Day 5 – South Island Tour – 2nd March 2010

 

Got up this morning at 6:30am to depart Te Anau at 8:30am for another long drive to Dunedin. After the rain of yesterday today was back to normal with blue skies and sunshine. After leaving the mountains behind us I thought the countryside started to look more and more English. We stopped for coffee and cakes at Gore at 10:30am. Then set off along the so-called presidential highway to Clinton (geddit?). Then on to Balclutha. This run was the nearest we got to the South Coast and Invercargil (let alone Stewart Island). Well, you can’t do everything, can you? We then turned north to Milton and on through Waihota and soon after we crossed the Taieri River and into Dunedin. It was 12:30 when we arrived, a four hour drive but we must have been in Gore for half an hour. We had till 2.10pm to have a bit of a look around the city centre and get some lunch. At 2:10 the coach took us the short drive to the railway station where we went on the Taieri Gorge Railway (which is why I mentioned it earlier – thinking ahead all the time. That’s me.)

This departed at 2:30 and got us back at 6:40pm. This railway took us up as far as Pukerangi but the track does continue as far north as Middlemarch. The first part of the track is owned by OnTrack, the NZ railway. From Wingatui it is an historic railway line in private ownership. Wingatui (wing a tui) is so-named because an early settler shot and wounded a tui bird in 1848. He didn’t kill it, just winged it. Ta-rah!

The views from the train, particularly where the track runs just under the rim of the Taiere Gorge, are truly spectacular. The Wingatui Viaduct is one of the primary features of the line. It is one of the largest wrought iron structures in the southern hemisphere.

Now back in the hotel after having a bite to eat. T’internet is $10 for two hours using a network cable in the room. So I’ll now post yesterdays notes and these notes for today. Tomorrow we are away at 8:00am for another long drive. This time we are heading up North and inland to the Mount Cook National Park. I might climb the 3,754 metres to the top of the highest mountain in New Zealand. Or I might not. Let’s see how it goes.