Taieri Gorge Railway. Dunedin, New Zealand
During our cruise to Australia and New Zealand we made a stop at Dunedin on the South Island in New Zealand, the second largest city of the South Island. While Tauranga, Napier-Hastings and Hamilton have eclipsed the city in population in recent years to make it only the seventh largest city in New Zealand, Dunedin is still considered to be one of the four main cities of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. We decided to take the historic Taieri Gorge Railway to see some of the countryside outside town. Departing from Dunedin’s beautiful railway station the Taieri Gorge Railway begins its scenic journey into some of New Zealand’s most ever-changing, spectacular and iconic scenery. The train travels through the Southern parts of Dunedin city until it arrives at Wingatui Junction where it turns off onto the Taieri branch. From here the train sneaks across the Taieri Plains and climbs into the Taieri Gorge, a narrow and deep gorge carved out over the centuries by the ancient Taieri River.