Arrived right on time in Dunedin, our first real port in New Zealand. Not an overly nice day – overcast and cold. We had the Taieri Gorge train booked and were worried about the weather and the viewing potential. Made our way down to the Princess Theater to get in line for the tours (you have to be REALLY early around here to get anything – a seat in the room for trivia, tickets to the tours – these people are amazing!). We were to meet Harold and Meryl to go together, but the lines and the masses of people made that impossible – you were just milled into the room by the masses, no chance to get out of line or get someone else in with you. I was almost mauled trying to reach Ed who was in the line. We ended up on separate train cars from Harold and Meryl because we couldn’t find each other in the crowd!
So…..after that little test of patience, we did manage to find our way to train car #3 which was vintage 1920’s. Great old wooden railway car with seating facing each other for 2 on one side of the aisle and 4 on the other, all with a table in between and china service, etc. The train ride follows the route originally developed after the Gold Rush passed and the land began to be developed for agricultural and pastoral uses. The line opened in the late 1890’s and was finished in 1921. The line continued to be in use over the years and was protected from competition until 1961. It continued to operate until 1990 when it was scheduled to be closed. The Mayor of Dunedin made a proposal to buy the railway if the community could raise $1 million to finance it. Once purchased, they turned the rail into a tourist attraction and keep it running that way today.
The train ride took about 1 ½ hours on the way up – we were served tea (coffee and shortbread), and beer on the ride up along the Taieri river and through gorgeous country of cliffs, mountains and farm land. The train stopped every so often for pictures and you could hangout on an outside platform for better photo opp’s. We took a lot of pictures and just enjoyed the views, which were better than we expected as the cloud cover had not come up the gorge.
At the top of the railway line, we stopped in Pukerangi where there is a small farm and of course the obligatory local’s selling their wares. Stretched our legs and took some photos but high tailed it back to the train because it was so chilly. One interesting fact – they brought EMT’s along with us on the train – they had mentioned something about if you needed first aid it was available, but we didn’t think anything of it until we saw the EMT’s at the Pukerangi stop!
Back aboard, we were served a light “finger” lunch of a sandwich, yogurt, quiche, fruit and cheese. Also all the wine and beer you could drink so the ride down was a bit tipsy!
Learned a lot about New Zealand during the ride from two great guides (husband and wife) who volunteer on the train. There are 10 sheep for every available acre of grazing land, there are more sheep than humans in population size in New Zealand (40 million sheep vs. 4 million humans), the ozone layer is so thin here that children must wear hats to school and the horses all have blankets on to protect them from the sun, not the cold.
After leaving the train in the heart of Dunedin, we went to the Cadbury factory for our tour. Oh, that was so not good (as our friend Stu says!). The tour itself was fun – there wasn’t much going on in the factory as it was a Saturday, but the smell was intoxicating and the machinery really wild to look at. The plant in New Zealand supplies virtually all their chocolate to New Zealand and some to Australia. It’s a small plant, but it produces an astonishing amount of chocolate. Along the way, the tour guide gave us pop quizzes for which we were rewarded candy. It was a bit like Halloween, we were issued bags and then we got to put our candy in the bags as we went along! Ended up only seeing one conveyor of Moro bars being boxed (that’s the NZ version of a Milky Way – but better!), and the operator did look a bit like Lucy when some of the bars didn’t come out lined up right! Also got to see 1 ton of chocolate dumped into a huge holding vat – and splash out all over everything – had to stand back so we weren’t dipped in chocolate ourselves.
Then of course, the tour ends in their candy shop – well – not good – not good at all! Not only had we made ourselves sick on the chocolate they were handing out on the tour, now we could buy more – and at really reasonable prices. So no more ship dessert for us! We’re still eating the darn samples they gave us and have kilos of chocolate to go!
Did find out why the chocolate over here tastes so much better – in NZ for instance – they use whole milk, not milk derivatives for the candy. And in the US – Hershey’s has the license to make Cadbury chocolates and it’s a completely different recipe - obviously.
After our gorging (LOL), we wandered around Dunedin, which is a cute little town, but not overly interesting. Hit the internet, had a nip in a sports bar/pub--The Terrace--that was owned by the son of our train tour guides, then headed back to the ship on the shuttle. Sail-away, dinner and DVD’s in the cabin, then early to bed for our next port, Christchurch.
No comments:
Post a Comment