This morning we woke to a cold and wet Dunedin after a lot of overnight rain - None of which I heard falling. It was disconcerting however we focused on maintaining a positive attitude whilst we got ourselves ready for our days' outing and had some breakfast. Despite the heavy cloud we ventured out from our accommodation and headed down to the Dunedin railway station to board for our rail trip up to Pukerangi via the Taieri Gorge.
Once boarded we headed out of town to the gentle swaying motion and clackety clack of the rails as the train moved along sedately - Our eyes turned skywards and we hoped the clouds would break...
...As you can see they did. 😃
As the train rolled through rich green farmland the clouds thinned and as we started the climb up into the Taieri Gorge there was more blue sky than clouds. Winning! It was cold still of course, but it looked like we were in for a beautiful day.
The train we were on is operated by Dunedin Railways who own the track it runs on, all except the first portion heading out of the station. It follows the Taieri River through the gorge and ten tunnels cut through the mountains to its destination Pukerangi. There's nothing there though, quite literally - The purpose of this trip is the trip itself, not the destination.
Passengers are offered spectacular views once in the gorge and on both sides of the train deep valleys, pine forests, open pasture-land and rugged mountains pass by. I spent most of the trip on the open observation deck which is where one can take full advantage of the views however it was cold up there so Faith stayed inside. You may note that the water is a different colour from the water in my other posts. This is because this is not alpine water. It is a muddy brown currently, due to heavy rain upstream, however usually is the colour of tea, stained by tannins from tree leaves.
You can see her here at Pukerangi posing with the locomotive and also re-boarding - She's equipped with that bloody beanie that has featured in every picture I've taken of her here in New Zealand. Ok, so not every picture, but most. It's cold I guess, legit reason for the beanie.
As the train snakes its way through the gorge one of the guides provides interesting information about the things we passed and some historical information as well; He mentioned a mining boom which piqued my curiosity however it seems it was a short-lived boom lasting only a couple of weeks - Obviously there wasn't enough gold to make it viable.
We'd planned this trip as a little time to relax and relax we did. There's a dining car on the train full of great foods including cheese and fruit platters, toasted sandwiches and grills, gourmet nuts and cookies plus heaps of beverages like specialty teas and coffees plus wine, beers and spirits. We rolled along enjoying some of the fare, the scenery providing the show.
The train stops a couple of times to allow passengers to alight and grab photos and stretch their legs. Of course at Puckerangi the locomotive has to uncouple and move from the front of the carriages to the back making the back the front and the front the back. You follow? You can see the loco being shunted here below.
Once the locomotive was reset at the front of the train [the front which used to be the back], and with passengers back on board, the train heads back to the Dunedin train station which you can see pictured here below. It's one of the most photographed train stations in the world. It was built in the Flemish Renaissance style using two local stones being the dark volcanic stone from Kokonga and limestone from the Oamaru area. The area out the front of the station is known as ANZAC Square, so-named after the Australian and New Zealand forces which served together in World War One (1914-1918).
We had a great day today - It was relaxing sitting in the sun watching the vistas unfold in front of us and having a nice bite to eat. We were so pleased that the weather turned out really great although, you'll note in the image above taken at the train station after our return, that the weather here in Dunedin wasn't as eager to play ball.
Anyway, thanks for reading, if indeed you did, and for following along on our NZ trip. I know this post isn't probably that exciting for you. In fact I guess none of them really are, but I hope you have found a decent picture to look at here and there. I could have done a post about steem...But Nah, that's not really my style.
Take care y'all.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default
