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Porirua Harbour in the morning
Before I left for the railway station, I took this photo of Porirua Harbour. I prefer the colouring of the morning. |
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Brora Crescent in Papakowhai
So, I walked off to the railway station with camera in hand. This is looking down Brora Crescent in Papakowhai. It's a bit steep. |
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Porirua Harbour from the lower end of Brora Crescent
Looking across the intersection of Brora Crescent and Papakowhai Road to Porirua Harbour. I turned right and followed Papakowhai Road for a couple of minutes to Paremata and crossed the overbridge to the railway station, from which the next three photos are taken. |
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Crowded highway, eh
State Highway 1 is clearly chocka-block on Saturday mornings through Paremata!
And yes, this really is the most important road in New Zealand, just north of the capital city. I'm sure it looks tiny to those of you from ... anywhere else. |
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Paremata Railway Station
Looking north from the State Highway 1 overbridge to Paremata Railway Station. A southbound EM/ET class unit for Wellington is arriving at the station. In the background can be seen the northern arm of the Porirua Harbour, the Pauatahanui Inlet. |
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EM class unit at Paremata station
The EM/ET class unit seen above departs Paremata station with the Pauatahanui Inlet in the background. |
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Splitting a harbour in two
The entry to Porirua Harbour, seen from Paremata Railway Station. The arm leaving on the left is the southern arm; in the middle is the way out to sea past Plimmerton; the arm leaving on the right is the Pauatahanui Inlet. |
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Boats moored on Porirua Harbour
I don't just photograph trains! Here, a number of boats are seen moored at the entrance to Porirua Harbour's southern arm on the opposite side to Paremata Railway Station. |
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Paraparaumu train arriving at Paremata
My train to the Kapiti Coast arrives! It is 10:29am, so a few minutes late, and it is yet another EM/ET class electric multiple unit. |
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Wharemauku Stream at Raumati Beach
After arriving at Paraparaumu station, we drove by my old house in Raumati Beach and then proceeded to the beach itself, where we planned to meet Jeff before proceeding to somewhere for lunch. This picture is of the footbridge over Wharemauku Stream near its mouth on the Rauoterangi Channel of the Tasman Sea. I have really fond memories of playing around here as a child, building sandcastles by the river and whatnot. |
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Tony and I at Raumati Beach
Uncle Tony and I standing on the bank of the Wharemauku Stream with Kapiti Island in the background across the Rauoterangi Channel. |
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Grandad and I at Raumati Beach
Grandad and I on the bank of the Wharemauku Stream with the southern tip of Kapiti Island visible behind us. |
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Grandad and Tony at Raumati Beach
Grandad and uncle Tony with the beach and Kapiti Island in the background. |
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Kapiti Island from Raumati Beach
I tried to get all of Kapiti Island into one shot, but from the level of the beach, this was the best I could do as I don't have a wide lens. We then went up behind the beach to the top of a little knoll. I should have gotten better shots from there but I'm unhappy with them! |
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Kapiti Island and I
So with my attempts to take a photo of all of Kapiti Island from the top of the knoll not really working out to my satisfaction, I got Grandad to take this photo of me with Raumati Beach and Kapiti Island. The buildings below the knoll are the Raumati Beach public pools and some kind of eating establishment. |
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Marine Gardens, I
Looking down a path in Marine Gardens. This particular path leads behind the position of the photograph to the top of the small knoll overlooking the beach. |
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Marine Gardens, II
Passing through Marine Gardens between the carpark beside the Wharemauku's mouth and the main part of the park. |
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Ride-on train in Marine Gardens
Guess what! Axver found MORE trains! Miniature ride-on ones this time. When I was about five, this was my favourite thing in the world. I'm so happy to see it's still going, and has been expanded since my youth. Here a live steam locomotive passes over a little viaduct. |
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Tony, Jeff, and Grandad at Paraparaumu Beach
We then met up with Jeff and went to Paraparaumu Beach to eat at a place across from the beach. Once we finished lunch, we made our way over the road and took this photo and the following two with Kapiti Island in the background. The titles give who's in the photo from left to right. I think these three photos all do a good job of showing a family resemblance! |
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Tony, Jeff, and I at Paraparaumu Beach
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Tony, Grandad, and I at Paraparaumu Beach
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Kapiti Island as seen from Raumati South
I finally got all of Kapiti Island in a photo that I don't consider unsatisfactory! OK, so it's on a slight angle but otherwise, I'm happy with it. This was taken from Raumati South. After lunch, we'd gone for a bit of a drive before Tony and I had to catch the train back south. |
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EM class unit arriving at Paraparaumu station
We got to Paraparaumu station just in time for me to photograph the 2pm EM/ET class electric multiple unit from Wellington arriving at Paraparaumu just before 3pm. This unit then formed the return service that Tony and I caught. |
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Interior of an EM class unit
Here's the interior of an EM class unit, showing the narrow loading gauge (though perhaps not terribly well). New Zealand's track gauge is only 3'6", and just to make things worse, narrow tunnels limit the height and width of carriages even further. When you're used to Melbourne's trams (track gauge 4'8.5") and trains (track gauge 5'3"), it's remarkable just how small the Kiwi trains feel in comparison. I like them though. |
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Tony aboard the train
Tony and I were sitting around waiting for the train to go, so I took this picture of him. |
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Me aboard the train
And then got him to take this one of me. I think it's one of the best of me from the entire trip. |