Day 74: Paekakariki Holiday Park to Porirua Train Station (1631-1656)

Saturday, February 11

On our way out of town, we passed people playing tennis and one guy asked us if we were going to walk the Escarpment Track. We told him we were and were very excited. It was a new section of the trail completed last year that keeps people off the highway.

The escarpment trail was so nice and easy to follow. Since it was Saturday, it was packed with people trying it out. When we got to the lookout, we realized we were making good time and figured we might as well take the train into Wellington tonight. We were thinking about taking it tomorrow morning so we could spend a day with Puff Puff and Julia. We had made a reservation for ourselves at the YHA tomorrow but not tonight. I called them from the trail and they were booked solid. A man overheard us and we asked him what he was doing. He looked like he was training for something. He was training to run the long race in the Sahara! We were amazed.

After taking with him, he asked how much we usually pay for a hostel bed. They're usually between 23 and 28 dollars a night, so for three of us, about 75-90 dollars. He made a phone call and asked if there was a triple room at a hotel and asked to have it booked under his name, Olivier. It turns out he manages two hotels in Wellington and got us the room for half price! Exactly what a triple would have cost us in a hostel. It was so nice! We couldn't believe it and it motivated us the rest of the day. We had to make it to the train station by 5 so we could make to the hotel before the reservation was cancelled at 6.

The escarpment track was beautiful with two suspension bridges and great views of the ocean well above the highway. Creya kept saying how much the trail reminded her of Taiwan. It must be beautiful there. Hopefully I can visit her some day.

When we got off the nice escarpment track we stopped at a dairy. I got some ice cream and we continued on the trail. It was mostly a nice bike path next to the highway - much nicer than walking on the shoulder. We made it to Porirua and stopped in a gas station. I bought a few popsicles and Creya got one too. It was so hot! The workers and some customers were really interested in what we were doing. Sara got some chips and we walked the last few minutes to the train station. We were almost to Wellington!

The train arrived a few minutes after we got there and we paid for our tickets on the train. That's how you pay for train tickets here. When we got of the train I got a coffee so I could stay awake in the evening and we made it to the hotel just after 6 and took turns taking a shower in our amazing room! Once we were all ready to go, we walked to a night market on Cuba Street to get food with Julia and Puff Puff. I got some delicious dumplings. There were fireworks after so we followed the crowd to the waterfront and sat down. It was a beautiful show and a great way to celebrate getting to Wellington. I think they were actually for Chinese New Year.

After the fireworks we all went to an Irish Pub. Dominos here has $5 pizzas and is open late, so we went there before we went back to our hotel and Julia and Puff Puff went back to the YHA.