When Thomas arrived at the far side of Alaska, he was loaded onto a ship to travel across the ocean again. "Where are we going this time?" he asked.
"Australia is our next big stop," replied his Driver, "but we're due to stop in New Zealand first."
I wonder what will be different about that country, Thomas thought.
As the ship made its way across the ocean, they sailed past some islands. Thomas was amazed. "I didn't expect to see islands in the middle of the ocean."
"You'd be surprised," said one of the Sailors. "Islands can be either near larger areas of land or far away, like these."
As Thomas watched, he saw a boat stop at one island with some strange statues on it. The statues looked like giant heads. "That's Easter Island," said the Sailor, "and those statues are called 'moai'. The oldest ones were made seven-hundred years ago."
"Bust my boiler," said Thomas. "That's older than Stephen and he's one of the oldest engines in the world."
When Thomas reached New Zealand, there was no one waiting for him at the harbour. "Is someone going to show us around?"
"I'm afraid you'll be on you own here," said the Dock Master, "but it's hard to get lost when you know where you're going." And he told Thomas, his Driver and Fireman where they were meant to go and to collect some special passengers on the way.
Thomas collected his coaches and set off, but he wondered what was so special about his passengers. Soon, he reached Wellington Station where he had to stop. As he waited, some passengers arrived. They looked like a sports team of some kind. Thomas wasn't sure, but there seemed to be something familiar about them. They look just like the Sodor Rugby Team, he thought to himself.
Then, one of the players came up to him. "Hullo," he said.
"Hullo," replied Thomas kindly. He noticed the player sounded familiar too. "Are you the Captain of this team?"
"I am." The Team Captain paused. "Hmm, you know, you look just like a good old tank engine from back home."
Thomas became even more curious. "What kind of team are you?"
"We're the Sodor Rugby Team."
"What?!" Thomas cried. "Then I'm that 'good old tank engine from back home!'" But he wasn't so sure about the 'old' part.
The Rugby Captain turned to his teammates. "Hey! he's one of us! It's Thomas the Tank Engine!"
The Team cheered and Thomas whistled with delight. "I can't believe I'm meeting people from Sodor halfway around the world!" he said. He thought this was quite funny. "Maybe this is a small world."
"Who told you that?" asked the Captain.
"A tank engine I met in New York City." The team were most impressed as they climbed onboard. "So, what are you doing here?" asked Thomas.
"We're visiting Auckland," replied the Captain. "We're here to play a friendly game against the New Zealand Team there."
"How exciting."
As Thomas puffed happily along, he noticed there was a lot to see in New Zealand. Everything seemed new and spectacular to him. "This is amazing," he whistled.
"It is, isn't it?" agreed the Captain. "We've visited New Zealand before and it's a very nice place." But what Thomas didn't know was that the Captain also knew what to expect.
When Thomas stopped at the next station, he saw a tall wooden post some way from the line and there were lots of faces carved onto it. He was surprised; the faces looked quite frightening. "What scary faces," he said to no one in particular.
"Don't worry," laughed the Captain. "Those posts are called 'pouwhenua.' The first ones were made by Māori tribesmen a long, long time ago. The pouwhenua were used to mark certain places. The tribesmen always greeted visitors with displays of scary faces just to see how brave they were." Thomas thought that was very interesting. "And if you think that's scary," added the Captain, "wait until we meet the New Zealand team in Auckland."
Thomas was confused…and a little worried. He thought the Sodor Rugby Team were there to play a friendly game.
When they reached Auckland Station, Thomas noticed some people on the platform. That must be the Auckland Rugby Team, he thought. It was, but he didn't expect what happened next. The Auckland Rugby Team started jumping around making very angry faces.
As the Sodor Rugby Team left the coaches, Thomas felt rather uncomfortable. Then, he remembered what the Captain had said about the pouwhenua posts and that gave him an idea.
Thomas started puffing backwards and forwards along the platform making the scariest faces he could think of. At first, the Auckland Rugby Team looked confused…then they laughed.
"You must be Thomas," chuckled the Auckland Rugby Captain. "Welcome to New Zealand. I see your friends have told you about our traditions. You're going to fit right in here."
More people arrived to see the teams and Thomas puffed backwards and forwards again as he tried to make more scary faces. Everyone laughed and cheered.
Later, the Teams returned to the Station. "Who won?" Thomas asked eagerly.
"It was a close game," said the Auckland Captain, "but your mates from Sodor pulled through in the end."
"Yes," said the Sodor Captain, "but you all played a good game too."
"So, it was a friendly match after all," smiled Thomas and everyone agreed.
The Sodor Rugby Team boarded the coaches again and Thomas puffed away, but not before making some more scary faces. The Aukland Rugby Team and the fans laughed once more, and they all cheered until Thomas was out of sight.