Day 5: Dunedin - Invercargill

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Day 5 – Friday the 18th of March

We were hoping to get the last of the sights of Dunedin done today before heading to Invercargill.

Yesterday we booked in to do the Taieri Gorge Railway, known as one of the world’s great train trips, on the back of a recommendation from a 80-ish year old lady on our Cadbury tour. We um’d and ah’d about doing it as it’s a little on the pricey side but eventually we bit the bullet and booked.

Because it was a Friday we were able to do the journey from Dunedin to Middlemarch (Normally it only goes to Pukerangi). We departed the Dunedin Railway station at 9.30am. It was a 77km train ride and many of the vantage points are only accessible by train – the track being privately owned. We got to go through 12 tunnels, heard the history of the central railway and the towns as we passed through, we even had an hour stopover in Middlemarch, where we wandered the small towns streets.

Seats were allocated, but luckily we got one of the better cabs. It was like playing “spot the young person” but we did end up sitting with a lovely couple from Te Aroha. After hours of chatting and wine we learnt they know Tania and Mike (Loni’s parents). Small world aye?! We got on like a house on fire and eventually ended the night back in a Dunedin pub with them - which meant we didn’t quite get to see all the sights (Baldwin Street, the worlds steepest street) before departing Dunedin.

We had a windy and wet drive to Invercargill and didn’t get in till the early hours of Saturday morning so because of that we decided to leave Sat as our lazy day.

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Photos

Dunedin Railway Train station
Apparently the 2nd most photographed building in the southern hemisphere.

The train
We got to be at the back on the way to Middlemarch and at the front of the train on the way back to Dunedin.

Middlemarch has a lot of Churches
Like A LOT of churches for such a small town.

The perfect house
a door, 2 windows, a roof and a chimney!

Matt with the train
in Middlemarch at the 1 hour stopover.

Renee....needing water!
Too much wine..hehe

Comments

[Mike]

yea man
You look just like Kris did. I had to leave her in our hotel room and take the aunty out to dinner by myself. Fun considering I'd never met her before and explaining her neices 'food poisoning'

[ReneeMatt]

Haha....that's brilliant! Must have been a good day for us girls. Food poisoning aye. I was a goner. Did manage to wake up about an hour later complaining to Matt how hungry I was.