A 4 hour public transit odessy in Wellington

So… having decided to go to a brunch holiday coffee with Amy we got on the train to Kaiwharawhara station only about 3 stops down from ours at Hutt Central.  It was a gathering of other emigrants to New Zealand and had several friends that Amy had made here.  The coffee was lovely and in less than an hour we were on the stairs back down to the Kaiwharawhara station.  The trains are all above ground here so you have to climb up and over on pedestrian walkways.  Kaiwharawhara is only one stop from the end of the line at Wellington station.

We thought we were in luck as the train was just approaching.  Perfect! We thought.  We hopped right on and after a few minutes the ticket taker approached.  She took our passes and then doubled-looked.

“This train is going to Paraparam.” She said…

“Oops!” We said.

She laughed and gave us a transfer ticket and told us we’d have to get off at the next station and take the next train back.  The next station turned out to be Takapu Road which was a very nice station.  I had a hard time picturing just exactly where it was, but judging from the length of the ride, I’d guess about 5-7 kilometres from Kaiwharawhara.  Well about 15 minutes later we got on the return train.  After getting off we noticed the sign that shows which side of the platform to board for the train to Hutt vs Paraparamu… well that should be easier next time.

So we are on the right train.  All is good, right? Oops! The train in front ours breaks down.  Now we’re stuck on the tracks and it’s been about 2 hours since this trip began.  The crippled train inches to the next station (only 2 hops from home), but by now it’s well past lunch so we decide to get off at Petone for some food.  There is a nice spot called Kilim just a few blocks from the station.  We’ve eaten there a few times before.  The place is a little busy, but not bad.  It takes 45 minutes to get our food… LOL!  But it was very tasty.  We eat and go back to Petone station.

There are no confusing platforms at Petone, just going to Wellington and going to Hutt.  Easy Peasy!

Oops!

We managed to get on the one possible wrong train going toward Hutt, but veers off to Melling instead of to Hutt Central.  Luckily the ticket taker catches this in time for us to get off immediately and wait for the real Hutt line.  After about 40 minutes at Petone we finally get on the right train home.  The ticket taker this time is the same one that was on our very first train.  She had a good laugh at our journey.

We finally got home around 2:00.  Whew!  I guess we didn’t need to do anything anyway!