Chugging Up The Gorge

Tuesday 12 December

We woke this morning to the sun just rising over the mountains, painting them shades of pinks and mauves. There were a few high darker clouds of deep pink to grey, which apparently are the residue of the bush fires currently happening in Victoria in Australia. There were no sounds other than the wind rustling gently in the leaves of the trees – it was so peaceful, surrounded by all those mountains. Despite being miles from anywhere, the hotel had provided an excellent meal last night, and breakfast was just as good this morning. Darryl and Alan soon had the cases loaded and we were on our way, through the numerous lakes in this region, mostly in existence because of the dams for Waitaki hydro-electric power systems, the most important such system in New Zealand, providing 60% of the hydro electric power in New Zealand. The Lake Benmore Dam is the largest dam in the southern hemisphere and the electricity produced here is taken across the canal, converted from AC to DC current before being transferred by cable via the Cook Straits to Wellington and on to North Island where it is reconverted to AC current – less power is loss in the transfer this way. Whilst watching the scenery, Colin had a call from Juz to say Nanny had successfully ridden the electric scooter they had hired, whizzing round the village at 8 mph, so that she and Grandad had trouble keeping up.

The lakes are stocked with salmon and trout providing good fishing in the area, gliders and sky diving are popular because of the excellent thermals in the area (Steve Fossett was here a couple of years ago to try and break the gliding height record by using currents of air rushing up from Antarctica, but he failed), and a group of girls staying in the hotel were here to practice their rowing skills for the national championships to be held here next month. It is a recreational mecca and many camper vans were already parked around the lakes – presumably away for a break before Christmas. New industries in the area include cosmetics and herbal remedies using the abundant rose hips obtained from the dog rose bushes which are now growing like a weed (they were brought from England with the first settlers) – they are a good source of Vitamin C and also beneficial in face creams and treatments. Russell lupins grow along the roadside, spreading into fields and waterways and although very pretty in pinks, mauves and blues with a strong floral smell, most local people would like to be able to exterminate them as they are beginning to choke the river systems, causing worse flooding in the winter, as well as overrunning many indigenous plants.

We passed through lots of small towns including Palmerston (named after the British Prime Minister) where John Mackenzie (a friend of Richard Seddon, the law maker) campaigned vigorously against the big companies taking over farms and in 1896, persuaded the Government to compulsorily purchase these lands and sell them, in small lots, back to the local farmers. He is commemorated by a statue at the top of the hill just outside the town. Another town was Seacliff, where Truby King, a doctor trained in Scotland, promoted healthy eating with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables for those people condemned to the local mental asylum. He found that if fed and exercised properly most could return to live a normal life within society. He got them to work in the nearby orchards, or vegetable gardens or even go fishing, so that they felt part of the community. He then used similar methods to treat sick children and Lord Plunkett, a prominent politician, heard of his success and sponsored nurses to train under Mackenzie as specialist children’s nurses. Eventually the Plunkett Society for Sick Children was set up, which still operates in most towns today.

We had a quick comfort break at Oamuru, which is famous for the soft sandstone which when quarried, and left out in the air, becomes very hard. Many of the houses, churches and public buildings are constructed in this creamy white stone, so the town looks very bright and newly washed. There were several old warehouses under renovation, an old railway track running from the centre of town to the seafront which used to haul goods to and from a small port which was later destroyed in flooding - the train now runs only on Sundays and public holidays – as well as several interesting churches, so we would have liked to stay here longer. But we were booked for a coffee thirty kilometres up the road at Moeraki, another coastal town, where huge round boulders sat on the sandy beach, washed by the tide. No one knows how they got there but there are about thirty smaller ones and ten really huge cannonballs of granite. I went down on the beach and paddled my way towards them – just avoiding getting my trousers wet in the waves. It’s a bit the same as Stonehenge – how did these great lumps of rock, not indigenous to the area, get here on the beach?

Back on the coach and we made out way past Blue Skin Bay (so named because when the first settlers landed there, they were met by Maoris, who tattooed their faces in celtic-style patterns using a blue dye. Many of the Maoris we have met on North Island still tattoo their chins in the old traditional style.

Our objective was Dunedin (Gaelic for Edinburgh). In 1843 some of the Scottish people became unhappy with the fact that the English Church still regulated how and when they worshipped, and under Dr James, their first Minister, they broke away and became the First Church of Scotland. It had been hoped that the two churches could co-exist, but after a year it was evident that this was not possible, so Dr James persuaded a group to sail with him to the New Colony, brought land from the New Zealand Association, and settled around the sheltered bay inside a volcanic crater which was to become Dunedin. The port where they landed - now known as Port Chalmers – was just a little way down towards the ocean, and is still an important centre today for cruise ships as well as commercial vessels. The Scottish people set up small crofts similar to those they owned in Scotland and began a farming community. Ten years later gold was found in nearby Gabriel’s Gully, and across country around Queenstown, all of which was transported through Dunedin and the city became a prosperous merchant centre. In 1904 the railway was built – the biggest and busiest in the whole of New Zealand, with a large impressive neo-Gothic station building. There are no public trains through here today, just a privately owned train, the “Taieri Gorge Train” running once a day for tourists, which we would be traveling on later today. There is a large university in the town, and lots of student accommodation, which makes for a lively community, but the term has ended now, so it is quite quiet.

We were dropped off at our hotel and had an hour before we needed leave for the station and our next train ride. This ride was also an option for those not on the Rail Tour, so there were nineteen of us traveling this afternoon. We decided to check the connection to the Internet – not too hopeful after the past few days – but, surprise, surprise, we got connected very quickly – so I would be able to publish the blog later in the day.

As we got to the station, the temperature dropped quite severely – it became very cold again after a warm sunny morning - and began to rain lightly - lucky we would be inside on the train. The engine and carriages were already sitting at the platform, and we took our seats, while the newcomers to our group brought their tickets – and got seats in the same carriage as us. The train was pulled by a 1960 restored diesel engine and some of the carriages were old stock refurbished from the 1920’s. We were sitting in newly re-vamped seats, in a viewing car, with large picture windows with glass panels in the roof.

The route was chosen as the best of seven presented in 1877 because it linked the greatest area of inner lands to Dunedin, with a total length of 235 kilometres. We were only traveling a small portion (45 kms) to Pukerangi, 19 kilometres south of Middlemarch. Roads were notoriously bad, and railways were seen as the answer to transport and communication problems. Although construction started in 1879, the first part of the line was not opened until 1889, between Hinton and the middle of the Taieri Gorge, and work on the rest of the route was completed in short sections, and finally finished in 1921. Despite its late arrival, the railway played an important part in the carriage of livestock and farm produce until the 1980’s, when the construction of the Clyde dam required the closure of the line between Clyde and Cromwell, although the transport of steel and cement for the construction of the dam, meant good business until 1989. By this time the railway had become a popular tourist attraction and in 1990 sufficient funds had been raised (NZ$1.2 million) to privatize the Taieri Gorge Railway, and make it New Zealand’s longest private railway.

The train pulled out of Dunedin in the rain, and passed through two tunnels still on the line to Invercargill, before we crossed on to the gorge line at Wingaui and out across the plain towards Salisbury. Here we passed through the longest tunnel on the line – 437 metres – and entered Mullocky Gully. I was up and down, from side to side in the carriage taking photos, while Colin (with Andrew – a real train buff), was out on the joining plate between the two carriages – getting really windblown and wet, as the rain continued to fall. We then chugged over our first viaduct – Wingatui Viaduct 197m long – across the Mullocky Stream – it was great fun, feeling like the original pioneers. We followed the twisting Taieri River for a long way, with small bridges and viaducts enabling us to cross the numerous streams that joined the river. Each one was different, and caused great excitement if we approached round a bend and could see the structure before us! We passed through Mount Allan and Little Mount Allan, over Christmas Creek and Deep Stream, then Near 3 O’Clock Stream and Machine Tunnel Creek – all such fascinating names and we tried to conjure how the names came about. We had a short stop at Hinton where we all got out to take photos – it had stopped raining for a short while. As we continued the journey, the mountains were high and craggy, and at one point Jennifter and I were positive we saw a goat in a cave half way down (or up) a steep sided cliff – we looked for it again on the way back, but didn’t see it so clearly this time and the men scoffed that we had been hallucinating. Our venture along the line ended at Pukerangi, 45 kilometres from Wingatui and 250 metres above sea level – the average gradient was 1 : 50. It was raining very hard at this station, so most of us didn’t disembark here (Pauline got out with her umbrella, but only stayed long enough to harass the Station Master in his hut, and come back and tell us about “tablet” stations, which nobody understood). The engine was detached from the front and taken down the side line to be hooked to the back end of the train ready to pull us on our return journey. Refreshments were served on the train, as well as souvenirs.

Going back is always faster than the outgoing journey, possibly this time, because it was mostly downhill. We rewound our way through the hills and craggy outcrops down to the green pastures on the valley floor, and into Dunedin, where Darryl was waiting in the coach. It had been a splendid way to spend an afternoon, and we had all enjoyed ourselves,like great explorers of the past.

By the time we got back to the hotel we just had time for a quick snifter in the bar, before being shepherded into a special room (we are a tour group, not posh guests) where dinner awaited. There was a table d’hote menu with choices, and amazingly Colin chose lamb – he is getting like I was about beef in Australia – and I chose a New Zealand variety of salmon, washed down by Cabinet Sauvignon and Merlot. The food was OK, definitely eatable, but nothing special. We all lingered at the table over teas and coffees, so that it was time for bed when we left. I blogged for a while, trying to catch up – I was three days behind! - and I did manage to publish a couple of entries.