Day 14: Middlemarch to Dunedin by Train

Last night was a wild night. The wind had started to pick up in the evening, and we watched the unique cloud formation known as the Taieri Pet forming as the sun was going down. By the time we crawled into the tent, the wind was blowing pretty hard. But, the tent was secure, for the most part, and we tried to get some sleep.

Sometime between midnight and 2 am things started getting serious. The wind picked up, and the gusts were blowing the walls of the tent inward. The howling was intense, and we could hear banging noises and cracking noises outside the tent. Finally, at 2, Matt decided enough was enough, we were going to lose/break the tent if we didn’t do something about it. So, we emptied everything out of the tent, racing it into the lounge area, and proceeded to take the tent down from the inside.

It was nerve wracking, to say the least, but we managed it. I think the only casualty of the night was Matt's left glove. RIP glove. You'll be sorely missed. We spent the night on the lounge floor, and got up with the sun to survey the damage. There were trees uprooted, and campers parked on the lawn were moved several feet from where they were parked. It's a good thing we decided to come in when we did!

Exhausted from little sleep during the night, we ate breakfast, packed up, and headed over to the local café to get a coffee and relax before the train arrived. We also had a snack of some meat pies, which made us feel very British. We were all set for the train ride to Dunedin.

The Taieri Gorge Train pulled into the station at noon, and as we were watching it pull in, the owner from Cycle Surgery came up and said he was worried we'd blown away last night! It was very thoughtful of him to see how we fared. Evidently some buildings lost their roofs, and windows were blown in during the night.

We got our bikes and gear loaded onto the train, and we left Middlemarch at 1. It was a very scenic train ride from Middlemarch to Dunedin, through the Taieri Gorge, following the river most of the way. They even stopped the train at one point and got to leave the train to get a closer view of the river. The conductor said there were some big trout in the river, some 5 feet long, but mostly 3-4 feet long! The spot we stopped was a local favorite fishing hole, and if what the man said was true, that would be why.

The train took 2.5 hours, and we enjoyed it very much. We arrived in Dunedin, and had to decide what our plan was. Since we hadn't had internet access for days (seriously, no one in Middlemarch had wi-fi. Anywhere!) our plan to use Warmshowers was thwarted. But Matt saw there was a backpacker hostel nearby, named Pennys Backpackers, so we went searching for it. At first they said they couldn't accommodate our bikes, but the owner saw us looking for a different place, and said that they certainly COULD accommodate us, so we scored a great room in a prime location.

We set our things down and went exploring the city center, which is based around a place called the Octagon. We wandered around a bit, found a little ice cream shop for a little pre-dinner dessert, and then wandered back toward the hostel. It started to get cold, and start to sprinkle a bit, so we decided to eat dinner at Zucchini Bros., an Italian place close to the hostel. We got some delicious pasta.

We walked home in with some sprinkles, but it wasn't too far, and now we're taking full advantage of the internet connection to catch up our journal. Tomorrow our plan is to head out on the Southern Scenic Route, where we hope to see many more amazing things! I can't believe we've been here for two weeks!

Train at Middlemarch

Us on the train waiting to go

Pictures along the train ride.

The top of the octagon in Dunedin.