We arrive at the station with plenty of time and a sign says 'down to trains' so I say to Becky "shall we go down in the lift as we've got our ticket"! It's still a bit early in the morning for her and she just looks at me so I think I should have more of a look. "Oh, maybe we should just check over here", so I ask someone who looks like he might be working for the railway and he tells us we need to join the queue to get our boarding passes. "But we've got tickets". "You still need to get your boarding passes". "Oh, ok then". The sign says it opens for check in at 7.10 and its 7 so not long. As we're waiting the queue grows with mostly elderly couples and I'm feeling very young, Becky must be feeling like a schoolgirl!
She goes for a coffee while we wait and while she's gone, a gentleman/official calls for our attention and announces that there's a problem with the train and we will have to go by bus and he spologies for the last minute change. Many thoughts go through my head at this point, the main one being 'sorry, it's probably our fault, we've jinxed it with our 'bad luck charm' that follows us around!' I feel guilty for spoiling everyone else's trip as well as ours, we'd been looking forward to this train trip for some time! Becky comes back with her coffee and when I tell her, she says what we always say - "you're joking"! "No I'm not" I say, and the little old man in front chips in with his hard luck story about having a birthday and blah, blah, blah. Well, I'm of the opinion that they wouldn't be doing this for fun or to endear themselves to us and that there really is a problem - they're not just doing it to annoy everyone. However, most of the old 'uns seem to think its deliberate and get very irate and talk about refunds and other ways of travelling. Even Becky talks about writing a strongly worded letter when we get back complaining and asking for a refund, I on the other hand am thinking I should write and apologise for our bad luck jinx affecting them!
I get on the bus while Becky goes for some breakfast as the facilities that would have been on the train are obviously not on a bus! When we get going, most people have given in and got on board as they won't be getting a refund any time soon! Apparently the problem with the train is the generator, which has started spouting oil everywhere and as this, we're told, provides the power for pretty much everything on the train, we realise that it probably wasn't going anywhere fast!
It is somewhat frustrating and taunting that we keep crossing the railway so we can see where we would have been but at least it sticks to pretty much the same route so we do get to see all the beautiful scenery! We stop pretty much hourly for 15 minute toilet stops, I guess because its all old people. We stop at some random place for a lunch break and have half an hour to shove as much in our faces as quickly as we can in order not to be left here having to find somewhere to stay or another way to Wellington!
Going through National Park, I can't help but wonder on the lack of a 'the', which would make it seem right, but its the actual name of the area and you wouldn't say 'the Saltash' I suppose, so it must be right, but it just sounds like there's something missing! The area is very up and down with lots of bends but some stunning scenery. There are a lot of chalk looking cliffs along the roadside, and for some very strange reason, they make me think of the Kaolin and Morphine medicine we used to have when I was little if I was sick and I'm pretty sure we had for my children too! The feelings these white powdery cliffs brought back was horrible and I don't even know why I thought of it but I feel quite sick now!
We go through some lovely looking towns, one of which was called Shannon, and it had a lovely old fashioned Post and Telegraph Office which caught my attention, then I saw a clothes shop called "For Frocks Sake" and i thought I could live in a place like this - this is my sense of humour! Then I saw "Owlcatraz" open daily - seemingly a refuge for Owls! As we were leaving the town there was a "Drag Racing" sign which in view of all the other signs, conjures up a picture of men dressed as ladies running around a track, probably not but I like the thought.
According to our trus (train and bus) manager, we'll arrive in Wellington about 7, a little later than planned but it could've been worse, the other bus is 1 hour 20 minutes behind (he he), we probably should've been on that one!
When we booked the hotel for tonight back home before leaving, it looked fairly close to the station and I had contemplated walking, but when we got out of the station after the journey we'd had we went for a taxi and just hoped it wouldn't be like LA again. I was starting to wonder if the taxi driver was taking us the very long way round as we went up a very residential looking street and I think we both thought 'here we go again' but then he pulled into the front of the hotel, phew!
Checked in and ready for something to eat after the very long trus journey and very early start, we try to decide whether to stay in the hotel and be lazy or walk down into Wellington. We decide it'll probably be the only bit of Wellington we'll see so give it a go and walk down to Cuba Street, out the back entrance of the hotel which took us out five levels down and closer to the town than the taxi had led us to believe - gotta love a short cut! The nice man on reception had given us a map and directions to where we would find some places to eat and we walk along the busy road, probably in the wrong direction again, and decide some of the cheap and nasty ones look too cheap and nasty. We come to a couple, one on each side of the street, that look quite nice, a little more expensive but clean and think we'd stay this side of the street and try the closer one. Probable wrong decision again but we go in, there's three tables occupied so not too busy and we get placed at a table for two and get the menus. It's Asian/Indian type food from what we can make out so we ask for water and two glasses of house red wine then settle to make our food choices. Becky orders a spicy shrimp Malaysian dish and I go for a lamb dish that has coconut and yoghurt and sounds like a korma. When we order the waiter asks if we want it mild, medium or hot and we both state 'MILD' please and some garlic naan between us, can we have our wine some time soon?
We get the wine before too long and then make conversation about the trus journey and the holiday and the places we've been and the people we've seen and just about everything we can think to talk about, when we start to realise that the three tables that were there before us are only just getting their food and then the three or four tables that came in after us are starting to get their food and still we're waiting. We've been waiting over an hour and the fact that everyone else seems to be getting their food before us is starting to really annoy us both. Becky goes to the counter to find out what happening after I say that we should just get up and walk out. The waiter pleads with her to stay and that the food is just coming and that he'll give us 50% off, and he's very sorry and his boss is in and don't go, boo hoo! She tells him she's in the same industry at home and it is just not good enough, but if the food comes out now, then ok, we'll stay.
After another five minutes, as we are about to get up and go, the food comes out and we tuck in. We try the first mouthfuls and as i eat mine, I find my mouth is actually on fire and, o-oh so's my throat. Becky says hers is really nice, so tries mine thinking I'm just being a wimp, in fact I thought I must be a wimp, but she agreed that it is really hot so when the waiter comes over to see if everything is ok, I say that it's a bit hot and I'd asked for it to be 'MILD'. He goes off to the kitchen and comes back with a pot of yoghurt which I smother on each lump of lamb and it makes it slightly easier to eat. Then the chef comes out and says its a hot dish because of the crushed chilli base, which I don't remember being in the description, and says he'll do me something else. "No, it's fine I say, I just want to eat this and go, we've waited long enough". "No, I go cook you something else" he says and again I say "No" as he scuttles back to the kitchen. Within three minutes, he's back with another dish of lamb something which he insists I eat and it is a lot less spicy and more fruity and so edible, but how did he manage to get this cooked in three minutes when it took over an hour to do the first dish? Beats me!
We finish as quickly as we can as its getting pretty late by now and we've had a long day, so when we finish we go to the till to pay and the chef puts all our costs onto the till and comes up with a total of $52+ at which point Becky tells him she's not paying for mine as we should have been told it was hot when we asked for 'MILD' and will only pay for half of hers as we were kept waiting and the drinks should be free. He says "You pay for this and that" and Becky goes back with "Is your Manager here" and he's not, but in the end we agree to pay $17 and then try to get back to the hotel, which surprisingly we find quite easily, even though it is the secret back way in. Luckily, even though the meal took a lot longer than planned, we do get back just before 11 when the secret short cut door gets locked and decide after the additional trauma, we should stop in the bar for another glass of wine before bed, thanks very much!
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