Serious, heavy rain in the morning. I wondered if the flight to Dunedin would be cancelled. New Zealand aircraft are made of strong stuff though. Take-off was delayed for a few minutes but it was only a short flight and did not cause us any problems. By the time we landed the rain had stopped and there were even a few patches of sunlight. We checked in at the hotel and then wandered into town and signed up for a couple of trips.
First up in the morning was Larnach Castle. We were taken up there in a minibus. This proved to be quite an interesting drive although it would have been even better if we’d had a few more stops for photographs on the way. The mock castle sits on top of a volcanic cone. When construction was started, in 1870, the builders were clearly confident that the volcano was long dormant. They took 10m off the summit to make a level area. Nothing bad happened so they continued, over the next 17 years, to construct a large Gothic Revival mansion. In 1875, twenty tonnes of glass was imported from Venice, to enclose the exposed verandas which had proven unsuitable for Dunedin winters.
After many changes of ownership, the house is now in private hands. There are few stately home type houses in New Zealand. Since 1967, the castle has been owned by the Barker family and opened as a tourist attraction. “New Zealand’s only castle”. It is an important tourist attraction. 120,000 visitors each year. It is reputedly haunted. This brings another type of tourist and the odd TV film crew. The gardens were not an original feature of the castle but they have been developed as part of the restoration. Now they have been awarded “Garden of International Significance” status by the New Zealand Gardens Trust. Visitors can stay overnight in one of several buildings in the castle grounds. Part of the package is a visit to castle and the opportunity to eat dinner there. We didn’t stay the night but we did take tea and cake in the ballroom. Well, some of us had cake.
Next up was a wildlife cruise. A quickie cruise one on a small boat. We headed out towards the entrance of the bay. On a sandbank where a dredger was working, we spotted some sea lions. Across the other side of the bay is an albatross sanctuary. Dunedin’s Taiaroa Head is the only mainland Royal Albatross breeding colony in the world. Here the birds are protected, observed and visited by an awful lot of tourists. We saw a couple of the wardens approaching birds on the nest and spraying them with something. No idea what, but hopefully it was for the birds benefit. We also spotted a few fur seals lazing around on the rocks down by the shoreline.
Bobbing outside of the harbour entrance for a few minutes we came across a white-capped albatross floating in the ocean. He seemed happy enough. Hopefully we will see more of these in the coming days when we sail south. Just an hour in the boat and it seemed over much faster. Then we were back in Dunedin trying to find a curry house for dinner.
Next day, we went for a train ride. “Experience one of the world’s great heritage rail journeys. The Taieri Gorge train travels deep into the rugged landscapes of Central Otago, passing through tunnels and across towering viaducts carved by hand more than a century ago”. Give or take a few superlatives this is a roughly accurate description. Three hours up the gorge to the town of Pukerangi and two hours back down again. It is all quite fun and interesting. The Taieri Gorge Railway was constructed between 1879 and 1921 to link Dunedin with the Otago goldfields and agricultural regions. In 1987, the Dunedin City Council took over the line preserving it for tourism.
The train consists of five carriages and one engine. The centre carriage is a buffet car selling over-priced coffee and cakes. There is an observation platform at the back but it is only big enough for a couple of people. There are very few possibilities for taking photographs while the train is moving. None of the windows open sufficiently. This seems a shame to me. A few passengers were making videos on their cell phones through the dirty windows. I had a few attempts with my camera but taking clear pictures was quite impossible.
Part way along the gorge, the train was stopped and we all clambered out. Then we could walk across one of the viaducts. Once we were safely over and off the tracks, the train was brought across and we all climbed back on again. This was fun and nice to get some fresh air. I could also take a few photographs.
The end of the line was Pukerangi. Very little to see here. It really is all about the journey. Some people left on a bus heading further west. The engine that had pulled us up the gorge was swapped to the other end of the train ready to pull us back down. Usually, an engine pulls the rest of the train. Sometimes the engine pushes. I thought the engine might just stay at the uphill side of the train. I know very little about these things. Everything ready, we all got back on and the train set off back down.
We stopped at a couple of places on the way down. One station featured a rather unrealistic statue of a dog called Sue. I think everybody took a photograph of this. Mid-afternoon, we were back at Dunedin railway station. This is a rather magnificent building. The entrance hall is impressive as well. To the front are some lovely formal gardens so I ended the day photographing flowers again.
