NZ Politics

I’d quite like to take a train trip from, say, Auckland to Wellington, or down the south island, but mostly as a tourist thing, and I’d probably fly the other leg.

You can do Auckland to Wellington or vice versa, though it's about $240 a person so it's cheaper to fly. There's also a couple out of Christchurch, one to Picton. And the other is Christchurch to Greymouth.

If you're really keen, you could do Auckland to Wellington, catch the ferry as a walk-on passenger then get the train from Picton to Christchurch, then Christchurch to Greymouth.

I don’t mind driving

Long distance driving is an altogether different experience when you have three young kids 😆. It's getting a bit easier now they are all forward facing. The youngest, previously rear facing in the middle, used to boot the other two in the face when they got bored.

it's hard to beat the convenience of just getting in the car and going whenever you feel like it.

For sure. Most passenger rail in NZ is commuter, because everyone is heading to the same places and not just going where they feel like it. One issue is the public transport at the end of the trip needs to also be decent. But even if intercity trains were available and at convenient times, I don't see trains replacing every trip for me. Depending on why we are travelling, there's a good chance we'll need a car (though I've occasionally flown to visit family, and there's normally a spare car around to borrow anyway).