Originally posted by zkarj I'd settle for moving the southern terminal of the current ferry service to Clifford Bay as has been mooted for many years already. It would shorten the trip a little and if they bought decent modern boats I'm sure they could shorten it further with a bit of extra speed. Never mind the winter crossings, I only want to use it in the summer!
I think there's one very significant reason why Clifford Bay didn't go ahead. Right in the middle of Lake Grassmere was the epicentre of a 6.6 magnitude earthquake that followed a 6.5 in the same area a month before. Buildings were damaged in Wellington, so I suspect any port at Clifford Bay would likely have been uninsurable. No mention of the quakes were made when it was announced that Clifford Bay plans had been shelved, but I'm not sure whether it was mere coincidence that the announcement was made not long after the quakes.
Originally posted by zkarj I've seen the 'Freighter trundling round Omaka. Never mind cost, there are none flying in the world.
Slightly more modern but I don't think there are any of
these either (that's me on the right).
A Carvair? I remember when there were a few of them in NZ.
I hear the Air Force is going to be disposing of some flying machines capable of transporting vehicles in the near future, only trouble is they're not very reliable any more.
---------- Post added 07-24-20 at 02:58 PM ----------
Originally posted by zkarj The congestion issues around Wellington would in fact be solved by moving investment in roading over to the existing public transport networks. Wellington, on the other end of the scale from Auckland, is superbly laid out to take advantage of public transport, but decades of pandering to road users and decades of under investment (largely in private hands) in the rail network have left us with a right old mess.
Approximately 90km of Wellington's "congested" arterial roads (essentially SH1 to Waikanae and SH2 to Upper Hutt) are paralleled by an existing commuter rail network that has for so many years been unreliable only due to underinvestment.
The Wellington rail network is actually a major attraction of Wellington for me, apart from making the cost of getting across Cook Strait more bearable as it's actually possible to get around reasonably well without needing a car.
I remember when they used to have a weekend pass that allowed you to ride the train anywhere on the electric network, and I took advantage of it to go up to Paraparaumu (quite a scenic trip), and then back into town and up the Hutt Valley to stay with relatives.
I like riding on trains, but don't particularly like buses, as in my opinion, the ride tends to be rougher.
I was fortunate enough to do the Taieri Gorge railway 4 years ago, as it's gone now.
I remember when I was a kid taking the inland Kaikōura road south, and the railway line still went through to Waiau, although there were no longer any trains.