Palmerston North to Wellington Airport, New Zealand

Well, my ski trip in New Zealand is coming to an end… time to start heading back to the UK.

First part of the trip was to get from Palmerston North to Wellington to catch a flight to Auckland, and then on to New York, USA.

Caught the train at 6:20 am, from Palmerston North and arrived in Wellingtom at 8:20 am (on time). If I had missed the train I would have been ’stuffed’, as there is only one train per day.

(By the way, Palmerston North called Palmerston North because there is a Palmerston on the south island (this explains why I couldn’t find a Palmerston South, East or West nearby on the map), and the north refers to the north island. Locals called Palmerston North ‘Palmy’ – does this mean that Wellington is know as ‘Welly’?)

Interesting run on the train through the NZ countryside – looks very much like the UK (Yorkshire?), with a lot of farmland and hills.

Taxi from the train station to the airport, which took 10 minutes, cost $35 NZ.

Wellington airport quite small and be warned, there is nothing available after the domestic gate (domestic gate as I am flying to Auckland).

Plane flight path between the Mount Ruapehu ski area and the other volcano to the west. Could see both peaking above the clouds.