Dunedin – nearly dun it all

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So on to Dunedin. This will be the last port of call before scenic cruising in the Fjordland's National Park then a 2-day crossing to Australia. Once back on this ship this evening, the next time Chris and Roisin disembark will be with their luggage!

Dunedin port is not big enough to take a cruise ship so the Sapphire Princess tied up at Port Chalmers and shuttles were organised to take passengers the 20-minute drive to the centre of Dunedin.

Scottish settlers founded Dunedin and the name is derived from the Gaelic for Edinburgh. It is located on the Otago Peninsula and is New Zealand's 4th largest city. It is spread over the hills at the head of a beautiful harbour – a kiwi city with a Scottish heart? A statue of Robbie Burns proudly stands in the centre of the city. A whisky distillery, the only kilt maker in New Zealand and a bagpipe band help to keep the Scottish heritage of this city alive. In fact one of the bagpipers was playing outside the Scottish shop just off the Octagon – the centrepiece of the city – when Chris and Roisin arrived. The townsfolk must have thought that the arrival of the Sapphire Princess was not worthy of the whole band!! Now if it were one of the Seabourne fleet they would have had Lady Macbeth, Billy Connolly and the Lock Ness Monster out to greet them!!!

Dunedin boasts that it is also a city of firsts from New Zealand's oldest university through to the only mainland albatross colony and the islands tallest tree!! To be honest, I think they're scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to the tree thing!!

Chris and Roisin had arranged to meet with their 'dining buddies' – Chris and Mary and head for Dunedin Train Station for a trip across a mountain pass called the Taieri Gorge. This trip was advertised by the cruise company at $US179 (£120) each. The actual return price direct from Dunedin is $NZ79 (£40). The only difference is that the cruise excursion train pulls up on the quay alongside the ship. Chris x 2, Roisin and Mary took the shuttle and had received their tickets and were on board by 09:10am. The train departed at shortly after 09:30, as it had to wait for the official cruise train to reach the next section of the track before the local train could start.

Dunedin railway station is, in itself, a magnificent Edwardian building with Royal Doulton tiled floors and walls and intricate stained glass windows.

The train carriages were straight out of a western with both ends having a tailgate with a walkway adjoining. Unfortunately the train was a diesel and not steam.

The train travelled to a ‘no horse' town called Pukerangi, 58km from Dunedin. The maximum altitude is 254 metres above sea level with a gradient of 1:1.5. Not exactly the Khyber Pass but very, VERY, picturesque. No photos from the journey can do the extraordinary scenic views justice. The train passed through a total of 12 tunnels during the journey. The train also crossed over a number of wrought iron viaducts. One of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere is the Wingatui viaduct, 197m long and 47m above Mulocky Stream. Again, not exactly death defying stuff but anything for a photo opportunity!!!

The journey took about 2 hours each way including stops and the weather was cold at 48ºF (9ºC). However the sun was shining and there was no wind making the outward trip very pleasant.

The train passed by Mount Allen and Little Mount Allen. Chris wondered if Mount Allen was named after a person and his offspring (similar to Mountbatten!) If that were the case, surely it would have been more appropriate to name Little Mount Allen, Mount Allen Jr or Son of Mount Allen!! A guide continued to provide a running commentary of points of interest and staggering statistics. However, he provided nothing on the origins of the naming of Mount Allen so Chris started to make up his own history.

The next point of interest on the map was the comically named Arthur's knob. If, as suspected, all these places of note were first named after the pioneers who helped shape the Taeiri Gorge Railway, Arthur was either very unpopular with his mates or else the talk of the town!!!

As the train pulled in to Pukerangi (Maori for hill of the heavens), the passengers were met by an array of locals selling crafts and nothing much else. Shortly thereafter, the heaven's opened so it was ‘all aboard!' for the 2-hour trip back to Dunedin. The train arrived back in to Dunedin Station at 2:00pm where it was still raining and the piper was still playing!!

This evening Chris and Roisin were invited to join in the celebration of Margaret's 50th birthday. Margaret and Bill are a couple from Australia that Chris and Roisin have met through the trivia sessions. They were joined by Bill and Bev, a very nice couple from a remote town on the west coast of Canada. Marianne and Gerry made up the final pair. They also ensured that the dinner party was truly international as they reside in the LA area of the USA.

The dinner began at the earlier time of 6pm, much earlier than Chris and Roisin's normal time of 8pm. The meal was a success with Bev also celebrating a birthday earlier that week. The kitchen staff had been informed and gave an impromptu rendition of Happy Birthday. Margaret's birthday cake was a specially made chocolate mousse cake. Despite Chris's continued protests of feeling like he's going to burst, he still managed to polish off a huge slice.

They were waited on by Elvis and his Ukrainian assistant Tanya. Elvis is a Philippino with a tremendous laugh and reminded Chris of Peter Griffin from Family Guy. When asked by Marianne, ‘Were you named after Elvis Presley?' He replied in fluent but heavily accented English, ‘No, my dad! He is Elvis snr. Hee! hee! hee!'

The wind was starting to get noticeably stronger and the rolling of the ship more prominent. This is due to the likelihood of the Sapphire Princess rounding the Southern most tip of New Zealand and where the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea converge.

Hopefully the rocking and rolling of the ship won't get much worse in the night to come…

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Comments

[Maxine]

Omg!! how brown r u???

[Karen]

Gorgeous scenery

[Karen]

Love the hat Ros...the weather looks like you might be in England!!!!