Taieri Gorge

Today we drove down to Dunedin and took the Taieri Gorge train up to Middlemarch.  It was a bit of a car shuffle but seriously well worth it.  

The Taieri Gorge track was built in the 1850's - the entire thing was made with manpower including all of the tunnels (12?) which were hand hewn.  Only the older narrow carriages can be used for the trip because the track was only ever hacked out to the 'minimum' width needed.  You definitely wouldn't want to hang any part of yourself or your equipment over the side of the viewing platforms as those tunnels are seriously narrow, with barely 6 inches of freeway on either side.

A number of viaducts and make for interesting travel - just don't look down as you cross them - some are seriously high!

The railway is now privately owned and run purely as a scenic trip.  

The trip includes some fairly green semi coastal scenery (as is seen here) but as you head further inland it becomes more and more gold - Central Otago has the lowest rainfall in New Zealand with only 300 to 400 mm a year.  I love the harshness of the central landscape with it's dry yellowed grasses and rock outcroppings (as seen in yesterday's blip).