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Published: February 23rd 2012
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Thursday, 23rd February 2012:
We had never heard of Dunedin until Cunard decided to take us there but it proved to be
the gateway to an amazing journey along the (famous!!) Taieri Gorge. And what made the
journey great was the fact it was done on a wonderful old railway. 14 carriages were
hauled by 3 old diesel engines and the return journey took us nearly 6 hours. Talk
about rugged! There is almost no wildlife here: a few birds, some wild deer and goats
and that's about your lot. We only saw 7 houses in all those hours and it's hardly
surprising. The gorge makes Cheddar look like toy town. Its steep sides are covered in
trees at the bottom of the gorge but it turns to large rocks and then just scree. You
travel across some seriously hairy bridges and viaducts too and although they make a
photo look good, they make your bum twitch as you cross and can't see anything holding
you up when you look out the window!
It was terribly civilized on board the train. We had one seat each facing each other
and a shared table but only ourselves to share it; no-one else. They served tea and
beer and soda and wine all day long as well as a really lovely lunch on board. The rain
chucked itself down all day long but heck, we're British, so that was never going to get
in the way of our fun. There was a sniffy pair of Germans opposite us who wanted
everyone in the carriage to keep their windows shut so they didn't get cold. In the
end, they shut their own windows, everyone else opened theirs so they could enjoy the
view and take hundreds of photos and the Germans put their coats on.
The ship was late arriving at Dunedin this morning so the train was late leaving which
meant the train was late arriving back at the ship. Very late. Thank goodness we were
on a Cunard trip - along with 383 other guests from the ship. If we'd booked our own
trip the ship would not have waited. It's one major plus point for going on the pre-
arranged tours with Cunard. They guarantee to wait for you if your tour runs late.
Mind you I reckon they shut the doors straight away behind the last passenger and
immediately pulled away from the dock.
Dunedin's harbour is much like a Norwegian fjord with seriously steep sides, especially
at the very narrow entrance. The rocks here are home to a very rare land-based colony
of albatrosses. They were all sitting firmly on the ground when we went passed and I
can't blame them, 'cos it's still chucking it down out there.
We head out tonight across the Tasman sea as we make our way towards Australia next. We
have 2 full days at sea now and then go first to Melbourne. We're very excited about
this port of call because we're meeting up with Kathleen, my ex boss from Reading. We
used to talk about the fact that one day Richard and I planned doing a world cruise and
would meet up but I don't think I really expected it to happen this quickly. Can't wait
for big hugs and major catching up on gossip!
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soo coventry
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hello.......
enjoying reading about your adventures...keep up the good work...give my love to Kat xx