Bent to Every Whim

“The beauty of train journeys is that you can appreciate the dominance of New Zealand’s landscape over its inhabitants,” writes The Independent’s Dan Poole post-Tranz Scenic trip down through both islands. “Over the population of four million live in four of the towns and cities I’d passed through: Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch. This majestic country is forthright in its unwillingness to be tamed. As the train rumbled along tracks that bend to the landscape’s every whim, it was hard to resist the temptation to break out in quiet applause.”