just absolutely no benefit to saying this, it’s obviously just going to make me uncomfortable, but because she then went to clear a plate from a man who had two large plates full to the brim of hot buffet food, two muffins, a bowl of soup, a fat slice of cake, bowl of mixed nuts and two full glasses of red wine, and said nothing. Again, I put this down to my age, and it has me RAVING.



I took a long phone call with my mother, who was BESIDE HERSELF with proud laughter at my response to the woman in business trying to talk down to me - and actually took this by the gate as I was quite board in the lounge. Tbh, I might write an email to Christchurch Airport about how poorly I was treated. At no point did Emirates website say “Book now - but as you’re only nineteen expect to be treated like scum for booking first class.”

Anyway, airport staff aside, the Emirates staff at the gate were more than lovely and warmly welcomed me. We had a separate gate from the economy/premium ticket holders. The jetbridge at their gate goes to the main deck door where those cabins are, and the jetbridge at our gate went to the top deck, where you turn right to the business seats and left to the first class suites.

It’s always been my dream to fly Emirates First Class, and while this would only be a comparatively short flight by Emirates’ usual standards, I was extremely excited (understatement) and determined to make the most of every moment.

Here is my aircraft as sun began to set for my 5pm flight:



Please do join me for the Trip Report of the journey, the grand finale of my Easter break out of Sydney. It should come by your evening, or perhaps your Sunday morning if I don’t get time.

Can’t wait to share the trip details with you.


-

I was going to say 'slaughtered animal' but changed it. I doubt that sounds any better

I definitely want to do that train from Picton, it looks amazing

It doesn’t
Yes the train was very nice indeed. I am curious to try the TransAlpine having heard it’s the best of the three. I’d willingly travel in those lovely AK class carriages again, anyway!

Potentially the solar salt works at Lake Grassmere or some other natural salt pools along the way.

I haven't been up that way since before the Kaikoura earthquakes. They had to do a complete rebuild of both road and rail lines in places. For example, that last photo of the bridge looks shiny and new.

Interesting! Yes it’s devastating how much damage earthquakes have done to parts of New Zealand at times. I was grateful not to experience any when I was there. It did cross my mind a few times when in Christchurch how susceptible to quakes that part of the country is.

TT, having done those NZ trips in the order you suggest plus Greymouth/Invercargill and the full tourist operation ex Dunedin , great report!

It's subjective but when using Auckland station (not for years), I thought it was a 'dump': nothing attractive.

Woolworths in Oz generally has ANZAC biscuit packets on the top shelf, so gorge...

Ahh thank you I’m glad you liked the report! Nice to hear you did a similar trip. Auckland Britomart is a bit of a dump yes. I don’t actually like the city centre very much at all, only really the parts by the harbour which are lovely.

I do love Woolworths. I was in there an hour ago actually for biscuits! I fancied some shortbread. Next time I’ll look out for the Anzacs, thanks for the tip

 

[nw1]

Security was a breeze, but passport control wasn’t. I was told “Follow me,” by a very unpleasant (both outwardly and inwardly) border force woman at the e-gates who marched me to the chairs outside of her office and demanded to know why I was flying first class and how I could afford it. I won’t bore you with the details of the conversation. She told me to “wait” and left me there for twenty minutes before finally arriving and simply waving her hand at me, saying “Okay go through.” Cow.

That sucks more than the airline; it's surely not border guards' job to cast aspersions on what class of ticket you're flying with. That's surely an issue between you and the airline, and not third-parties. Particularly surprising as I've always considered NZ as a much more laid-back country than, say, the USA.

I will say a belated thank-you, however, for your trip reports. I've never visited either Australia or NZ and, as someone with a love of natural scenery and walking/hiking, most places you've visited inspire me to travel there. Some amazing photos and very detailed writeups which really capture the essence of the place. Whether I ever will, I don't know, but Wellington in particular looks like somewhere which would appeal to me. And the range of beautiful places you can get to on the train from Sydney is quite staggering.

Looks like the scenery round Christchurch is less "exotic", for a British person, than that around Wellington - doubtless due to being closer to the Antarctic and having a less mild climate.

 

[railfan99]

One suspects your bus at the interchange stopped for 'minutes' not 'months'.

When I was young I was searched (with only one garment left on) by two USA customs agents. The man in charge later apologised to me rather profusely, as I was travelling to South America so as with your experience with the unpleasant Kiwi woman, "they" probably suspected "young drug trafficker". One hopes your experience at Christchurch doesn't leave a sour taste for days, especially since at least four people essentially misjudged you. I've never had an airport lounge employee anywhere utter a disparaging remark: usually they're pleasant, so that gratuitous remark was all the more disgraceful. Presumably the staffer thought you were a peasant with no 'right' to be in the lounge.

It destroys the myth that Kiwis are always friendly. Deep down, I don't think many like Australians very much, but they normally don't say it, especially if they come to Oz because well paying jobs in KiwiLand are scarcer. (You're not an Australian though). There may be jealousy that NZ doesn't have as high living standards for the majority as one might think.

One small tip without trying to be offensive: it may not suit at your age, but perhaps dressing a bit more smartly (if you don't on occasion when travelling) might help to eliminate such comments. Whether we like it or not, others make (sometimes false) assumptions about us.

But these latest contributions were outstanding. You really know how to write, and don't overdo the photos.

 

[nw1]

One suspects your bus at the interchange stopped for 'minutes' not 'months'.

When I was young I was searched (with only one garment left on) by two USA customs agents. The man in charge later apologised to me rather profusely, as I was travelling to South America so as with your experience with the unpleasant Kiwi woman, "they" probably suspected "young drug trafficker". One hopes your experience at Christchurch doesn't leave a sour taste for days, especially since at least four people essentially misjudged you. I've never had an airport lounge employee anywhere utter a disparaging remark: usually they're pleasant, so that gratuitous remark was all the more disgraceful. Presumably the staffer thought you were a peasant with no 'right' to be in the lounge.

It destroys the myth that Kiwis are always friendly. Deep down, I don't think many like Australians very much, but they normally don't say it, especially if they come to Oz because well paying jobs in KiwiLand are scarcer. (You're not an Australian though). There may be jealousy that NZ doesn't have as high living standards for the majority as one might think.

One small tip without trying to be offensive: it may not suit at your age, but perhaps dressing a bit more smartly (if you don't on occasion when travelling) might help to eliminate such comments. Whether we like it or not, others make (sometimes false) assumptions about us.

But these latest contributions were outstanding. You really know how to write, and don't overdo the photos.

One thing I have encountered (as someone significantly older than @TT-ONR-NRN) is suspicious comments from British border guards - more so than those of any overseas country, with the one exception of the land border between British Columbia and Washington State. And I am a British citizen! They've asked me where I've been, and what I was doing there, etc. Never went further than that, but even still...

Ironically, given the general mood of the past 5 years, British border guards have actually been more friendly recently.

I've always dressed casually when flying, but to be honest, the majority seem to these days.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Day 77: Emirates A380 First Class flight - Easter trip Grand Finale



All photos are, as always, my own. They may be a bit blurry as the forum initially rejected some of them them due to being too high storage, so I compressed them slightly.

PART ONE

Welcome to this report, in which, having spent two weeks over Easter travelling through Southern Queensland, Adelaide and New Zealand, I round it all off by flying home with Emirates in First Class on their flagship A380. This had been a childhood dream of mine for years, and I was thrilled that the time to try it out had finally come, even if it would only be a 4.5 hour flight from Christchurch back to Sydney.

I've been looking forward to writing this report for so long, but I'm just now realising how hard it's going to be to put into words just how glamorous and glitzy it is on-board. I boarded at the upper deck of the 380 using the separate gate for First and Business passengers (at the aircraft door, Business turn right and First turn left), and was shown to my seat immediately. As I said, this has been a dream of mine for ages, so as you'd expect I'd seen this cabin many, many times on YouTube reviews and vlogs, and all sorts of social media, etc. and it was utterly crazy seeing it in person in front of me, and even more so knowing that I wasn't just a passenger with an economy ticket peeping my head in for a peep, but this would be my seat here. And here it is:



Notice the large sliding doors (they are automatic and controlled by push buttons) for ultimate privacy.



Everything is just so glitzy. Now you might think the gold is a little garish and tacky to look at, but I can tell you with confidence that it doesn't in person at all. It just looks ultra classy, luxurious and... well, expensive, which it is As a journalist, I loved the sliding out tray with leather covered notebook and Emirates pen; said notebook I have been using to take seminar notes at uni.



The seat is absolutely enormous and beyond comfortable. It's exceptionally squishy leather that one simply sinks into when taking a seat, and genuinely I could have sat in it, in any position, for hours on end. When I fly to Dallas, I can expect a sixteen hour flight, which will be horrible. How I wish I could expect a seat as comfortable as this for that flight! Anyway, back to this flight, and the seat position is controlled entirely on the personal iPad sort of thing, which is also where the award-winning (you can see why) entertainment system is controlled. You can do simply anything with the seat, tailoring the position of sixteen different parts of the seat all differently if you need to, or using the preset options, which include a Seatbelt Sign position that returns the seat from however it is at the time, to the upright position. The buttons you can see on the armrest are for the automatic doors.

The three enormous windows in my cabin are also automatically dimmed or shut, either by way of the tablet or by the buttons at the bottom of each window. You can choose to close all of them or just one or two, it's a very flexible system. Obviously all of these features are very impressive, but there's loads of them, so I was glad that my personal attendant gave me a comprehensive tour of the suite features. He also gave me a large, hot rag which was very refreshing for wiping my hands and face, and poured me a cup of strong Arabic coffee and offered me a selection of wonderful filled dates, including orange peel and pistachio. I was also given a frankly enormous and jam-packed amenity kit filled with a ridiculous amount of stuff (including my favourite Bvlgari Le Gemme Tiger cologne, usually retailing at $450-$550, in a classy, generous sized bottle).

I was handed the frankly massive drinks menu, including wine list, and menu for dinner, and asked if I wanted a pre-take off drink. I went for a bucks fizz, as it's a firm favourite, and it came with some warm nuts. I took my dinner order and asked to shower and then dine about half an hour after take-off, so that I may relax with the lights off for the rest of the journey.



Cor, the TV screen was simply enormous, and such high quality - and as for the options, you could browse for absolutely hours. Talk about being spoiled for choice. Anyway, I luxuriated in my palatial surroundings sipping my bucks fizz and choosing a film. Had I not had the bucks fizz, I'd have been well-refreshed even so, as the seat comes with a personal minibar. You push a button and it automatically slides up. Completely unnecessary seeing as the personal attendant is only too happy to get whatever drink one wants freshly made, whatever and whenever, but a fantastic quirky feature nevertheless!



The noise-cancelling headphones provided are extremely high quality, and also very thickly cushioned so as to be superbly comfortable and not dig into the ears. You might expect I'd start to use them now, as we began pushback and taxi to the runway, but no: I was making use of a far more fascinating and unique feature of the entertainment system than simply watching a TV show. No, I was watching our takeoff. That's right: you can go live to the cameras on top of, on each wing, or at the back of the plane, and actually watch your flight take off in real time on the big screen! It was fantastic to watch, and of course, the A380 - this being my third flight on the 380 and second time on upper deck - delivered an expertly silent and smooth take off. The mood lighting in the cabin had kicked in by now, which looked simply splendid. I felt really very happy and content indeed.



I decided soon after take off to relax a little bit, so I closed the doors, dimmed the lights and windows and also changed into the slippers that I'd been given by Qatar, just because they were a bit more comfortable than wearing my usual shoes. The whole point of flying First Class is to be comfortable, no? Not to try and impress people, so I don't feel any guilt about flying in the casual clothes I was wearing, after all, half the time people change into pyjamas provided anyway! The sleepwear for this flight would be loaded at Sydney, ahead of the onwards overnight stretch to Dubai, so I wouldn't be given these today, but was perfectly happy in the The White Company gear from my previous flight.



BLISS. Honestly, I can't put into words how attentive the staff were, and how wonderful the cabin and seat was. I was thoroughly enjoying myself, and Emirates First were certainly living up to expectations. And of course, I had decided to accept the steward's immediate offer of another drink. Hmm... the wine list was enormous. What did I feel like drinking on this Emirates First Class flight?

Why, the finest Dom Perignon, of course.



And it was certainly very good indeed.

Continued in Part Two.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Day 77: Emirates A380 First Class flight - Easter trip Grand Finale

PART TWO

We begin Part Two at a fairly pivotal point of the flight. As you know, I was comfortably reclined in my leather armchair, having just finished my glass of Dom Perignon, when my personal attendant politely knocked on the suite door.

“Sir, the shower spa is now ready for you,” he smiled warmly.



Ahhhh, I was finally here. For so long I’ve wanted to shower on an Emirates A380 (and by the way, Emirates A380 First Class flights are the only commercial flights on which you can shower), and the shower spa was just beautiful, and so big! It smelt beautiful, towels were arranged beautifully, there were flowers arranged by the sink and there were dozens of untouched shampoos, shower gels, moisturisers, shaving kits, etc. to use. I’m sure the floor of the spa was heated too. I believe it’s half an hour I was allocated in the shower spa (though I didn’t intend on being in there quite that long, of course), and you get five minutes of hot water which while it doesn’t sound like much is actually plenty. So first things first, I had a shower 50,000 feet in the air, and it was blissful! The water pressure is fantastic, it covers you all over if you get what I mean, as opposed to weak showers with a little dribble. I actually put my phone up against the ledge and whacked on some tunes by my future wife Dua Lipa, and enjoyed the privacy of the spa, washing my hair while jamming it out to Levitating



After I showered, I wrapped myself in the good quality heated towels, dried my hair with the black hairdryer by the mirror, then had a shave, brushed my teeth and splashed my face with cold water from the tap. I felt wonderfully refreshed, and when I returned to my seat a lovely little fruit plate was waiting for me.



Not long after, my personal attendant announced that dinner was ready for me. Perfect timing, that, as I’d been starting to feel rather peckish actually. So, for a nice amuse bouche, we had tea-smoked duck (sorry @Mojo !) with a delicious mustard dressing and pickled cabbage. I know it’s a cliché to say, but the duck really did melt in the mouth, it was wonderful. I had another (rather large) glass of Dom Perignon to accompany it.


Following on from the duck, I had the Traditional Arabic Mezze. I’d had mezze the week before, with Qatar, but this was on another level. This appetiser seemed less of an appetiser and more of a luxurious Arabic feast. We had moutabel, three different houmous, muhammara, baba ghanouj, indulgent stuffed vine leaves, tabouleh, a rich labneh with zaatar and sumac, Kalamata olives and an outstanding lamb kibbeh. 10/10. 100% full marks for presentation, taste and flavours, texture, aromas; it was fabulous and I could not fault it, but honestly, it could have been a main course. It was enormous, although I made a very good dent in it, there wasn’t much left at all when I was finished with it!



There were several fantastic meat options for main course, including beef tenderloin in tarragon sauce and roast chicken in pomegranate jus, as well as a red snapper fish option that sounded highly tempting also, but to my absolute delight, they offered fried coconut king prawns as a seafood main course. (There was no veggie option on the menu; perhaps you must specify a vegetarian preference beforehand?) I’m a sucker for prawns, I just love them, and these were supremely flavourful. Crispy on the outside and soft and juicy inside, they were served with a beautifully rich tomato chilli jam, fluffy pineapple rice and grilled courgettes. Courgette is one of my all time favourite vegetables, so that made me happy certainly. I also had a side of ratatouille come with it, which was fragrant and flavourful. I had a mojito cocktail too (you can hardly chug Dom P, so this helped wash the main down), which was minty, zesty and refreshing.



Strawberry and raspberry cake with crème anglaise was my dessert, and I’m surprised I could manage to eat it having enjoyed such a rich and filling dinner, but I did – and it was very light and fluffy, which of course is just what you want from a dessert. Raspberries are my favourite fruit so it’s no surprise that the flavour was incredible, a perfect way to round off an absolutely outstanding dinner – only Emirates didn’t stop there.



Fine luxury chocolates were handed out to me, and my personal attendant insisted I take two or three to have for later even if I couldn’t have any now. And they were, indeed, very good. Fantastic stuff.




What a great meal it had been, completely lived up to expectations, nothing was bland in the slightest, nothing was over or undercooked, and they’d even offered fantastic options like duck, prawns and ratatouille. I get so blooming sick of beef beef beef, with the occasional portion of chicken, and broccoli, on flights. I had enormous expectations of this flight, and they had been met and surpassed. Just remember, this was a 4.5 hour flight, and they’d just given me all that!

I was only two hours into the flight at this time, so I settled down to watch a film with Tom Hanks with another Mojito and connected to the free Wi-Fi to send a few Snapchat messages to my friends. I did fancy a walk down to the bar, so I left the spacious first class area (there’s only 14 first class suites aboard the Emirates A380, and only four were taken) and crossed business (Emirates First Class is absolutely wonderful and just as luxurious as I’d hoped, but Business is underwhelming and in a somewhat cramped layout. The Qatar Business Q-Suites as I flew the week before were far, FAR more private and spacious) to the fantastic First and Business Lounge. While Business passengers cannot use the shower spa, both them and First class customers can use the brilliant lounge and bar on the top deck, which is an area to relax, socialise and take a bit of a break from the suites on long flights. There’s several leather sofas with coffee tables, but the centrepiece is the glitzy golden bar, which I had to take numerous photos behind – unclassy as it is of me – and had a go at shaking a cocktail. The staff actually whipped out a Polaroid camera and took a photo of me, which printed – as Polaroids do – and that is apparently a tradition for when you fly first class with them. It’s a lovely keepsake.



And then, well, back in the cabin I whacked the lights off completely, reclined the seat to a fully flat bed, and pulled out the duvet in pillows, and watched the film lying in bed for the rest of the flight, with a number of soft drinks (I doubted more alcohol would be a good idea, as I’d had quite enough champagne as it is) to keep me refreshed. It was bliss. Complete and utter luxury. I never wanted the plane to land.

It did though, of course, very smoothly as I’ve come to expect from Airbus’ finest, and first class passengers were permitted to alight immediately. I hung back though, relishing in the last few moments of my incredible experience in Emirates First, thanking the crew warmly for their flawless hospitality, and hoping very much that it wouldn’t be too long before I’d be able to fly with them again. Speaking of the crew, I forgot to mention, the head steward of the flight (Irish lady named Julie) announced to the passengers that the cabin crew aboard came from something like 24 different countries and between them spoke 18 different languages. How amazing. Emirates is renowned for having a fantastically diverse crew.

That was the 55th flight I’ve made with a British passport (yes, I keep a record, how embarrassing I know ) and it was by far the best. I couldn’t fault it. I was so very happy to have done something that had forever been one of my top ten bucket list things to do, and even happier that it completely met and exceeded expectations. It was also beyond fantastic to be back in Australia, especially Sydney, and I marched through passport control and baggage reclaim with a very cheery (and slightly tipsy) disposition. Down the escalators I went to Domestic Airport station, jumped on a Waratah B Set bound for City Circle, and alighted after one stop at Mascot.

Why? Well, my flight had landed with perfect timing. I had ice hockey practice that night, and made it with fifteen minutes to spare, less an hour from leaving the aircraft. Yes, I did play ice hockey after three large glasses of champagne and two double Mojitos on a plane, and every practice since my coach has begged me to chug some alcohol before coming to practice, as I played the best I’ve ever played that day

I really hope you’ve enjoyed this report, and indeed all of the reports from this two week Easter break that saw me explore Southern Queensland, Adelaide and New Zealand. I’m delighted to be back in Sydney though. Honestly, this city feels more like my home than London or Cardiff do at this point, although I’ll probably retract that statement when I return to them in the summer.

Thanks so much for reading and commenting, and do let me know what you thought of this flight, and if you’ve flown Emirates First as well. As for the next report, well, it’ll be a New South Wales one again I’m afraid! Not that I’m complaining. Best state

(@nw1 and @railfan99 , I shall reply to your very kind comments very shortly)

Tirrah.

 

[Barnsley]

Brilliant set of trip reports, every one is so detailed and interesting, looking forward to the next ones!

 

[Techniquest]

Wow that was clearly an amazing experience once on board. I'd 100% be filing complaints with Christchurch Airport about the way you were treated though, simply not acceptable!

Thanks for sharing all of the epic tales so far, that gondola in Christchurch is on my list to look into further

 

[Intercity110]

I really love that aircraft and am envious for you.

 

[railfan99]

I'd 100% be filing complaints with Christchurch Airport about the way you were treated though, simply not acceptable!

That would be most unlikely to achieve anything, as airports typically do not control or employ Border Force, check-in or equivalent staff.

 

[Techniquest]

That would be most unlikely to achieve anything, as airports typically do not control or employ Border Force, check-in or equivalent staff.

Certainly with the check in staff, then yes directing complaints to Emirates and not the airport would be sensible. In a rushed reply last night, I didn't think about that. Hopefully the young gentleman gets somewhere with it though For what it's worth, I'd agree with your earlier post about society expecting people to dress smartly in First Class. Rightly or wrongly, it is where we are as a civilisation. It shouldn't really matter, but I often fall foul of it and can be judgemental. So I'm no better than a lot of people there, but I am working on it

TT, sorry my previous reply was not very much, I had to rush it at the end of break. Showering on an aircraft sounds like such a fun idea, and the suite has made me a little bit green with envy I won't lie. It looks amazing, I wouldn't want to fly any other way after that though! The food I'd have not enjoyed, that didn't appeal to me but the photos of it did reveal some quality stuff. Far superior to the 'meal' I had on my last flight, I can assure you