2-Poem #13 Huntly&Pukekohe - Michael O'Leary

Huntly
Over the Ngaruawahia Bridge
The river flows beside the rails
A marae on the other side, shining
Into old Huntly town
Bleak, wind swept platform
No shelter anymore
One person gets down
Piles of coal and
old world machinery, technology, appear like ghosts



Pukekohe
Under the hill
Of the once
Abundant
Kohekohe tree
The train enters
The outskirts
Of the great city
Auckland . . .
a commuter train stands waiting at the end of the line

2-Poem #12 Te Awamutu&Hamilton - Michael O'Leary

Te Awamutu
An eccentric, high
Yellow signpost with
A cryptic message
Held up by two
Thin poles, stands
Where the station
Once did. An earthen
Embankment behind
the split ends of the township



Hamilton
The train wends its way through farm land and southern suburbs
Towards Frankton Junction
Pulling into Hamilton Station where many people get off
And the electric engine is uncoupled
The line to Rotorua and the Bay of Plenty branches off as
The diesel replacement chugs away into the industrial areas
Heading north, its palpable power adding excitement and anticipation
An immediacy
not noticeable with the smooth, steady electric motive

2-Poem #11 - Te Kuiti&Otorohanga - Michael O'Leary

Te Kuiti
Between Taumarunui and
Te Kuiti
falls
The land
again
Back into deep no-road bush valley
And the rain comes in hard on the train
Te Kuiti Station is now
the community Medical Centre, pai ora



Otorohanga
At Otorohanga, near the dilapidated but beautiful old station
the overhead wires of the electric engine
were struck by lightning and they had to
wait for three hours for a replacement diesel
to arrive . . .
It was a good thing
There was ample
Food on board for
the journey had become ‘torohanga’ indeed

2-Poem #10 National Park&Taumarunui - Michael O'Leary

National Park
From the viaduct just out of Ohakune, see the old viaduct
This is real, wild railway country, surrounded by dense bush
Deep valleys where no roadway is seen . . .
Toetoe line the track
The North-South train crews cross over in the middle of nowhere
Back beside the road, the town looks broken up
But the old National Park sign still stands in good repair – 807m above sea-level
too cloudy to see Ruapehu!



Taumarunui
Back into deep no-road bush valley
Raurimu Spiral – Pukerimu (half-way
down the spiral) and
Raurimu township
An interesting little town – who lives there?
Down the Whanganui River valley
Curving around to
Taumarunui town!
the train circled into the station

2-Poem #9 Waiouru&Ohakune - Michael O'Leary

Waiouru
Mataroa jigger garage sits alone, the train crosses an old steel-framed girdered bridge Church spires reach skyward and plunging into tunneled darkness, ferns and Blackberry grab at the carriage. Hihitahi, a one house town, and a beautiful, fast-Flowing river. Down brown valleys where no roads roam
Suddenly bursting onto the plain where the army lives. The Army Museum stands Grey and fortress-like, both in design and in intent. No soldier-boy waiting to catch a Ride today. A tee-pee tent is the only colourful event.
An American tourist wanders around the carriage with a digital camera
and a string of trashy medals



Ohakune
Dead gorse hangs towards the tracks
A dead sheep rots in a bog
Two horses canter comically away
as our train approaches
A large power sub-station and geo-thermal plant
Can be seen as we cross another steel-framed bridge at Tangiwai
A real railway town, rows of old railway houses
A ZP wagon with NY-style graffiti on a siding.
the station burned by vandals

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