Tuesday, 23 January to Saturday, 27 January 2024
Tuesday was a day to sleep in, do some washing and generally recover from the last 5 days. We did catch a bus to the Frankton shops but it was an early night as we were picking up our hire car in the morning.
On our previous trip to NZ in 2018, we travelled the interior route to and from Christchurch. This time we decided to head south to Invercargill and then follow the coast to Christchurch with a stop in Dunedin to visit friends. The first few hours followed the road to Te Anau before we continued south towards Invercargill, a total of 200kms. We stopped for morning tea at Lumsden where they have preserved an old train and carriages and the old station.
Next stop was Invercargill where we arrived early afternoon and checked into our motel. We then headed down to Bluff, the southernmost town in mainland NZ. We visited the Maritime Museum before getting the obligatory photo at Stirling Point (and yes it was cold and windy).
From Bluff we made our way back to Invercargill to see the “World’s Fastest Indian” – made famous in the movie starring Anthony Hopkins. It is on display in a local hardware shop and we got there about 15 minutes before closing. A staff member kindly gave us a guided tour and told us some of the stories for the next half hour. If you haven’t seen the movie, we highly recommend it.
On Thursday, we drove the 250km to Dunedin via the beautiful Catlins beaches. Lots of sunshine but I had no desire to go for a swim.
After checking into our hotel, we were picked up by our friends Carmel and Bill and given a tour of Dunedin and their beautiful house perched on the Hill overlooking St Clair beach. Dinner after on the esplanade with beautiful views of the beach capped off a great day.
On Friday, we did the return trip to Pukerangi on the Taieri Gorge train starting at the stunning Dunedin Train Station.
This popular trip goes through hand-made tunnels and across the Wingatui Viaduct, the tallest wrought iron structure in Australasia. After crossing the viaduct we could get off the train while it reversed and crossed again so we could get photos.
On Saturday, we covered the final 360km to Christchurch with lunch at Oamaru on the way. We dropped the car off and had an early night so we were ready for our next adventure – the Otago Rail Trail.