Day 91

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Had to set an alarm this morning to make sure we were up in time for the Taieri Gorge railway trip, had to be at the station at 09:10 for our 09:30, which we managed without too many traumas, and then it was a case of boarding our train ready for the trip. Basically, it’s a former mining type line which carves it way through impressive terrain, over bridges and up hills, before heading through the flatlands and stopping at a place called Middlemarch for an hour. Return time around 16:30, so we’d be out most of the day. Easier to let you see the pictures for this one than try and describe it, but there was fun to be had on the ‘balcony’ at the end of some of the carriages taking pics, and you pass so close to the sides of the track, especially in the tunnels, you really did have to heed the warning not to put your head or hands outside!

After we’d got back, we decided to wander to the Chinese gardens. This was pretty good, actually, and, because its Chinese New Year in a few days time, we were fortunate enough to find some dragon dancers practicing out the front, which was good. The gardens themselves are to commemorate the large Chinese immigrant community who mostly came over to Otago as part of the gold rush, and it was a little pocket of calm in the busy city. I baulked a bit at the cost for entry, but it was well worth it and we both really enjoyed our time there. After that we were both quite tired and so an early night was called for!!

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