Blogs from Dunedin, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 13

After a fretful night at Moeraki after the Christchurch earthquake and getting hold of home (thanks Dawn) we headed onto Dunedin. Dad and Sandra were making it there at the same time so we thought we’d catch up for the last time before they headed back to Christchurch to fly to North Island - as long as all flights were sorted by then. We were only about an hour away from Dunedin so instead of heading straight for the campsite we headed into town to have a look around. We wandered for a bit and went into the Library to email Robyn and Grant - the couple we met in Thailand - to say we were around if they were free to catch up. I’d forgotten that I could have walked up to the third floor ... read more

Our last day in a NZ port starts with a gray day as we board the historic Taieri Gorge train right on the dock. After loading a full train of 12 cars with 400 plus cruise passengers, we sip our champagne as the train proceeds along beautiful Otago Harbor, across causeways to the Scottish heritage city of Dunedin (Gaelic for Edinborough). Stopping briefly at the picturesque Victorian railway station built in 1904, we continue across the Taieri plains to climb into the Taieri River Gorge. With jagged rock ledges and cliff faces plus dramatic ravines we climb at a 1 to 10 ratio and marvel at the engineering feat accomplished by skilled railway gangs, stone masons and engineers who constructed the steel latticework viaducts and tunnels. Complementing the views are the local beers and tea served ... read more

This morning, after some breakfast, we decided we needed to see the settlers museum and the Art gallery, so we drove into town, parked up right outside the Settlers Museum and wandered in only to find that almost the entire thing was closed off! Basically, only the main reception and one of the rooms was open as the whole of the rest of the gallery was being refurbished. As a result, this left us with an hour and a half on our parking meter, so we wandered up to the Art gallery and that, like the settlers museum, had most of the rooms closed because they were either taking down or putting up new exhibitions. Was a bit of a disappointment, to be honest, as we’d been really looking forward to both places. After that, as ... read more

The luxury today was a bit of a lay in! Our rep at the iSite had been very clever sorting out our trips, and booked us in the afternoon slots as, due to their being two massive cruise ships docked in town, they are all flooding out to the local attractions, so by choosing the 4pm tour the cruise ship passengers would all be finishing for the day and heading back. So, 4pm at the Albatross Colony, and then 5.30pm at Natures Wonders was the plan. We headed out mid morning as, on the peninsula, there was New Zealand’s only castle to visit too! So, an amazing drive out along the coast to start with, before turning inland and climbing some pretty steep hills to get to the castle! I was a bit worried as the ... read more

Got up this morning and decided to sort out a few trips for Dunedin. For me, I’d particularly fancied checking out the Albatross Colony, and also the Taieri Gorge railway, and so we decided to head into the iSite to make our bookings. While we were there, we were advised about their ‘two of the best’ option, which allowed us to book the Albatross trip along with either Penguin Place or Natures Wonders. We put our rep on the spot and asked him which trip he would go on, and he said that Natures Wonders would guarantee seeing seals and sea lions, and you had a really good chance of seeing penguins, so we went with that. The Taieri Gorge railway runs to Middlemarch on 2 days a week, one of which was a Sunday so ... read more