Gorgeous gorges and precarious houses

Still raining this morning, but Wilderness were thoughtful enough to equip the motorhome with a decent sized umbrella, so not too much of a problem. A nice feature of this campsite is that the picnic table adjacent to our site is rather fun:

A short walk to the nearby bus stop and a bus soon took us down (and down and down) into the town centre, where we wandered about for a bit, found the information centre and got a street map then bought tickets for another of the “Great railway journeys of the World”. But first a coffee:

And then board the train:

It was every bit as spectacular as the advertising promised, narrow rock cuttings:

a deep gorge with the river glistening at the bottom and precipitous viaducts:

and some bridges with minimal protection:

About half way up the gorge, the train came to a shuddering halt, and didn't continue. There didn't appear to be any points for the driver to change as with a previous stop, so we all got out to see what was happening:

I tease ..... the German couple sitting opposite us had put their baby down on the track to play at a planned stop where we were able to stretch our legs and enjoy the views.

After a while we came up out of the gorge onto a plateau and the limit of our trip today, where we picked up some passengers who'd been bused from Queenstown, and set off back down. The commentary added significantly to the enjoyment of the whole event, with all sorts of recent, and not-so-recent historical detail.

In due course we got back to the magnificent Dunedin Station:

And then went to find a bus to take us to the northern outskirts of the town where there is a rather strange street where things are a bit crooked:

I think this sign sums it up though:

And this view from the bottom gives a rough idea, but until you've been there, you don't appreciate just how steep it is.

The climb was very worthwhile and the view is impressive:

Then another couple of buses back to the campsite/motorhome with good views of the lights reflecting off the harbour:

Steak for supper, mmmmm.

written by  Saros on May 6, 2009 from Dunedin, New Zealand
from the travel blog: The Hairy Animal 2009 World Road Trip
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