Dunedin

We docked at dawn, at the wood chip dock... Again... The ship is docked at Port Chalmers, Seven miles or so below Dunedin. Beyond Port Chalmers, the channel is too shallow and narrow for our cruise ship...

Port Chalmers is the container port for Dunedin. To starboard is the container dock with huge cranes and stacks of Mersk, P&O, Hapag-Lloyd, other's shipping containers... To port, we are tied to the lumber dock with stacks of logs for export to Japan, and the wood chip pile with its loading device, which resembles a war machine from Star Wars.

We took the Taieri Gorge train, loading at the wood dock, through Dunedin, and eastward into the mountains, through Taieri Gorge, to the highlands beyond, then returning to Dunedin...

Once part of New Zealand's rail system, by the 1980's, it was to be abandoned, but instead was purchased by the local government, and is now operated by a mostly volunteer Railway Trust group... The trip started at the dock, operating on Rail New Zealand tracks, through Dunedin, with its spectacular stone Victorian depot, Then transitions to the Trust's preserved line outside of town. The line is noted for its many tall wrought iron bridges, some over 70 meters tall.

The carriages are surplused, retired stock from the national railways, some nearly 100 years old, with open platforms and paneled wooden interiors others are older prewar cars that have been rebuilt with sealed windows, air conditioning, and would compare favorably with anything used by Amtrak. A few are older cars, rebuilt by the volunteers, with lifts, to allow wheel chairs, but also otherwise modernized. It total is about preserving the railway, but not a museum.

Beyond the scenery, and the rolling stock, there were the volunteers staffing the cars, and the service they provided... (Volunteers also maintain and rebuild the rolling stock) We boarded at 9:30, and we're drinking a glass of local champagne before 10:00... This was followed by beer...

We got off and walked around in Hindon... A wide spot in the canyon with a statue of a herding dog, and of course, local crafts available for sale... As a bonus, Sue (short for Susan) the heading dog who, some years ago (Tina thinks 2003) was the model for the statue, now quite old, deaf, and a bit heavy from feasting on too many treats was among the locals there to great us.

Back aboard, more bridges... More tunnels...

I was surprised that they allowed (even encouraged) us to walk from car to car, and stand on the open platforms of the cars. It is a practice usually prohibited in the US.

The train turned back at Pukerangi, short of the end of the line at Middlemarch where the line beyond has been abandoned and removed, and is now a trail. Again, retail therapy was offered, but today we had a different sort of entertainment... A passenger on the previous train, part of a tourist group (not associated with our ship) taking the train, then a bus from Pukerangi had collapsed was reported to have vomited blood... We had local medical responders and an evacuation helicopter... Medical evacuations seem to be an ongoing theme for the trip... We suspect that the local vendors may have been disappointed in their sales, interrupted as they were by the excitement.

back aboard... A box lunch was offered (with New Zealand wine) then a bit later beer was offered again... Since I wasn't driving I thought it was ok...

Down the gorge, more photos were taken... To Dunedin's railway depot... We got off, but some stayed aboard and returned to the ship...

In town, we explored the depot, then walked into "the Octagon" Dunedin's 8 sided downtown, surrounding an 8 sided downtown plaza... We explored some galleries, found an ATM and got some NZ $, and picked up a few trinkets and a small oil painting (very small, maybe 6"x6")

The ships shuttles were leaving from the Octagonal plaza... The line was long, so we explored some more, then surrendered and lined up... I had my IPad, and discovered that the plaza had free WiFi... Karin went on, returning to the ship, but we stayed behind until the last shuttle, sitting in the park and catching up on emails... Then, catching the last shuttle, returned to the ship...

Now back aboard... We are sitting in the Crows Nest me with a beer, Tina with a glass of wine. I am writing this, Tina is reading... The Captain has announced that there are still 200 guest ashore... Sail out is scheduled for 7:00... Sunset is about 8:00... On the way out we will pass an Albatross Rookery, along with a shore line known for local penguins...

Now 6:30 or so, the gangway has been pulled, a pipe band shoreside is playing, biding us farewell... We sailed by 7:00, and had sailed past the breakwater, past the albatross rookery,